ABSTRACT
Observations of caregiver-infant interactions have consistently revealed that adult caregivers begin talking to infants during the newborn period and continue this form of interaction throughout the infancy period. Caregivers engage in these interactions even though young infants themselves can neither reciprocate with language nor comprehend the language that they hear. The type of language adults produce when talking to infants has been labeled infant-directed (ID) speech and is different from the type they use for communicating with other adults on several dimensions, but primarily in its prosodic properties. These rhythmic and melodic modifications in speech to infants have been found in a number of languages, and they are produced by children, adults, parents, and nonparents.
