This includes vocal behavior that is clearly directed at the infant, which is the criterion she uses to describe and define the characteristics of motherese.
Falk is right that the phonetic aspects of motherese are derived from primate vocalizations.
Where it occurs, baby talk or motherese is commonly assumed to simplify language learning and to contribute to the linguistic development of children.
The origins of spoken motherese are as clouded with mystery as are the origins of speech.
Thus, parents unconsciously establish eye contact with infants and then use motherese to maintain joint attention.
Therefore, it could be that, alongside motherese, song plays a far more important role than hitherto realized.
In avoiding that question, we have missed the most logical link between motherese and language learning.
Motherese could be an aspect of language at the crossing or at the origin of communicative and cognitive content.
