Browsing by Person "Kempe, Vera"

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Does Child-Directed Speech Facilitate Language Development in All Domains? A Study Space Analysis of the Existing Evidence
(Elsevier, 2024-03-04) Kempe, Vera; Ota, Mitsuhiko; Schaeffler, Sonja
Because child-directed speech (CDS) is ubiquitous in some cultures and because positive associations between certain features of the language input and certain learning outcomes have been attested it has often been claimed that the function of CDS is to aid children’s language development in general. We argue that for this claim to be generalisable, superior learning from CDS compared to non-CDS, such as adult-directed speech (ADS), must be demonstrated across multiple input domains and learning outcomes. To determine the availability of such evidence we performed a study space analysis of the research literature on CDS. A total of 942 relevant papers were coded with respect to (i) CDS features under consideration, (ii) learning outcomes and (iii) whether a comparison between CDS and ADS was reported. The results show that only 16.2% of peer-reviewed studies in this field compared learning outcomes between CDS and ADS, almost half of which focussed on the ability to discriminate between the two registers. Crucially, we found only 20 studies comparing learning outcomes between CDS and ADS for morphosyntactic and lexico-semantic features and none for pragmatic and extra-linguistic features. Although these 20 studies provided preliminary evidence for a facilitative effect of some specific morphosyntactic and lexico-semantic features, overall CDS-ADS comparison studies are very unevenly distributed across the space of CDS features and outcome measures. The disproportional emphasis on prosodic, phonetic, and phonological input features, and register discrimination as the outcome invites caution with respect to the generalisability of the claim that CDS facilitates language development across the breadth of input domains and learning outcomes. Future research ought to resolve the discrepancy between sweeping claims about the function of CDS as facilitating language development on the one hand and the narrow evidence base for such a claim on the other by conducting CDS-ADS comparisons across a wider range of input features and outcome measures.
Does child-directed speech facilitate language development in all domains? A study space analysis of the existing evidence
(2024-02-29) Kempe, Vera; Ota, Mitsuhiko; Schaeffler, Sonja
Data related to the paper: Kempe, V., Ota, M. and Schaeffler, S. (2024) ‘Does Child-Directed Speech Facilitate Language Development in All Domains? A Study Space Analysis of the Existing Evidence’, Developmental Review [Preprint].
Individual Differences in the Discrimination of Novel Speech Sounds: Effects of Sex, Temporal Processing, Musical and Cognitive Abilities
(2012-11-05) Kempe, Vera; Thoresen, John C.; Kirk, Neil W.; Schaeffler, Felix; Brooks, Patricia J.
This study examined whether rapid temporal auditory processing, verbal working memory capacity, non-verbal intelligence, executive functioning, musical ability and prior foreign language experience predicted how well native English speakers (N = 120) discriminated Norwegian tonal and vowel contrasts as well as a non-speech analogue of the tonal contrast and a native vowel contrast presented over noise. Results confirmed a male advantage for temporal and tonal processing, and also revealed that temporal processing was associated with both non-verbal intelligence and speech processing. In contrast, effects of musical ability on non-native speech-sound processing and of inhibitory control on vowel discrimination were not mediated by temporal processing. These results suggest that individual differences in non-native speech-sound processing are to some extent determined by temporal auditory processing ability, in which males perform better, but are also determined by a host of other abilities that are deployed flexibly depending on the characteristics of the target sounds.
Is the Past a Different Culture? Tracking Changes in Prosodic Features of Child-Directed Broadcasting Across Six Decades
(University of California, 2025) Kempe, Vera; Gravelle, C. Donnan; Perschke, Stina; Williams, Glenn; Schaeffler, Sonja
While research has explored cross-cultural variation in childdirected speech (CDS), little is known about if and how it may have changed over time. We explore whether CDS has undergone historical change by analyzing prosodic features in child-directed (CD) broadcasts from a German children’s bedtime program (1959–present) and comparing them to adultdirected (AD) weather forecasts from the same period. The program originated in East Germany and continued after German reunification in 1990, potentially reflecting a sociocultural shift toward more child-centric attitudes characteristic of Western liberal democracies. Pitch variation in CD broadcasts, although higher than in AD broadcasts, remained stable over time. In contrast, articulation rates showed no register difference pre-1990; only after 1990 did CD broadcasts exhibit the slower articulation rates typical of CDS. This suggests that some features of CDS may be subject to cultural evolution over historical time, which can be accelerated by major historical events.
