The Function of Parental Proxy Talk in Pre-Verbal Communication

Abstract

How do parents communicate with babies before their infants learn to talk? It has been observed that parents use Parental Proxy Talk (PPT) as if the speech came from the infant's own voice. In other words, PPT reflects their expectations what the infants were thinking and feeling. The present study of PPT explored how PPT functions from birth to 15 months of age, and how PPT contributes to communication with pre-verbal infants. Dyadic interactions of twelve mothers with their infants were observed and analyzed. The results showed that there were three periods in the development of the use of PPT; (1) a gradual increase between 0–3 months, (2) a peak period from 6–9 months, and (3) a period of decreasing use of PPT from 12–15 months. The study also showed that PPT functions to support not only the pre-verbal infants but also parents themselves, e.g., in parents' emotion regulation.