Seventeen mothers were recorded monthly in the laboratory during spontaneous dialogues with their 2-, 3-, and 5-month-old infants. The occurrence of vocal matching was analysed on the basis of perceptual similarity between adjacent maternal and infant utterances in relation to six sound features. Reciprocal vocal matching occurred in an aver age of 41% to 57% of infant non-cry vocalizations. With age, matches became more complex in number and types of included features. The high incidence of vocal matching primarily depended on mothers' propensities to model appropriately and match the infant's precanoni cal sounds. Various didactic strategies which were observed in mothers are discussed as a species-specific social support to the infants' early development of imitative abilities, vocal production, and communica tion.
References
1.
Baldwin, J.M. (1985). Mental Development in the Child and the Race (New York: Macmillan).
2.
Bloom, L., Hood, L. & Lightbown, P. (1974). Imitation m language development: if, when, and why. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 380-420.
3.
Boysson-Bardies, B., Sagart, L. & Durand, C. (1984). Discernible differences in the babbling of infants according to target language. Journal of Child Language, 11, 1-15.
4.
Camaioni, L. (1986). Interaziom imitative e sviluppo communicativo . Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 8, 115-126.
5.
Clark, E. (1976). What's the use of imitation? Journal of Child Language, 4, 341-358.
6.
Cohen, N.J. & Squire, L.R. (1980). Preserved learning and retention of pattern-analyzing skill in amnesia: dissociation of knowing how and knowing that. Science, 210, 207-210.
7.
Coulter, X. (1979). The determinants of infantile amnesia. In N. E. Spear & B. A. Campbell (eds), Ontogeny of Learning and Memory (Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum).
8.
Delacroix, H. (1921). De l'automatisme dans l'imitation. Journal de Psychologie Normale et Pathologique, 18, 97-139.
9.
Dunn, J. & Kendrick, C. (1980). The arrival of a sibling: changes in patterns of interaction between mother and first-born child. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 21, 119-132.
10.
Fernald, A. & Simon, T. (1984). Expanded intonation contours in mothers' speech to newborns. Developmental Psychology, 20, 104-113.
11.
Field, T., Woodson, R., Greenberg, R. & Cohen, D. (1982). Discrimination and imitation of facial expressions by neonates. Science, 218, 179-181.
12.
Fouts, G.T., Waldner, D. & Watson, M. (1976). Effects of being imitated and counterimitated on the behaviour of preschool children. Child Development , 47, 172-177.
13.
Irwin, O.C. (1947). Infant speech: consonantal sounds according to place of articulation. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders , 12, 397-401.
14.
Jacobson, J.L., Boersma, D.C., Fields, R.B. & Olson, K.L. (1983). Paralinguistic features of adult speech to infants and small children. Child Development, 54, 436-442.
15.
Kaye, K. (1979). Thickening thin data: the maternal role in developing communication and language. In M. Bullowa (ed.), Before Speech: The Beginning of Interpersonal Communication (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
16.
_ ( 1982).The Mental and Social Life of Babies. How Parents Create Persons (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press).
17.
Kaye, K. & Marcus, J. (1978). Imitation over a series of trials without feedback: age six months. Infant Behaviour and Development, 1, 141-155.
18.
Kessen, W., Levine, J. & Wendrich, K.A. (1979). The imitation of pitch in infants. Infant Behaviour and Development, 2, 93-99.
19.
Konishi, M. (1965). The role of auditory feedback in the control of vocalization in the white-crowned sparrow. Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie, 22, 770-783.
20.
Kuhl, P.K. & Meltzoff, A.N. (1982). The bimodal perception of speech in infancy. Science, 218, 1138-1141.
21.
—( 1984). The intermodal representation of speech in infants. Infant Behaviour and Development, 7, 361-381.
22.
Lakh, G.S. (1968). Articulatory and auditory mimicry in the first months. Zhurnal Vysshey Nervnoy Deatel'nosti imeni I. P. Pavlove , 18, 831-835.
23.
Lenneberg, E.H. (1964). Speech as a motor skill with special reference to nonaphasic disorders. In U. Bellugi & R. Brown (eds), The Acquisition of Language. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 29 (Serial No. 92), 115-127. —( 1967). The Biological Foundations of Language ( New York: Wiley).
Lewis, M.M. (1936). Infant Speech: A Study of the Beginning of Language (New York: Harcourt Brace).
26.
Lieberman, P. (1980). On the development of vowel production in young children. In G. H. Yeni-Komshian, J. F. Kavanagh & C. A. Ferguson (eds), Child Phonology. Vol 1: Production (New York: Academic Press).
27.
—( 1984). The Biology and Evolution of Language ( Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press).
28.
Lieberman, P. , Crelin, E.S. & Klatt, D.H. (1972). Phonetic ability and related anatomy of the newborn and adult human, Neanderthal man, and the chimpanzee. American Anthropologist, 74, 287-307.
29.
Maratos, O. (1973). The origin and development of imitation in the first six months of life. PhD Thesis, University of Geneva .
Murai, J. (1963). The sounds of infants: their phonemization and symbolization. Studia Phonologica, 3, 17-34.
32.
Nakazima, N. (1975). Phonemization and symbolization in language development . In E. H. Lenneberg & E. Lenneberg (eds), Foundations of Language Development: A Multidisciplinary Approach, Vol 1 (New York: Academic Press).
33.
Newman, J.D. & Symmes, D. (1983). Inheritance and experience in the acquisition of primate acoustic behaviour. In C. T. Snowdon , C. H. Brown & M. R. Petersen (eds), Primate Communication (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
34.
