Abstract
The present study investigated mothers' utterances to their infants in a setting of joint attention. Twenty-three mother-infant dyads were videotaped in their homes playing with toys, at two infant ages (7 and 12 months). The sum total of mothers' utterances increased between 7 and 12 months of age, while the names (denominations) of toys in their utterances also increased in number. In addition, there was an age difference in the joint-attention patterns in which maternal utterances were observed most frequently. Mothers talked most frequently about toys at both of the two infant ages, but there were some differences in their speech contents. Specifically, they provided 7-month old infants with emotional and subjective information about toys, and 12-month old infants with objective information. These changes in mothers' utterances, in terms of infant development, may be related to maternal scaffolding.
