How salient are onomatopoeia in the early input? A prosodic analysis of infant-directed speech

Laing, Catherine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8022-2655, Vihman, Marilyn and Keren-Portnoy, Tamar 2017. How salient are onomatopoeia in the early input? A prosodic analysis of infant-directed speech. Journal of Child Language 44 (05) , pp. 1117-1139. 10.1017/S0305000916000428

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Abstract

Onomatopoeia are frequently identified amongst infants’ earliest words (Menn & Vihman, 2011), yet few authors have considered why this might be, and even fewer have explored this phenomenon empirically. Here we analyze mothers’ production of onomatopoeia in infant-directed speech (IDS) to provide an input-based perspective on these forms. Twelve mothers were recorded interacting with their 8-month-olds; onomatopoeic words (e.g. quack) were compared acoustically with their corresponding conventional words (duck). Onomatopoeia were more salient than conventional words across all features measured: mean pitch, pitch range, word duration, repetition, and pause length. Furthermore, a systematic pattern was observed in the production of onomatopoeia, suggesting a conventionalized approach to mothers’ production of these words in IDS.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
ISSN:	0305-0009
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 September 2017
Date of Acceptance:	31 July 2016
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 01:42
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/104518

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