Parents'talk to their infants: the importance of context

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Abstract
This study examines two theories concerning the nature of parents' talk to their young children. The Differential Experience Hypothesis posits that mothers' and fathers' speech styles are distinguishable and each serves a different function in the child's language development. In contrast the Context Hypothesis argues that observed differences between parents are the product of the different contexts in which parent-toddler interaction is examined. An analysis of mothers' and fathers' talk to their 10- and 15-month-olds during three activities- book play, toy play and free play - revealed that both the structure and function of parental language were influenced most by the nature of play in which parent-child pairs were engaged. Variation between mothers and fathers may, therefore, reflect a predisposition for parents to engage in different activities when their language is recorded for examination. Moreover, it is argued that these differ ences reflect their idiosyncratic perceptions of socially expected behaviour.