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The episodic structure of maternal speech to young children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

David J. Messer
David J. Messer
Affiliation:
University of Strathclyde
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Abstract

An investigation was made of the episodic structure of maternal speech to young children during a free-play session. The findings indicate that maternal speech was organized so as to provide a high degree of redundancy with regard to the referential component of speech. The beginning of episodes, in which the same object was repeatedly referred to, was clearly marked; furthermore speech inside episodes with a common referent was highly repetitive. All this suggests that maternal speech is organized in a way that increases the predictability in the child's language environment.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , February 1980 , pp. 29 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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Footnotes

[*]

This research was supported by a S.S.R.C. grant to Professor H. R. Schaffer. I am indebted to Professor Schaffer and G. M. Collis for helpful advice and criticism, and to N. Sharp for technical assistance. The author's current address is Child and Family Research Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland 20014, U.S.A.

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