Hierarchical organization in the temporal structure of infant-direct speech and song

Falk, Simone; Kello, Christopher T.

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2017.02.017

Cited by 81 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Kello and colleagues also applied AF analysis to a wide range of speech, music, and animal vocalization recordings. Results were consistent with those of Falk and Kello and also extended them by showing that nested clustering is enhanced by musical composition. Moreover, AF functions were classified using support vector machines, and the results revealed a natural taxonomy of complex acoustic signals, where recordings within a given category yielded AF functions that could be separated from other categories (Fig.…”

Section: Techniques For Quantifying Rhythmic Structuresupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Hierarchical temporal structure (see below) was extracted from the waxing and waning of amplitude in the acoustic signal thereby identifying hierarchically nested bouts of temporal clusters across timescales. Generally, mothers emphasize the hierarchical temporal structure of infant‐directed speech and singing compared with adult‐directed communication . Abney and colleagues found that the hierarchical temporal structure of mothers and infants’ vocalizations was well aligned during mother−infant interactions.…”

Section: Human and Nonhuman Studies Of Vocal Rhythmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Generally, mothers emphasize the hierarchical temporal structure of infant-directed speech and singing compared with adult-directed communication. 134 Abney and colleagues 133 found that the hierarchical temporal structure of mothers and infants' vocalizations was well aligned during −infant interactions. In addition, preverbal vocalizations of infants (e.g., vocalic and syllabic sequences) were overall temporally better coordinated with their mother's vocalizations than any nonverbal vocalization (e.g., laughter and cries).…”

Section: Babbling and Stutteringmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…AF functions are computed by measuring AF variance across a range of timescales, to gauge the degree to which clustering increases across timescales. Falk and Kello 134 analyzed recordings of German mothers either singing a song or telling a story to their infants, compared with the same mothers singing or storytelling to adults. AF functions showed a greater degree of nested clustering in infant-directed versus adult-directed speech and song, particularly in timescales ranging from hundreds of milliseconds to more than 10 seconds.…”

Section: Rhythm As Temporal Hierarchy In Human and Nonhuman Vocalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rhythm in speech and animal vocalizations: a cross‐species perspective

Ravignani

Bella

Falk

et al. 2019

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Why does human speech have rhythm? As we cannot travel back in time to witness how speech developed its rhythmic properties and why humans have the cognitive skills to process them, we rely on alternative methods to find out. One powerful tool is the comparative approach: studying the presence or absence of cognitive/behavioral traits in other species to determine which traits are shared between species and which are recent human inventions. Vocalizations of many species exhibit temporal structure, but little is known about how these rhythmic structures evolved, are perceived and produced, their biological and developmental bases, and communicative functions. We review the literature on rhythm in speech and animal vocalizations as a first step toward understanding similarities and differences across species. We extend this review to quantitative techniques that are useful for computing rhythmic structure in acoustic sequences and hence facilitate cross‐species research. We report links between vocal perception and motor coordination and the differentiation of rhythm based on hierarchical temporal structure. While still far from a complete cross‐species perspective of speech rhythm, our review puts some pieces of the puzzle together.

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Section: Techniques For Quantifying Rhythmic Structuresupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Human and Nonhuman Studies Of Vocal Rhythmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Babbling and Stutteringmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rhythm As Temporal Hierarchy In Human and Nonhuman Vocalizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Rhythm in speech and animal vocalizations: a cross‐species perspective

Ravignani

Bella

Falk

et al. 2019

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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“…In addition to having a higher average F0 and wider F0 excursions, the elements of infant‐directed speech occur at a slower rate and with stronger quasiperiodic timing than adult‐directed speech. These features appear to enhance the temporal structure, facilitating the prediction of upcoming and stressed elements, and thereby scaffolding proper word segmentation and intelligibility . Research suggests that amplitude‐based stress patterning serves as a first toehold in language acquisition, which is then used to make predictions about proper segmentation.…”

Section: Temporal Patterning In Speechmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal modulation in speech, music, and animal vocal communication: evidence of conserved function

Filippi

Hoeschele

Spierings

et al. 2019

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences

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Speech is a distinctive feature of our species. It is the default channel for language and constitutes our primary mode of social communication. Determining the evolutionary origins of speech is a challenging prospect, in large part because it appears to be unique in the animal kingdom. However, direct comparisons between speech and other forms of acoustic communication, both in humans (music) and animals (vocalization), suggest that important components of speech are shared across domains and species. In this review, we focus on a single aspect of speech—temporal patterning—examining similarities and differences across speech, music, and animal vocalization. Additional structure is provided by focusing on three specific functions of temporal patterning across domains: (1) emotional expression, (2) social interaction, and (3) unit identification. We hypothesize an evolutionary trajectory wherein the ability to identify units within a continuous stream of vocal sounds derives from social vocal interaction, which, in turn, derives from vocal emotional communication. This hypothesis implies that unit identification has parallels in music and precursors in animal vocal communication. Accordingly, we demonstrate the potential of comparisons between fundamental domains of biological acoustic communication to provide insight into the evolution of language.

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Child language and autism diagnosis impact hierarchical temporal structure of parent–child vocal interactions in early childhood

et al. 2022

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Successful interactions involve conversational partners' flexibly adapting the timing of their behaviors. We measured the temporal patterns of vocalizations in parent-child interactions of typically developing (TD) and autistic infants/toddlers. While language growth made vocal interaction timing more flexible for TD child-parent dyads, it did not for autistic child-parent dyads who exhibited increased clustering of vocal interactions. Both language and social reciprocity play a role in the timing structure and flexibility of smooth interactions.

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Hierarchical organization in the temporal structure of infant-direct speech and song

Cited by 81 publications

References 50 publications

Rhythm in speech and animal vocalizations: a cross‐species perspective

Rhythm in speech and animal vocalizations: a cross‐species perspective

Temporal modulation in speech, music, and animal vocal communication: evidence of conserved function

Child language and autism diagnosis impact hierarchical temporal structure of parent–child vocal interactions in early childhood

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