Music in first-language acquisition

Clicks: 1
ID: 322035
2026
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #1,394 of 1,517 articles by views in Oxford University Press eBooks

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 1,517 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Abstract In the current chapter, we address infants’ language-acquisition challenges in extracting regularities (such as phonemes, words, and phrases) from the variable acoustic input of the continuous signal of both speech and song. We review the (musical) characteristics of infant-directed speech and song, including pitch characteristics, speech rate, boundary marking, rhythm and repetition, and the evidence for potential benefits of these characteristics for language development. Compared to adult-directed speech, infant-directed speech is generally slower and higher-pitched, contains many repetitions, and shows stronger rhythmic regularity, combined with increased pitch variability and enhanced boundary marking. Songs are highly captivating for infants, and song exposure is positively associated with infants’ language development. Infant-directed song is inherently rhythmical, with pitch being bound to the melody, resulting in a predictable temporal and melodic structure. Benefits for language acquisition might arise because musical characteristics in infant-directed communication help the infant to learn where, how, and when to focus their attention. This is essential for identifying and memorizing linguistic units and structure at different time-scales. While rhythmic regularity and repetition increase predictability and might set up a scaffold facilitating (neural) processing, variability in both tempo and pitch could draw attention to specific parts within this scaffold. This way, musical characteristics in infant-directed speech and song might help infants to discover meaningful units and structure in the input, facilitating further language learning.
Reference Key
openalex_W7170048786 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Tineke M. Snijders, Laura E. Hahn, Paula Fikkert, Titia Benders
Journal Oxford University Press eBooks
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192894700.013.0029
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192894700.013.0029
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.