Everyday language input and production in 1,001 children from six continents
Abstract
Significance Harnessing a global sample of >40,000 h of child-centered audio capturing young children’s home environment, we measured contributors to how much speech 0- to 4-y-olds naturally produce. Amount of adult talk, age, and normative development were the sole significant predictors; child gender, socioeconomic status, and multilingualism did not explain how often children vocalized or how much adult talk they heard. These findings (strengthened by our validation of existing automated speech algorithms) open up interesting conversations regarding early language development to the broader public, including parents, clinicians, educators, and policymakers. The factors explaining variance also inform our understanding of humans’ unique capacity for learning and potentially large-scale applications of machine technology to everyday human behavior.
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