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Mothers' speech to children of four different ages

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research volume 4, pages 9–16 (1975)Cite this article

Abstract

This study reports analyses, in terms of five different measures, of the speech on two standard tasks of 32 middle-class mothers to their children aged 1 1/2, 2 1/2, 4, and 6 years. Sex and birth order of child were not found to be related to mothers' speech. On four of the measures, both task and age of child had strongly significant effects. In general, with increasing age of child, mothers spoke more, in longer and grammatically more complex utterances, with greater diversity of vocabulary. The differences in speech addressed to 1 1/2-year-olds and that addressed to 2 1/2-year-olds were particularly marked.

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Author information

Affiliations

  1. Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England

    Colin Fraser

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, England

    Naomi Roberts

Authors
  1. Colin Fraser
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  2. Naomi Roberts
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Additional information

The research was supported primarily by a grant from the Nuffield Foundation Small Grant Scheme, and in part by British S.S.R.C. Grant HR 1821.

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Fraser, C., Roberts, N. Mothers' speech to children of four different ages. J Psycholinguist Res 4, 9–16 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066986

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066986

Keywords

  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Birth Order
  • Standard Task
  • Complex Utterance