Pronominalization: a linguistic facet of the maternal-paternal sensitive period

Two studies of how parents use pronouns in describing their newborn infants are presented. Fathers more often than mothers used the neuter pronoun "it" in describing their new babies. Parents who used the neuter pronoun were more often multiparous, were more likely to have attended childbirth preparation classes, and did not differ from other parents in parenting behaviors or husband-wife communication patterns assessed six months after birth. The data suggest that pronominalization may be a linguistic component of the development of the parental role.