| Abstract: | Reviews the research concerning the possible functional roles of the prosodic aspects of infant-directed speech ("baby-talk"), and shows that this style of speaking could have both attentional and affective functions (in addition to linguistic ones). Studies of other speech registers could profit from taking similar approaches and even using similar techniques to those used in infant-directed speech research to tease apart the linguistic, attentional, and affective components of these other speaking styles. Nursing-home register is used to exemplify the importance of examining the social, emotional, and linguistic ramifications of a communication style separately. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
