Child-Directed Speech Is Infrequent in a Forager-Farmer Population: A Time Allocation Study
Alejandrina Cristia1, Emmanuel Dupoux1, Michael Gurven2
1LSCP, Département d'études cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL Research University.
Child Development
|November 3, 2017
Summary
Children in Bolivia receive minimal verbal interaction, less than one minute per hour. Adults primarily provide this input to very young children, highlighting diverse language acquisition environments.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Anthropology
Background:
- Child language acquisition theories often assume high levels of verbal input.
- Cross-cultural research is essential for understanding the diversity of early linguistic experiences.
Purpose of the Study:
- To estimate the frequency and source of one-on-one verbal input for Tsimane children aged 0-11 years.
- To compare Tsimane children's verbal input with existing cross-cultural data.
Main Methods:
- Systematic daytime behavioral observations of Tsimane forager-horticulturalists in lowland Bolivia.
- Analysis of verbal interactions received by children aged 0-11 years (sample sizes 9-24).
Main Results:
- Children under 4 years receive less than 1 minute of verbal input per daylight hour.
- This input is 4 times less than that received by others in the same environment.
- Adults are the primary source of verbal input for children aged 0-3 years, but this shifts later.
Conclusions:
- Tsimane children experience significantly less verbal input compared to other populations.
- Findings reveal substantial cross-cultural variation in early childhood linguistic environments.
- Generalizable theories of language acquisition require data from more diverse human populations.
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