Polish infant directed vs. adult directed speech: Selected acoustic-phonetic differences

Infant-directed speech (IDS) is reported to differ significantly from adult-directed speech (ADS) in its acoustic-phonetic properties. In IDS, phonetic features of individual speech sounds tend to be intensified [6, 14, 20]. An example phenomenon documented for IDS in several languages is vowel hyperarticulation [25]. Thus, the formant frequency values (F1, F2) vary in the two target speaking styles. Other modifications can be observed in F0 levels (e.g., [5, 11]. Due to infants' preference towards IDS [5], laboratory-elicited IDS recordings are often used as stimuli in infant speech perception studies, aiming for example at the investigation of the effects of short-term exposure to foreign-language stimuli in early infancy and its potential contribution to the development of language learning skills (e.g., [15]). In the present study, we compare F0, F1, F2 values, and segmental duration in vowels produced by five female speakers of Polish, reading pseudoword lists in IDS and ADS.