| Project Detail |
Insights into infant language acquisition
In the realm of infant language acquisition, research has predominantly focused on English and other well-studied Indo-European languages, leaving a void in our understanding of language development in non-WEIRD (western, educated, industrialised, rich, and democratic) societies. This gap poses a challenge in generalising the impact of infant-directed speech (IDS) on infants’ language development worldwide. With the support of Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, the Hindi-BabyNet project will address this disparity. It will provide empirical investigations into infant language acquisition in Indias diverse socio-economic backgrounds. By collecting infant and adult-directed speech data, the project seeks to identify acoustic features of Hindi IDS. The project will establish CDI norms and use machine learning models to unravel the learning mechanisms unique to India.
Recently it showed that the research in infant language acquisition is highly skewed towards English and other well-studied Indo-European languages. Therefore, most of the evidence regarding IDS helps in infants language development stems from the families living in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries (like the U.K. US, Germany, France etc.). Yet, we know that parent’s communication with their infants varies across cultures regarding their gestures, vocal emotions, and speech. Because of these differences in parent-infant interaction, infant language learning in WEIRD countries/societies can be assumed to differ from contemporary infant learning in the developing world. Consequently, we cannot ascertain whether the contrast of IDS with ADS and its tailoring to infants language development found in WEIRD countries/societies can be generalized to non-WEIRD countries/societies. Hence, to generalize the impact of IDS on infants language development, empirical investigations are required in contemporary developing societies like India, which show what life has been like for most infants in the developing world. The Linguistic and acoustic properties of infant-directed speech in Hindi-learning infant’s (Hindi-BabyNet) project will provide a unique opportunity to gain better insights into infant language acquisition in India
across various socio-economic backgrounds. This study aim to provide CDI norms for Hindi-speaking group. Also, this study includes
collecting infant and adult-directed speech data for Hindi speakers across different social-economic statuses in India. In addition, this study aims to find the acoustic features of infant-directed speech and their significance in early language development from an Indian perspective and also utilize machine learning model to investigate the acoustic cues of IDS that are useful in learning mechanism. |
