Father-Directed Speech

Do Father's contribute to Language Development?

Now you are probably wondering... but the majority of studies are done with mothers! Well, there is actually heavy data on the father's role in infant-directed speech!

A father reading to their 2 year old daughter

A father is reading a book to their son, on the floor.

A father is hugging his son and daughter, while watching their daughter talk.

It is known that mother's often shift their pitch when speaking to infants, but what about fathers? Majority of data that is presented is in relation with the maternal role in a child's development. In a study done by Tanya Brosch and Gregory A. Bryant, there is evidence in which fathers from urban populations and small-scale populations such as Vanuatu, also contribute varieties of pitch when speaking to children. While focusing on the pitch, they noticed that "fathers from both cultural groups increased their pitch range when speaking to infants compared to speaking with adults, but fathers in both groups did not significantly increase their pitch variability. However, small-scale fathers modified their vocal pitch, using higher average pitch when speaking to infants compared to adults, whereas urban fathers did not" (Brosch and Bryant 38).

In Linguistics, F0 is the Fundamental Frequency of speech signals. In this particular study, we will be looking at pitch which is represented as F0.

We can see how in Vanuatu the pitch increases when using infant-directed speech in comparison to adult-directed speech. In Urban North American, fathers drop the speed in which they are talking to their children, while Vanuatu continues very close, just as adult-directed speech. These findings show different strategies that different cultures take in how they plan to help their child's development. While North American fathers speak slower, Vanuatu father's increase their pitch.

Should I talk to my child a certain way?

A father is correcting their young daughter

As mentioned above, culturally, there is a variety of ways that fathers talk to their child in order to help in their language developmental growth. Overall, it is innate in the way we either increase our pitch or talk slower; each have shown to contribute to a child's language development. Fathers, your role in Speech production is just as important and valuable to the development of your child!