Motherese is good up to 18 months

Rogaiyah Hamidaddin, Speech and Language therapist at The LightHouse said that according to research, “motherese”, also known as baby-talk or Infant-directed Speech (IDS), is a linguistically simplified and acoustically exaggerated speech that adults universally use when speaking to infants.

Compared with Adultdirected Speech (ADS), IDS is shorter, simpler, repetitive, and includes isolated words and phrases, frequent use of proper names and a large number of questions. Many parents also include made-up words such as “nana” for milk, said Hamidaddin.

Why do mothers and other adults indulge in baby talk with infants?

Research published indicates that mothers are genetically prewired to consciously modify their gestures and vocalisations when engaging and interacting with their infants. Over time, mothers learned that these changes in vocalisation encouraged their little ones to calm down, attend, behave, and better understand/ link words to their meanings.

Do all cultures indulge in baby talk?

The majority of cultures and languages do engage in motherese. Motherese is even evident in American Sign Language (ASL) between deaf mothers and their deaf children. However, it varies in feature between cultures in subtle ways depending on the distinctive features of the language and how it is acquired.

What are its emotional benefits?

The interaction between mother and child at an early age is an important contributor to the child’s emotional and cognitive development.

Motherese contributes initially to infant emotional regulation, then to socialisation, and finally, to the acquisition of speech. There is currently a lack of studies addressing the affective and emotional effects of motherese (for example, the immediate effects on infants’ expressions, later effects on infants’ attachment). The majority of the studies address the more behavioural concept of “infants’ preference” for motherese and the effect on language acquisition.

Is baby talk more of a mother thing?

Fathers do use many features of “motherese” when interacting with their children. They tend to modify vocabulary, volume, and length of utterances; but not so much rate and pitch. The more adult-directed speech used by fathers is in fact beneficial. It serves as a bridge to the type of speech the babies will hear in public, according to experts.

Do babies respond more easily to motherese than to regular speech?

Babies do prefer to listen to this exaggerated type of speech than typical adult-like speech: They pay more attention when a parent’s speech has a higher pitch and more variable inflection and intonation. Research also suggests that IDS may function to regulate infants’ arousal and attention, and facilitate speech perception and language comprehension.

Up to what age is baby talk beneficial?

In my opinion, parents should slowly reduce the amount of motherese and model more appropriate grammar and vocabulary starting at the age of 18 months. Parents can continue using more exaggerated inflection and intonation to keep their attention, but avoid using telegraphic speech (i.e. when grammar is omitted from sentences) and made-up words which can hinder a child’s language development; especially if she/ he have a language delay.

Fathers do use many features of “motherese”. They tend to modify vocabulary, volume, and length of utterances; but not so much rate and pitch.” Rogaiyah Hamidaddin | Speech and language therapist