Caregiver Speech

Caregiver Speech

1. Repeat certain structures

2. Lots of questions including tag qs and known answer qs

3. Lots of imperatives, particularly migrated imperative e.g.. gentle suggestions 'shall we'

4. Expanding on what a child has said : Developing

5. Recast what a child has said- representing information in a different way: Correcting

6. Phonology/Prosody

   • Intonation is exaggerated and words are stressed
   • Words and phrases repeated
   • Pace is slower with much slower and longer pauses

7. Lexis!

   • Vocab is often simplified
   • Reduplication eg 'choo choo' & 'da da'
   • Diminutives such as 'birdie'
   • High proportion of concrete nouns- objects the child can see and touch.

8. Grammar

   • Simplified sentences with auxiliary verbs often omitted eg. 'Annie go walk'
   • Proper nouns- frequent repetition of the child's name etc 'Is Annie?' instead of are you & 'mummy is just going to..'
   • More frequent use of plural pronouns rather than single 'we' rather than 'i' or 'you'
   • Most nouns concrete rather than abstract
   • Present tense will be used more than past

9. Effect of CDS?