Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T17:00:58.741Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The relation between index-finger extension and the acoustic quality of cooing in three-month-old infants*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Nobuo Masataka
Nobuo Masataka*
Affiliation:
The University of Tokyo
*
Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484, Japan.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Fourteen full-term, healthy, three-month-old infants were observed during a total of 15 minutes spontaneous face-to-face interaction with their mothers. Facial and manual actions, gaze direction and vocalizations were coded. The infants' cooing vocalizations were categorized into syllabic and vocalic sounds. Index-finger extension occurred frequently in sequence with syllabic sounds, which are speech-like vocalizations, but rarely occurred in sequence with vocalic sounds. No other categories of nonvocal behaviours showed such a relationship. In a subsequent experiment, the infants experienced either conversational turn-taking or random responsiveness from their mothers. In the turn-taking condition, the infants produced a higher ratio of syllabic to vocalic sounds, and a higher frequency of index-finger extension. These results suggest a strong connection between speech and the pointing gesture long before the infant can actually talk.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 247 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

The author is grateful to two anonymous reviewers for making invaluable comments. The research was made possible by a grant entitled ‘Emergence of human cognition and language (no. 0506104)’ to the author from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan.

References

REFERENCES

Bates, E., Camaioni, L. & Volterra, V. (1975). The acquisition of performatives prior to speech. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 21, 105–226.Google Scholar
Bloom, K. (1977). Patterning of infant vocal behaviour. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 23, 367–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloom, K. (1988). Quality of adult vocalizations affects the quality of infant vocalizations. Journal of Child Language 15, 469–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bloom, K. & Lo, E. (1990). Adult perceptions of vocalizing infants. Infant Behavior and Development 13, 209–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloom, K., Russell, A. & Wassenberg, K. (1987). Turn-taking affects the quality of infant vocalizations. Journal of Child Language 14, 211–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruner, J. (1983). Child's talk: learning to use language. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Fogel, A. & Hannan, T. E. (1985). Manual actions of nine- to fifteen-week-old human infants during face-to-face interaction with their mothers. Child Development 56, 1271–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Hannan, T. E. (1982). Young infant's hand and finger expressions: an analysis of category reliability. In Field, T. M. & Fogel, A. (eds), Emotion and early interaction. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Huffman, M. K. (1990). Implementation of nasal: timing and articulatory landmarks. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, 75, 1–149.Google Scholar
Leung, E. & Rheingold, H. L. (1981). Development of pointing as a social gesture. Development Psychology 17, 215–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeill, D. (1985). ‘So you think gestures are nonverbal?’ Psychological Review 92, 350–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masataka, N. (1992). Early ontogeny of vocal behavior of Japanese infants in response to maternal speech. Child Development 63, 1177–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masataka, N. & Bloom, K. (1994). Acoustic properties that determine adults' preferences for 3-month-old infant vocalizations. Infant Behavior and Development 17, 461–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masur, E. F. (1983). Gestural development, dual directional signalling, and the transition to words. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 12, 93–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, C. M. (1978). Pointing in the context of a shared activity. Child Development 49, 371–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Netsell, R. (1981). The acquisition of speech motor control: a perspective with directions for speech. In Stark, R. E. (ed.), Language behavior in infancy and childhood. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Oller, D. K. (1980). The emergence of the sounds of speech in early infancy. In Yeni-Komshian, G. H., Kavanagh, J. F. & Ferguson, C. A. (eds), Child phonology. Vol. 1. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Oller, D. K. (1981). Infant vocalizations: exploration and reflexivity. In Stark, R. E. (ed.), Language behavior in infancy and childhood. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Stark, R. E. (1978). Features of infant sounds: the emergence of cooing. Journal of Child Language 5, 379–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stark, R. E. (1981). Infant vocalization: a comprehensive view. Infant Mental Health Journal 2, 118–28.3.0.CO;2-5>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tankova-Yampol'skaya, R. V. (1973). Development of speech intonation in infants during the first two years of life. In Ferguson, C. A. & Slobin, D. I. (eds), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Werner, H. & Kaplan, B. (1963). Symbol formation. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar