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Mother-child conversation in different social classes and communicative settings
1Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha 53141.
Child Development
|August 1, 1991
Summary
Social class impacts mothers' language use with young children. Different interaction settings also influence maternal speech, affecting children's linguistic experiences.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Sociolinguistics
- Child Language Acquisition
Background:
- Socioeconomic status is known to influence child development.
- Previous research suggests disparities in language exposure based on social class.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate social class differences in maternal speech directed at children.
- To examine the role of communicative setting in these class-based speech differences.
- To explore parallels between child-directed and adult-directed speech across social classes.
Main Methods:
- Observational study of 63 mother-child dyads (children aged 18-29 months).
- Videotaping interactions in four distinct settings: mealtime, dressing, book reading, and toy play.
- Collection of speech samples directed at both children and adults.
Main Results:
- Significant social class differences were found in mothers' child-directed speech.
- Parallel differences were observed in mothers' adult-directed speech, suggesting broader language use patterns.
- Communicative setting significantly affected maternal speech and moderated social class differences.
Conclusions:
- Social class variations in child-directed speech may reflect general class-based language use patterns.
- Interaction context is a crucial factor, potentially as influential as maternal speech characteristics.
- Maternal interaction time in different contexts significantly shapes children's linguistic environments.