Maternal control of co-vocalization and inter-speaker silences in mother-infant vocal engagements.

Co-vocalizations and inter-speaker silences were used to investigate the vocal engagements of six mother-infant dyads. Observed records of vocal behaviours were compared with records in which the vocal behaviours were randomized. The results indicated that there were significantly fewer co-vocalizations in observed than in randomized records; that the durations of inter-speaker silences following infant vocalization were significantly shorter in observed than in randomized records; and that the durations of inter-speaker silences following maternal vocalization were significantly longer in observed than in randomized records. These findings were interpreted as being consistent with the view that mothers attempt to engage their infants in turn-taking encounters, and that descriptions of such engagements in terms of conversational metaphors may be misleading in this regard.