The phonological forms and perceived functions of janyarrp, the Gurindji ‘baby talk’ register

Jones, Caroline; Meakins, Felicity

doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2013.07.004

Cited by 32 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…While not an explicit focus of this study, work on Baby Talk registers in Australian languages formed part of the theoretical grounding of register (see Laughren, 1984 ; Bavin, 1992 , 1993 ; Kral and Ellis, 2008 ; O'Shannessy, 2011 ; Jones and Meakins, 2013 ; Turpin et al, 2014 ). We are, thus, able to reflect on the language input to the children in our study with this work in mind.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there is very little research describing language input in these non-Western societies on occasions when input is provided by caregivers, and even less looking at child language development in relation to input, beyond the body of research on the acquisition of language-specific grammatical and phonological features. In Indigenous Australia, a number of researchers have observed the use of “baby talk” registers (Laughren, 1984 ; Lee, 1987 ; Bavin, 1992 , 1993 ; Kral and Ellis, 2008 ; Jones and Meakins, 2013 ; Turpin et al, 2014 ). This register is typically characterized by such features as phonological simplification, semantic simplification (for some groups of vocabulary items), repetition, slower speech rate and falling prosodic contour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Child-caregiver interaction in two remote Indigenous Australian communities

et al. 2015

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This paper reports on a study in two remote multilingual Indigenous Australian communities: Yakanarra in the Kimberley region of Western Australia and Tennant Creek in the Barkly region of the Northern Territory. In both communities, processes of language shift are underway from a traditional language (Walmajarri and Warumungu, respectively) to a local creole variety (Fitzroy Valley Kriol and Wumpurrarni English, respectively). The study focuses on language input from primary caregivers to a group of preschool children, and on the children's productive language. The study further highlights child-caregiver interactions as a site of importance in understanding the broader processes of language shift. We use longitudinal data from two time-points, approximately 2 years apart, to explore changes in adult input over time and developmental patterns in the children's speech. At both time points, the local creole varieties are the preferred codes of communication for the dyads in this study, although there is some use of the traditional language in both communities. Results show that for measures of turn length (MLT), there are notable differences between the two communities for both the focus children and their caregivers. In Tennant Creek, children and caregivers use longer turns at Time 2, while in Yakanarra the picture is more variable. The two communities also show differing trends in terms of conversational load (MLT ratio). For measures of morphosyntactic complexity (MLU), children and caregivers in Tennant Creek use more complex utterances at Time 2, while caregivers in Yakanarra show less complexity in their language at that time point. The study's findings contribute to providing a more detailed picture of the multilingual practices at Yakanarra and Tennant Creek, with implications for understanding broader processes of language shift. They also elucidate how children's language and linguistic input varies diachronically across time. As such, we contribute to understandings of normative language development for non-Western, non middle-class children in multilingual contexts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Child-caregiver interaction in two remote Indigenous Australian communities

et al. 2015

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“…Public health efforts in hearing and ear health can potentially be more effective if they recognise existing crosscultural beliefs and practices. For example, Aboriginal parents may prioritise their children’s understanding and receptive language as opposed to their verbal performance [ 30 ]. There is also relatively little known about Aboriginal parents’ understandings of hearing health and to what extent they prioritise this.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is also relatively little known about Aboriginal parents’ understandings of hearing health and to what extent they prioritise this. This is a particular issue since an auxiliary sign language is a common mode of communication with young children, including preverbal children [ 30 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By school age, many Indigenous children are regarded as developmentally vulnerable or delayed relative to non-Indigenous peers, for example on the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC [ 30 ]), a measure of teacher-rated school readiness across five key domains (including language and communication) administered in the first term of compulsory schooling (at age 5–6 years). In the Elsey NT region (2015 AEDC data), Indigenous children are between two and seven times more likely to be classified as “developmentally vulnerable” (<10th percentile in any domain) [ 31 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A program to respond to otitis media in remote Australian Aboriginal communities: a qualitative investigation of parent perspectives

et al. 2018

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BackgroundIndigenous infants and children in Australia, especially in remote communities, experience early and chronic otitis media (OM) which is difficult to treat and has lifelong impacts in health and education. The LiTTLe Program (Learning to Talk, Talking to Learn) aimed to increase infants’ access to spoken language input, teach parents to manage health and hearing problems, and support children’s school readiness. This paper aimed to explore caregivers’ views about this inclusive, parent-implemented early childhood program for 0–3 years in an Aboriginal community health context.MethodsData from in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 9 caregivers of 12 children who had participated in the program from one remote Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory are presented. Data were analysed thematically. Caregivers provided overall views on the program. In addition, three key areas of focus in the program are also presented here: speech and language, hearing health, and school readiness.ResultsCaregivers were positive about the interactive speech and language strategies in the program, except for some strategies which some parents found alien or difficult: such as talking slowly, following along with the child’s topic, using parallel talk, or baby talk. Children’s hearing was considered by caregivers to be important for understanding people, enjoying music, and detecting environmental sounds including signs of danger. Caregivers provided perspectives on the utility of sign language and its benefits for communicating with infants and young children with hearing loss, and the difficulty of getting young community children to wear a conventional hearing aid. Caregivers were strongly of the opinion that the program had helped prepare children for school through familiarising their child with early literacy activities and resources, as well as school routines. But caregivers differed as to whether they thought the program should have been located at the school itself.ConclusionsThe caregivers generally reported positive views about the LiTTLe Program, and also drew attention to areas for improvement. The perspectives gathered may serve to guide other cross-sector collaborations across health and education to respond to OM among children at risk for OM-related disability in speech and language development.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12887-018-1081-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Language and social values

Burridge

Stebbins

2019

For the Love of Language

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The phonological forms and perceived functions of janyarrp, the Gurindji ‘baby talk’ register

Cited by 32 publications

References 47 publications

Child-caregiver interaction in two remote Indigenous Australian communities

Child-caregiver interaction in two remote Indigenous Australian communities

A program to respond to otitis media in remote Australian Aboriginal communities: a qualitative investigation of parent perspectives

Language and social values

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