Chapter 5: social and communicative bases of language and speech

Newborn communication

Visually and auditorily “hard wired” for communication, visual preference for face/eyes, hearing in range of human voice, preference for human voice, moves in synchrony with human voice

Interactions

Newborn will search for human voice, stop crying and attend to moms voice, facial expressions engage mom (not intentional expressions), movement of infant head signals mom

Early communication: 1 month

Gaze at adult face, vocalize, change gaze with partner, match pitch and sound duration of adult, smile in response to familiar face

Early communication: 2 months

Searches for moms voice, turn away from strange voices, recognize familiar people, begin to hear coping (QRN)

Early communication: 3 month

Broader intentional smile, increased interest in facial expressions, beginning to learn that “signaling” results in change

Early communication: 3-6 months

Game play becomes important (peek-a-boo, patty cake), increased toy play, vocalizes to accompany attitude

Attainment

Genuine and deep connection with human, typically mother and the infant

Early communication: 7-12 months

Sad when mom leaves, plays in moms presence, infants begin to selectively attend to language (follow directions), can follow “point” and glance

Proto-conversations

Interactions that have conversation feel, but lack the words

Communicative intentions: 0-8 months

Pre intentional (perlocutionary stage), not international, don’t know affects

Communicative intentions: 8-9 months

Begins to develop intentionality (illocutionary stage), can affect others and know that

Communicative intentions: 12 months

Symbolic communication (locutionary stage), use words to communicate intent

Protoimperatives

Have requests or demands, uses gestures

Protodeclaritives

Shares information, draw attention, uses gestures

First words (symbolic stage)

Words as symbols, bracketing, clustering

maternal communication behaviors: preparatory activities

Free infant from physiological state dominance…ex: calm infant when upset

maternal communication behaviors: state-setting activities

Manipulate physical environment to optimize interaction…ex:move infants visual field

maternal communication behaviors: Maintenance of communication framework

Use of continuates by caregiver…ex: rhythmic tapping and patting

maternal communication behaviors: Infantile modifications of adult actions

Variation of caregiver activities in rate, intensity, amplitude, and quality from those of adult…ex: use baby talk

Infant directed speech (IDS)

Short utterances, core vocab, facial expressions, questions and greetings, Paralingustic variations

Usefulness of IDS

Repetitiveness helps decode language, prosaic features help with child attention, build convo skills with questioning

Joint attention 4 phases:

Joint attention, intention to communicate, gestures and vocalization, naming and topicalization