Nottebohm, F. (1975). A zoologist's view of some language phenomena with particular emphasis on vocal learning. In E. H. Lenneberg & E. Lenneberg (eds), Foundations of Language Development. A Multidisciplinary Approach , Vol 1 (New York: Academic Press).
35.
Oller, D.K. (1980). The emergence of the sounds of speech in infancy In G. H. Yeni-Komshian, J. F. Kavanagh & C. A. Ferguson (eds), Child Phonology. Vol 1: Production (New York: Academic Press).
36.
—( 1986). Metaphonology and infant vocalization. In B. Lindblom & R. Zetterstrom (eds), Precursors of Early Speech ( Basingstoke: Macmillan).
37.
Papoušek, H. & Papoušek, M. (1977). Mothering and the cognitive headstart: psychobiological considerations. In H. R. Schaffer (ed.), Studies in Mother-Infant Interaction (London: Academic Press).
38.
—( 1987). Intuitive parenting: a dialectic counterpart to the infant's integrative competence. In J. D. Osofsky (ed.), Handbook of Infant Development, 2nd ed. (New York: Wiley).
39.
Papoušek, H., Papoušek, M. & Koester, L.S. (1986). Sharing emotionality and sharing knowledge: a microanalytic approach to parent-infant communication. In C E. Izaard & P. B. Read (eds), Measuring Emotions in Infants and Children, Vol 2 (New York: Cambridge University Press).
40.
Papoušek, M. (1987). Models and messages in the melodies of maternal speech in tonal and nontonal languages. Presentation at the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD.
41.
Papoušek, M. & Papoušek, H. (1981). Musical elements in the infant's vocalization: their significance for communication, cognition and creativity. In L P. Lipsitt (ed.), Advances in Infancy Research, Vol 1 ( Norwood, N.J.: Ablex).
42.
Papoušek, M., Papoušek, H. & Bornstein, M.H. (1985). The naturalistic vocal environment of young infants: on the significance of homogeneity and variability in parental speech. In T. M. Field & N. A. Fox (eds), Social Perception in Infants (Norwood, N. J.: Ablex).
43.
Papoušek, M., Papoušek, H. & Haekel, M. (1987a) Didactic adjustments in maternal and paternal speech to three-month-old infants. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 16, 491-516.
44.
Papoušek, M., Papoušek, H. & Harris, B.J. (1987b). The emergence of play in parent-infant interactions . In D. Gorlitz & J. F. Wohlwill (eds), Curiosity, Imagination, and Play: On the Development of Spontaneous Cognitive and Motivational Processes (Hillsdale, N. J.: Erlbaum).
45.
Parton, D.A. (1976). Learning to imitate in infancy. Child Development, 47, 14-31.
46.
Pawlby, A. (1977). Imitative interaction. In H. R. Schaffer (ed.), Studies in Mother-Infant Interaction (London: Academic Press).
47.
Piaget, J. (1962). Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood (New York: Norton)
48.
Ratner, N.B. (1984). Patterns of vowel modification in mother-child speech. Journal of Child Language, 11, 557-578.
49.
Rodgon, M. & Kurdek, L. (1977). Vocal and gestural imitation in 8-, 14-, and 20-month-old children. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 131, 115-123.
50.
Sagi, A. & Hoffman, M.L. (1976). Empathic distress in the newborn. Developmental Psychology, 12, 175-176.
51.
Smith, B.L. & Oller, D.K. (1981). A comparative study of pre-meaningful vocalizations produced by normally developing and Down's syndrome infants. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 46, 46-51.
52.
Snow, C.E. (1981). The uses of imitation. Journal of Child Language, 8, 205-212.
Stark, R.E. (1980). Stages of speech development. In G. H. Yeni-Komshian, J. F. Kavanagh & C. A. Ferguson (eds), Child Phonology. Vol 1: Production (New York : Academic Press).
55.
Stern, D.N. (1984). Affect attunement. In J. D. Call, E. Galenson & R. L. Tyson (eds), Frontiers of Infant Psychiatry , Vol 2 (New York: Basic Books).
56.
Stern, D.N., Spieker, S. & MacKain, K. (1982). Intonation contours as signals in maternal speech to prelinguistic infants. Developmental Psychology, 18, 727-735.
57.
Studdert-Kennedy, M. (1983). On learning how to speak. Human Neurobiology, 2, 191-195.
58.
Sweeney, S. (1973). The importance of imitation in early stages of speech acquisition. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders , 38, 490-494.
59.
Thelen, M., Dollinger, S. & Roberts, M. (1975). On being imitated: its effects on attraction and reciprocal imitation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 31, 467-472.
60.
Thevenin, D., Eilers, R., Oller, D.K. & Lavoir, L. (1985). Where's the drift in babbling drift? A cross-linguistic study. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6, 3-15.
61.
Trevarthen, C. (1977). Descriptive analyses of infant communicative behaviour . In H. R. Schaffer (ed.), Studies in Mother-Infant Interaction (London: Academic Press).
62.
Užgiris, I.C. (1972). Patterns of vocal and gestural imitation in infants . In F. J. Monks, W. E. Hartup & J. deWitt (eds), Determinants of Behavioural Development ( New York: Academic Press).
63.
—( 1981). Two functions of imitation during infancy. International Journal of Behavioural Development, 4, 1-12.
64.
—( 1984). Imitation in infancy: its interpersonal aspects. In M. Perlmutter (ed.), Parent-Child Interaction and Parent-Child relations in Child Development ( Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum).