Is the Past a Different Culture? Tracking Changes in Prosodic Features of Child-Directed Broadcasting Across Six Decades [Dataset]
(2025) Kempe, Vera; Gravelle, C. Donnan; Perschke, Stina; Williams, Glenn; Schaeffler, Sonja
Supplementary data for: https://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/14247 Kempe, V., Gravelle, C.D., Perschke, S., Williams, G. and Schaeffler, S. (2025) ‘Is the Past a Different Culture? Tracking Changes in Prosodic Features of ChildDirected Broadcasting Across Six Decades’, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 47. is available at: https://osf.io/59wsb/ .
Male facial attractiveness, perceived personality, and child-directed speech.
(Elsevier, 2007-07) Penton-Voak, Ian S.; Cahill, Stephanie; Pound, Nicholas; Kempe, Vera; Schaeffler, Sonja; Schaeffler, Felix
This study investigated associations between men's facial attractiveness, perceived personality, attitudes towards children, and the quality of their child-directed (CD) speech. Sixty-three males were photographed and completed a brief questionnaire concerning their family background and attitudes towards children. They then performed a task in which they gave directions to (imaginary) adults and children. Analyses of the acoustic properties of speech produced under each condition were performed in order to determine the extent to which individual men changed their speech to accommodate a child listener (i.e., exhibited CD speech). The men's faces were rated by 59 female participants, who assessed perceived prosociality, masculinity, health, and short- and long-term attractiveness. Although women's ratings of attractiveness and prosociality were related to men's self-reported liking for children, they were negatively correlated to men's use of CD speech (i.e., less attractive men used more features of CD speech when addressing an imaginary child). These findings are discussed in the context of halo effects and strategic pluralism in male mating behaviors.
Mothers are less efficient in employing prosodic disambiguation in child-directed speech than non-mothers : is there a trade-off between affective and linguistic prosody?
(2007-08) Schaeffler, Sonja; Kempe, Vera
This study examines prosodic disambiguation in child-directed (CD) speech. Twenty-four mothers addressed syntactically ambiguous sentences to their 2;0 to 3;8 year old child and to an adult confederate. Twenty-four non-mothers addressed an imaginary toddler and an imaginary adult. We found that only mothers increased pitch and produced the CD-typical pitch excursions when addressing their children. In contrast, non-mothers, but not mothers, used prosodic disambiguation in CD speech, which was corroborated by a forced choice test in which 48 listeners judged the intended meaning of each sentence. The results suggest that if speakers express genuine positive affect, they tend to emphasise affective prosody at the expense of linguistic prosody. In the case of CD speech, this communication strategy may be more effective as it serves to elicit the child's attention.
Prosodic disambiguation in child-directed speech
(2010) Kempe, Vera; Schaeffler, Sonja; Thoresen, John C.
The study examines whether speakers exaggerate prosodic cues to syntactic structure when addressing young children. In four experiments, 72 mothers and 48 non-mothers addressed either real 2-4-year old or imaginary children as well as adult confederates using syntactically ambiguous sentences like Touch the cat with the spoon intending to convey either an instrument (high attachment) or a modifier (low attachment) interpretation. Mothers produced longer segments and pauses in child-directed speech (CDS) compared to adult-directed speech (ADS). However, in CDS, mothers lengthened post-nominal pauses in both the instrument and the modifier sentences to a similar extent thereby failing to disambiguate between the two interpretations. In contrast, non-mothers provided reliable prosodic disambiguation cues in CDS by producing post-nominal pauses that were longer in instrument than modifier sentences. Experiment 5, using ratings from 50 participants, determined that expressed positive affect was higher in the CDS of mothers than of non-mothers. Negative correlations between vocal affect and degree of prosodic disambiguation in CDS compared to ADS suggest that there may be a trade-off between affective and linguistic prosody such that greater dominance of affective prosody may limit the informativeness of prosodic cues as markers of syntactic structure. 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.