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)
