Universal #1869

Legacy number: 1869

 Number  1864
 Original  There is a "tone of voice" appropriate for talking to young children:
(i) overall higher pitch and/or exaggerated intonation contours;
(ii) slower speech tempo.
 Standardized  There is a "tone of voice" appropriate for talking to young children:
(i) overall higher pitch and/or exaggerated intonation contours;
(ii) slower speech tempo.
 Keywords  baby talk, pitch, intonation, tempo
 Domain  phonology, pragmatics
 Type  unconditional
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  27 lgs, high in IE, low in African and Oceanic lgs: Bengali, Marathi (both Indic, IE), Dutch, English, German (all Germanic, IE), Greek (Greek, IE), Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish (all Romance, IE), Serbo-Croatian (Slavic, IE), Latvian (Baltic, IE), Syrian Arabic, Neo-Aramaic, Maltese (all Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Berber (Berber, Afro-Asiatic), Cocopa, Pomo (both Hokan), Comanche (Uto-Aztecan), Hidatsa (Siouan), Hungarian (Ugric, Uralic), Japanese (Japanese-Ryukyuan), Kannada (Havyaka) (Dravidian), Kipsigis (Nilotic, Nilo-Saharan), Luo (Eastern Sudanic, Nilo-Saharan), Nivkh (Isolate), Samoan (Oceanic, E. Malayo-Polynesian), Tzeltal (Mayan)
 Source  Ferguson 1978a: 208

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