When Does Baby Talk Begin? Evidence from Toddlers’ Gestures

What is it about?

When we talk to young children, we instinctively adjust how we communicate— using simpler words, more repetition, and exaggerated expressions. This has been called motherese, baby talk, or child-directed communication. But when does this ability to adapt our communication actually begin? Gestures are central to toddlers’ communication—before they speak, and while language is coming on line, they use lots of gestures to express themselves, so it makes for a great system to compare the communication of children at different ages, even when they’re very young. We looked at whether toddlers also adjust the way they gesture depending on the age of their partners. We first compared how toddlers communicate with adults and other children, and then looked more closely at how they interact with younger versus older peers. We found that toddlers can also modify their communication! They used more varied but shorter gestures with other toddlers as compared to adults. They also communicated with younger peers at a slower pace and used simpler vocabulary, similarly to how adults adjust their speech when talking to children!

Featured Image

Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash

Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our findings suggest that the ability to adapt communication to a partner’s age emerges before language is fully developed. Even before becoming fluent speakers, toddlers already modify their gestures depending on who they are interacting with. This shows that even at such an early stage of development, our communication skills are flexible and mindful of who we are communicating with. Importantly, the toddlers adjusted their behavior in both expected ways (using simpler language and slower pacing with younger peers) and more subtle ways (changing the type and length of gestures with adults) - revealing new dimensions of flexibility! These findings help us better understand how social awareness and communicative flexibility develop early in life.

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