query about "motherese" research

[Mark Sicoli]

The article by Elinor Ochs, Olga Solomon and Laura Sterponi directly addresses the rather misfit practice of using "motherese" features in therapeutic sessions with children with autism.  I use it in my undergrad Language & Society class and find it brings a fuller appreciation to the observations and ethnographic examples in Ochs and Scheiffelin, which still may leave some students thinking that while other cultures don't use such motherese features they can preserve their own belief that it's still better for language acquisition.  But Ochs, Solomon & Sterponi show that it can actually be debilitative.  

Ochs, Solomon & Sterponi 2005 “Limitations and
transformations of habitus in child-directed communication” Discourse Studies 7(4-5): 547-583.

Best of luck, 
Mark 

________________________________
 From: Judy Pine <Judy.Pine at WWU.EDU>
To: LINGANTH at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG 
Sent: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 5:44 PM
Subject: query about "motherese" research
 

Hello, all!  I have a student in my intro to linganth class who is a Communications Science and Disorders major.  She raised a point in class which I need to take into account as we move through the quarter.  I was commenting on the fact that motherese is by no means necessary, and the student piped up saying that motherese does enhance language acquisition, she has been taught so in her CSD classes.  Now, I will certainly be bringing in Ochs and Schieffelin when we get to language acquisition, and we will have talked about Heath when we work our way through literacy and writing (we are in phonology right now, the quarter began at EOM September, and acquisition comes along at the tail end of things in my course).  I would love to have additional material on which to draw, and I am especially curious about what is out there that is recent that supports the motherese hypothesis.

I will reach out to colleagues in CSD and hopefully get some material there, but I thought it might be a good idea to see what my own community has in our collective libraries.  Your time and assistance is much appreciated.


-          Judy :)

Judith M.S. Pine
Asst. Professor
Dept of Anthropology
Western Washington University