Discriminating between mothers' infant- and adult-directed speech: Cross-linguistic generalizability from Japanese to Italian and German. (August 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sulpizio, Simone; Kuroda, Kaori; Dalsasso, Matteo; Asakawa, Tetsuya; Bornstein, Marc H.; Doi, Hirokazu; Esposito, Gianluca; Shinohara, Kazuyuki
• Is Part Of: Neuroscience research. Volume 133(2018)
• Page Start: 21
• Page End: 27
• Publication Date: 2018-08
• Subjects: Motherese -- Cross-language -- IDS -- ADS -- Classification -- MFCC; Neurosciences -- Research -- Periodicals; Neurosciences -- Research -- Japan -- Periodicals; Neurology -- Periodicals; Neurosciences -- Periodicals; Neurosciences -- Recherche -- Périodiques; Neurosciences -- Recherche -- Japon -- Périodiques; Neurosciences -- Research; Japan; Periodicals; 612.8
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2017.10.008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0168-0102

Abstract

Highlights: IDS and ADS can be correctly discriminated by a machine algorithm. Algorithm performs equally well in different languages (Japanese, Italian, German). Algorithm overcomes previous approaches in discriminating between IDS and ADS. Abstract: The aim of the present work was a cross-linguistic generalization of Inoue et al.'s (2011) algorithm for discriminating infant- (IDS) vs. adult-directed speech (ADS). IDS is the way in which mothers communicate with infants; it is a universal communicative property, with some cross-linguistic differences. Inoue et al. (2011) implemented a machine algorithm that, by using a mel-frequency cepstral coefficient and a hidden Markov model, discriminated IDS from ADS in Japanese. We applied the original algorithm to two other languages that are very different from Japanese – Italian and German – and then tested the algorithm on Italian and German databases of IDS and ADS. Our results showed that: First, in accord with the extant literature, IDS is realized in a similar way across languages; second, the algorithm performed well in both languages and close to that reported for Japanese. The implications for the algorithm are discussed.