query about "motherese" research

[David Samuels]

This came up once a few years ago in a discussion of Dean Falk's work on
"mothersese" and language evolution. Falk was, by many accounts, unaware of
the linganth work in this area. In her book, Finding Our Tongues: Mothers,
Infants, and the Origins of Language (2009), she defended her claim of
universality against the Samoan and Kaluli examples, the relevant passages
beginning around page 120 or so.

I guess I'd add that the universality of motherese has turned out to be
important territory for the group  (which includes Falk) who are writing
about the common evolutionary heritage of human linguistic and musical
capacity to defend. For that model, the role of prosody in language
acquisition is a key clue to the link they seek, so they can be pretty
adamant about it in the evolutionary cog-sci world.

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David W. Samuels
Associate Professor & Chair
Director, Native Studies Forum
Music Department
New York University
24 Waverly Place, Room 268
New York, NY 10003

vox: 212.998.8311
fax: 212.995.4147
email: dws2004 at nyu.edu

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