Remembering and planning talk between mothers and children

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Abstract
Three aspects of temporally displaced (TD) talk between mothers and children were explored: the role of the knowledge base in such talk, the effect of mother talk on child talk, and the impact of such talk on the child's knowledge base. Mother‐child (2‐year‐old) speech was observed in three contexts: (a) routine or scripted; (b) free play; and (c) novel play. Such talk occurred almost exclusively in the scripted context and its topics were predominantly based on other routine activities in which the dyad was not presently engaged. These results point to the strong influence of the knowledge base in terms of event schemas (representations of routine activities) in supporting TD talk. Maternal talk was characterized by the use of adverbial temporal markers, hypothetical and conditional expressions, conversational routines, and Wh‐ questions. These aspects of maternal speech indicate “scaffolding” and may facilitate the child's acquisition of the appropriate form, content, and organization of TD talk. Analyses of the relation between TD talk and child knowledge indicated that for past events, maternal speech can mediate information and experience and thereby contribute to and transform the child's world knowledge.

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