他者とのかかわりによって促される１歳児の「しゃべる」「うたう」について

Abstract

This is a report of continuous observations on how children become capable of singing songs due to encouragement from others (usually the mother). In infants, many aspects of “speaking” and “singing” are difficult to distinguish, so I also recorded all acts of “speaking,” limiting the definition of the act of “singing” to the narrow sense of “singing an established song.” The targeted infants were fraternal twin girls, and observations regarding their “speaking” and “singing” were made in the 10- to 23-month period after birth during home visits that occurred approximately every other month. It was observed that even though the girls received encouragement from the same mother, one infant acquired language earlier and showed an interest in “speaking,” while the other showed greater interest in “singing” than “speaking” and acquired “singing” earlier. The targeted infants showed a strong interest in onomatopoeia in the case of both “speaking” and “singing.” Both became capable of almost completely singing one song 23 months after birth. Their mother sang various new songs to them, but the targeted infants each had a favorite song that they tended to prefer to continuously sing. It was observed that encouragement from the mother was the most significant factor in eliciting “speaking” and “singing” from the infants.