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A Comparison between Motherese in the West and in Chinese Mandarin

Received: 26 November 2013     Published: 30 December 2013
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Abstract

Motherese, a name given to the restricted sort of language spoken by mothers to their children, could have an important role in affecting the rate of language acquisition. The way children acquire language in a miraculously short time is a topic of enormous current interest, stimulated by new technology which is currently enhancing our knowledge. Various studies have shown that those children who have been exposed to motherese are more likely to acquire the language at an accelerated pace. There are researches about this subject both in China and in the West, but a comparison of the similarities and differences between motherese in the West and in China has seldom been researched. This paper sets out to explore the similarities and differences between motherese in the West and in Chinese mandarin through a qualitative and a quantitative research. Through this study, it will be of great help to children’s language development. Nowadays, with the development of the society, new mothers attach more importance to children’s language development in order to found a good starting point. Meanwhile, many Chinese mothers want to create an English environment to their children by themselves. In this sense, this study can be of great significance.

Published in International Journal of Language and Linguistics (Volume 1, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijll.20130104.15
Page(s) 117-123
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Motherese, Characteristic, Children, West, China, Language Development

References
[1] Alison, J. E. (1981), Child language. Cambridge textbooks in linguistics.
[2] Carroll, D. W. (1999), Psychology of Language(M). Brooks/Cole/Thomson Learning Asia.
[3] Ferguson, C. A (1977). "Baby talk as a simplified register ", In: Snow, C.E and Ferguson, C,A (eds.), Talking to Children: Language Input and Acquisition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 209-235.
[4] Fernald, A. (1984) The Perceptual and affective salience of mothers’ speech to infants. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
[5] Gleitman, L. R., Newport, E.L. and Gleitman, H. The current status of the motherese hypothesis(J). Journal of Child Language, 1984, (11):43-79.
[6] Huei-Mei, L.(2007), Acoustic Analysis of Lexical Tone in Mandarin Infant-Directed Speech(J). Language Science, America.
[7] Locke, J. L. (1983). "Development of the Capacity for Spoken Language", In: Paul Fletcher & Brian MacWhinny, The Handbook of Child Language, Blackwell.
[8] Osser, H. (1975). "Biological and Social Factors in Language Development", In: Rogers, Sinclair(ed.), Children and Language, Readings in Early Language and Socialization, London: Oxford University Press, pp. 289-307.
[9] Olim, E. G. (1975), "Maternal Language Styles and Cognitive Development", In: Rogers, Sinclair(ed.), Children and Language, Readings in Early Language and Socialization, London: Oxford University Press, pp. 309-326.
[10] Oller, D.K., (1978). Infant vocalizations and the development of speech. Allied Health and Behavioral Science 1, 523–549.
[11] Paul, F., et al. (1023-1925), The Handbook of Child Language, Blackwell.
[12] Patrick, H. (2011), Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins Publishers LLC.
[13] Yasmine, C. (2003). Child Language Acquisition: "The role of socialization in the acquisition of language". Annee academique.
[14] 陈敏(Chen Min)(2005),The issue of fine-tuning of linguistic complexity in child directed speech[J]. Hunan University Press.
[15] 陈敏 (Chen Min) (2009),Empirical study on the existence of child directed speech [J]. Journal of Shaoyang University (Social Science Edition).
[16] 尹静 (Yin Jing) (2012),Motionese: a new advance in the study of motherese[J]. Chinese Journal of Special Education.
[17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_talk.
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  • APA Style

    WANG Yurong, Lin Li. (2013). A Comparison between Motherese in the West and in Chinese Mandarin. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 1(4), 117-123. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20130104.15

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    ACS Style

    WANG Yurong; Lin Li. A Comparison between Motherese in the West and in Chinese Mandarin. Int. J. Lang. Linguist. 2013, 1(4), 117-123. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20130104.15

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    AMA Style

    WANG Yurong, Lin Li. A Comparison between Motherese in the West and in Chinese Mandarin. Int J Lang Linguist. 2013;1(4):117-123. doi: 10.11648/j.ijll.20130104.15

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijll.20130104.15,
      author = {WANG Yurong and Lin Li},
      title = {A Comparison between Motherese in the West and in Chinese Mandarin},
      journal = {International Journal of Language and Linguistics},
      volume = {1},
      number = {4},
      pages = {117-123},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijll.20130104.15},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijll.20130104.15},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijll.20130104.15},
      abstract = {Motherese, a name given to the restricted sort of language spoken by mothers to their children, could have an important role in affecting the rate of language acquisition. The way children acquire language in a miraculously short time is a topic of enormous current interest, stimulated by new technology which is currently enhancing our knowledge.  Various studies have shown that those children who have been exposed to motherese are more likely to acquire the language at an accelerated pace. There are researches about this subject both in China and in the West, but a comparison of the similarities and differences between motherese in the West and in China has seldom been researched. This paper sets out to explore the similarities and differences between motherese in the West and in Chinese mandarin through a qualitative and a quantitative research. Through this study, it will be of great help to children’s language development. Nowadays, with the development of the society, new mothers attach more importance to children’s language development in order to found a good starting point. Meanwhile, many Chinese mothers want to create an English environment to their children by themselves. In this sense, this study can be of great significance.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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    AU  - WANG Yurong
    AU  - Lin Li
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    JF  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
    JO  - International Journal of Language and Linguistics
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    AB  - Motherese, a name given to the restricted sort of language spoken by mothers to their children, could have an important role in affecting the rate of language acquisition. The way children acquire language in a miraculously short time is a topic of enormous current interest, stimulated by new technology which is currently enhancing our knowledge.  Various studies have shown that those children who have been exposed to motherese are more likely to acquire the language at an accelerated pace. There are researches about this subject both in China and in the West, but a comparison of the similarities and differences between motherese in the West and in China has seldom been researched. This paper sets out to explore the similarities and differences between motherese in the West and in Chinese mandarin through a qualitative and a quantitative research. Through this study, it will be of great help to children’s language development. Nowadays, with the development of the society, new mothers attach more importance to children’s language development in order to found a good starting point. Meanwhile, many Chinese mothers want to create an English environment to their children by themselves. In this sense, this study can be of great significance.
    VL  - 1
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Author Information
  • Department of English, College of Foreign Languages, China Three Gorges University, Yichang of Hubei Province, China

  • Department of English, College of Foreign Languages, China Three Gorges University, Yichang of Hubei Province, China

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