Properties of Directed and Overheard Speech at 14 months
This study investigated characteristics of speech overheard by children at 14 months and explored variability in the attentional behaviors of children that might relate to their ability to learn from overheard speech. Results demonstrated that speech overheard by children differed from speech directed to them in ways that may potentially make overheard speech a difficult source of input to learn lexical items from. Overheard speech contained less reference to visually present objects, and was less likely to follow in on children’s attentional focus than child-directed speech. Results of this study also demonstrated that there exists variability in children’s ability to attend to objects referenced in overheard speech, and that this variability may be related to children’s experiences as overhearers. Children who received a higher percentage of their total input in overheard speech were more able than their peers to independently shift attention and attend to objects referenced in overheard speech. This manuscript is in prep.
A subset of 18 families from the program project 01 visit were used in this study. 9 of these families were households that contained multiple adult caregivers or siblings. The children living in these households were regularly exposed to overheard speech input. The other 9 families lived in households where the children spent most of their waking hours with a single caregiver. The target child living in these households was less likely to receive overheard input. The two groups of families were matched with one another (as best possible) based on target child sex, ethnicity, maternal education level and family income.
| Multi-speaker | Single Speaker |
|---|---|
| 108.01.LS.TXT | 103.01.LS.TXT |
| 28.01.LS.TXT | 106.01.LS.TXT |
| 40.01.LS.TXT | 119.01.LS.TXT |
| 61.01.LS.TXT | 33.01.LS.TXT |
| 62.01.LS.TXT | 44.01.LS.TXT |
| 68.01.LS.TXT | 45.01.LS.TXT |
| 82.01.LS.TXT | 50.01.LS.TXT |
| 87.01.LS.TXT | 51.01.LS.TXT |
| 91.01.LS.TXT | 72.01.LS.TXT |
We made a number of additions to the base transcripts that comprised our dataset.
First, all audible, intelligible utterances were added to the transcript (these additions include speech directed to the child from household members other than the primary caregiver as well as speech overheard by the child).
Second, we added codes for the following five items.
All utterances were coded for who is speaking and whether the speech is directed to the child or overheard by the child. This information can be found in the key_2 column (column G) of the transcript.
Overheard Speech
| 1: | Primary caregiver is speaking to other |
|---|---|
| 2: | Other child (under 13yrs) is speaking to other |
| 3: | Other adult is speaking to other |
Directed Speech
| 4: | Primary caregiver is speaking to child |
|---|---|
| 5: | Other child is speaking to child |
| 6: | Other adult is speaking to child |
All objects referenced in speech are coded for whether the object is present or absent. This information is found in the p_obj_pres column. If two (or more) objects were referenced in a single utterance, that utterance received two (or more) codes (e.g. PP)
| P: | if object is present (from the speakers point of view ) |
|---|---|
| A: | if object is absent (from the speakers point of view) |
| U: | if it is unclear if object is absent or present |
All utterances that contained a visually present object labeled were coded for whether or not the speaker followed in on the child’s focus.
If two (or more) present objects were referenced in a single utterance, that utterance received two (or more) codes separated by a period (e.g. y.n) This information can be found in the p_follow column.
| y: | if parental utterance (AT ONSET) follows child’s attentional focus (focus can be gaze, skilled touch, mouthing, or gesture). Example: Child is looking at bird, Parent says “that’s a bird” (if child is looking at bird when parent starts to say “that’s ...”) |
|---|---|
| n: | if parental utterance (at onset) does not follow child’s attentional focus. Example: Child is looking at bird, Parents says “Here’s a truck” |
| u: | if unclear |
All utterances that contained a visually present object label were coded for the kind of nonverbal cue the speaker gave to object name in utterance. This information can be found in the nvc column.
| e: | eye-gaze only |
|---|---|
| g: | gesture (gestures include hold up gestures, pointing gestures and give gestures) |
| eg: | eye gaze and gesture |
| t: | touch |
| et: | eye gaze and touch |
| u: | unclear |
Sixth, children’s attention to objects referenced in speech was coded for. Attention was inferred by gaze, skilled touch, mouthing, or gesture. This information is in the c_attention column.
| y: | if the child attends to referent before the start of the next speaker utterance |
|---|---|
| n: | if the child fails to attend to referent before the start of speaker’s next utterance or before 5 seconds |
| u: | if this in unclear |