Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T14:06:05.894Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Children's songs to infant siblings: parallels with speech*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Sandra E. Trehub ,
Anna M. Unyk  and
Joanna L. Henderson
Sandra E. Trehub*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Anna M. Unyk
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Joanna L. Henderson
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
*
Centre for Research in Human Development, University of Toronto, Erindale Campus, Mississauga, Ontario, CanadaL5L 1C6.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Children aged 2;11 to 8;3 sang informally, once in the presence of their infant sibling and once when the infant was out of view. Paired excerpts from 22 children were presented to adult listeners, who were required to identify the infant-directed excerpt in each pair. Listeners' accuracy was above chance levels but below what would be expected for mothers' singing in comparable contexts. Children altered their singing style in the infant's presence by singing at a higher pitch level and with a different vocal quality.

Type
Note
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , October 1994 , pp. 735 - 744
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and The University of Toronto. We thank E. Glenn Schellenberg for helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.

References

REFERENCES

Alley, T. R. (1981). Head shape and the perception of cuteness. Developmental Psychology 17, 650–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, R. P. & Aslin, R. N. (1989). The langauge environment of the young infant: implications for early perceptual development. Canadian Journal of Psychology 43, 247–65.Google Scholar
Cruttenden, A. (1982). How long does intonation acquisition take? Papers and Reports in Child Language Development 21, 112–18.Google Scholar
Davidson, L., McKernon, P. & Gardner, H. (1981). The acquisition of song: a developmental approach. In Documentary report of the Ann Arbor Symposium: applications of psychology to the teaching and learning of music. Reston, VA: Music Educators National Conference.Google Scholar
Dowling, W. J. (1984). Development of musical schemata in children's spontaneous singing. In Crozier, W. R. & Chapman, A. J. (eds), Cognitive processes in the perception of art. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Dunn, J. & Kendrick, C. (1982). The speech of two- and three-year-olds to infant siblings: ‘baby talk’ and the context of communication. Journal of Child Language 9, 579–95.Google Scholar
Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. (1975). Ethology: the biology of behavior (2nd ed). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Fernald, A. (1991). Prosody in speech to children: prelinguistic and linguistic functions. Annals of Child Development 8, 43–80.Google Scholar
Fernald, A. (1993). Approval and disapproval: infant responsiveness to vocal affect in familiar and unfamiliar languages. Child Development 64, 657–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fernald, A. & Kuhl, P. K. (1987). Acoustic determinants of infant preference for motherese. Infant Behavior and Development 10, 279–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernald, A., Taeschner, T., Dunn, J., Papoušek, M., de Boysson-Bardies, B. & Fukui, I. (1989). A cross-language study of prosodic modifications in mothers' and fathers' speech to preverbal infants. Journal of Child Language 16, 477–501.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frick, R. W. (1985). Communicating emotion: the role of prosodic features. Psychological Bulletin 97, 412–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gleason, J. B. (1973). Code switching in children's language. In Moore, T. E. (ed.), Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Goldstein, A. (1980). Thrills in response to music and other stimuli. Physiological Psychology 8, 126–9.Google Scholar
Hoff-Ginsberg, E. & Krueger, W. M. (1991). Older siblings as conversational partners. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 37, 465–82.Google Scholar
Kemler Nelson, D. G., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Jusczyk, P. W. & Wright Cassidy, K. (1989). How the prosodic cues in motherese might assist language learning. Journal of Child Language 16, 53–68.Google ScholarPubMed
Langer, S. (1957). Philosophy in a new key. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Lorenz, K. (1943). The innate forms of possible experience. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 5, 233–409.Google Scholar
Papoušek, M., Papoušek, H. & Bornstein, M. H. (1985). The naturalistic vocal environment of young infants: on the significance of homogeneity and variability in parental speech. In Field, T. M. & Fox, N. A. (eds), Social perception in infants. Norwood: Ablex.Google Scholar
Papoušek, M., Papoušek, H. & Symmes, D. (1991). The meanings of melodies in motherese in tone and stress languages. Infant Behavior and Development 14, 415–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shatz, M. & Gelman, M. (1973). The development of communication skills: modifications in the speech of young children as a function of listener. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 38, 1–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swanwick, K. (1988). Music, mind and education. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tomasello, M. & Mannle, S. (1985). Pragmatics of sibling speech to one-year-olds. Child Development 56, 911–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trehub, S. E., Unyk, A. M. & Trainor, L. J. (1993 a). Adults identify infant-directed music across cultures. Infant Behavior and Development 16, 193–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trehub, S. E., Unyk, A. M. & Trainor, L. J. (1993 b). Maternal singing in cross-cultural perspective. Infant Behavior and Development 16, 285–95.Google Scholar
Unyk, A. M., Trehub, S. E., Trainor, L. J. & Schellenberg, E. G. (1992). Lullabies and simplicity: a cross-cultural perspective. Psychology of Music 20, 15–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weeks, T. (1971). Speech registers in young children. Child Development 42, 1119–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weisner, T. S. & Gallimore, R. (1977). My brother's keeper: child and sibling caretaking. Current Anthropology 18, 169–90.Google Scholar
Werker, J. F. & McLeod, P. J. (1989). Infant preference for both male and female infant-directed talk: a developmental study of attentional and affective responsiveness. Canadian Journal of Psychology 43, 230–46.Google Scholar
Whiting, B. B. & Edwards, C. P. (1988). Children of different worlds: the formation of social behavior. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar