motherese
Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- noun (noun) Speech directed at a child; baby talk.
Examples
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This kind of talk, dubbed motherese, is an instict that crosses cultural and linguistic boundaries. Caecilius was goochie-goochie-gooing in Rome; Grunt was goochie-gooing in the caves.
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Newborns prefer their mother's voice over other voices and perceive the emotional content of messages conveyed via intonation contours in maternal speech (a.k.a. 'motherese').
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By talking 'motherese' with its high pitch, exaggerated intonation and clear pronunciation, she said, parents help babies acquire phonetic prototypes that are building blocks to language.
Babies Learn Sounds of Language by 6 Months, The New York Times
Note
The term 'motherese' seems to have been coined in 1977 by Elissa Newport, a specialist in language acquisition and developmental psycholinguistics.
