Gender Differences in Child-Directed Speech

Do mothers and fathers communicate differently with their children?

Since the 1970s, several studies have been conducted to answer this question. This website highlights some recent work in the field, as well as several studies that explore more specific areas of the topic.

Child-Directed Speech

When people speak to children, they significantly modify their speech. Child-Directed Speech (CDS) is generally less complex and more exaggerated than normal speech.

Some features of CDS:

phonological

simplification

higher pitch

emphatic stress

longer and more frequent pauses

slower rate of speech

lexical

limited range of words

local topics

special forms

syntactic

shorter utterances

less complex utterances

(Field, 2004)

This site was last updated 03/18/05

Content and site design by Adam Berey, 2005.