Whining as mother-directed speech

Chang, Rosemarie Sokol; Webster, Karen; Thompson, Nicholas S.; Stevens, David A.

doi:10.1002/icd.420

Cited by 11 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…In this connection, we would submit that whining could serve as a transitional form of crying, as the child becomes more physically independent and linguistically competent. Whining is a vocalization, often coupled with speech, which is used to make a request (e.g., for food), lodge a complaint, or represent discontent (Sokol, Webster, Thompson, & Stevens, 2005). It has been suggested that whining shares with crying the specialized acoustic characteristics of increased pitch and varied pitch patterns.…”

Section: Specific Priorities For Further Explorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crying: Call for a Lifespan Approach

Rottenberg

Vingerhoets

2012

Social & Personality Psych

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Although crying is woven through the life course, from the doctor’s slap to a deathbed vigil, there is no well‐established lifespan tradition of studying crying. Instead the study of crying is broken into separate bodies of work on childhood (mostly on infants) and on adults. In this contribution, we share our enthusiasm and our ideas for the construction of a lifespan narrative of crying behavior. The evolutionary and phylogenic basis of crying is first outlined. We highlight the most important transitions in humans, including changes in the antecedents of crying, and the ways crying is increasingly regulated. We piece together existing research on these transitions and identify key gaps in knowledge, including the developmental periods, such as adolescence and old age, that have been the most seriously neglected. Finally, we suggest key empirical and methodological future directions that will most invigorate the study of crying as a developmental phenomenon.

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Section: Specific Priorities For Further Explorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crying: Call for a Lifespan Approach

Rottenberg

Vingerhoets

2012

Social & Personality Psych

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“…For this method, using Praat 4.2.14 (Boersma & Weenink, 2004), each segment was analyzed to evaluate its pitch, rate of production (e.g. length of spoken portions and inhalations), and variation in pitch, all of which are salient characteristics of whining and motherese (see Sokol et al, 2005 for full details). This approach revealed that the whining and motherese stimuli exhibited these characteristics in comparison to the neutral speech sufficient for use in this experiment (see Table 1).…”

Section: Stimulimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whines enter into a child's vocal repertoire with the onset of language, typically peaking between 2.5 and 4 years of age (Borba, 2003; Sears & Sears, 1995). This sound is perceived as more annoying even than infant cries (Sokol et al, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whines, cries, and motherese: Their relative power to distract.

Chang

Thompson

2011

Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology

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There is ample support for the ability of motherese and infant cries, and more recently whining, to attract the attention of listeners. Similarly, Morsbach, McCulloch & Clark (1986) showed that infant cries were better at distracting listeners who were instructed to pay attention to a simple cognitive task. As an extension of this early study, the current study examined the ability of whines, cries, and motherese to distract listeners. All participants completed a series of simple subtraction problems while listening to these three attachment vocalizations as well as to machine noise, neutral speech, and silence (non-attachment controls). Distraction was measured in terms of number of subtraction problems completed, errors made, and a proportion score of errors to problems completed, for each condition. Participants, regardless of gender or parental status, were more distracted when listening to attachment vocalizations than silence as measured by number of problems completed, and were more distracted by whines than machine noise or motherese as measured by proportion scores. In absolute numbers, participants were most distracted by whines, followed by infant cries and motherese. We consider this study further evidence that whines, cries, and motherese are all part of an attachment vocalization system that exploit an auditory sensitivity shared by humans.

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“…Whining is generally considered unpleasant and unwanted (Edwards, 2005). Defined as "a low somewhat shrill protracted cry" (Oxford English Dictionary), the distinctive intonational pattern of whining involves exaggerated rising pitch contours, increased loudness, and slower production (Sokol, et al, 2005). While this makes whining a useful attention-getting practice, whining has been found to be more annoying and distracting than other speech forms (Chang & Thompson, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children’s Whining in Family Interaction

Butler

Edwards

2018

Research on Language and Social Interaction

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Children's whining is identified in extracts of video-recorded social interaction at home with siblings, parents and other family. "Whining" is primarily a vernacular category, but can be identified in terms of a set of phonetic features including pitch movement, loudness and nasality, and contrasted with crying. We focus on the uses and consequences of whining, in and for social interaction. Rather than identifying and attributing experiential causes or correlates of whining, we examine what children do with it, how it is occasioned, and how others, mostly parents, respond to it. Whining performs actions such as objecting to transgressions and thwarted goals, and making complaints. Parental reactions include one or more of: "stance inversion," which is the adoption of a contrasting tone in next turn; formulations of the offending circumstances; orientations to remedying the problem; and rejection of the whine's basis, including dispositional formulations of the child's whining (e.g., being "grumpy"), and accounts for not complying with a called-for remedy. Data are in English.

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Whining as mother-directed speech

Cited by 11 publications

References 9 publications

Crying: Call for a Lifespan Approach

Crying: Call for a Lifespan Approach

Whines, cries, and motherese: Their relative power to distract.

Children’s Whining in Family Interaction

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