[Linganth] Is "motherese" universal?

[Joel Kuipers]

Elinor Ochs has a useful discussion of "motherese" in the introduction to
her book Culture and Language Development (1988). See especially pp. 22-39.

Joel Kuipers
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ronald Kephart" <rkephart at unf.edu>
To: "Anthro-L" <anthro-l at listserv.buffalo.edu>; "linguistic anthroplogy
list" <linganth at cc.rochester.edu>
Sent: Friday, December 31, 2004 1:33 PM
Subject: [Linganth] Is "motherese" universal?


> "Dean Falk, professor of anthropology at Florida State University, says
> the universal phenomenon of mothers talking to their babies may be linked
> to two other crucial steps in human evolution -- walking upright and the
> development of bigger brains."
>
> Full article at:
>
> http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/12/23/babytalk.evolution/
>
> The article makes it clear that she is talking about motherese or CDS
> (child directed speech), which I had thought was *not* in fact universal.
>
> Thoughts, anyone?
>
> Ron
>