Paralinguistic Features of Adult Speech to Infants and Small Children.

JACOBSON, JOSEPH L, BOERSMA, DAVID C, FIELDS, ROBERT B, and OLSON, KAREN L Paralinguistic Features of Adult Speech to Infants and Small Children CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1983, 54, 436-442 The propensity to raise and vary the pitch of one's voice when addressing an infant or small child was investigated in a sample of 16 male and 16 female adults, half of whom were married with children and half of whom had never married and never had children Fundamental frequency was assessed using a sound spectrograph Mean fundamental frequency and average variability both increased siginificantly over baseline when subjects were asked to imagine speaking to an infant or small child and increased significantly again when an infant or a small child was actually present Nonparents who had little prior experience with infants modified their fundamental frequency as much as parents Sex of speaker was not significantly related to the modification of fundamental frequency when sex differences in range of modal frequency were held constant These modifications in vocal frequency may be attributable either to a biologically based propensity in the adult speaker or to attentional feedback from the infant or small child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]