CHILDRENS SONGS TO INFANT SIBLINGS - PARALLELS WITH SPEECH

Children aged 2;11 to 8;3 sang informally, once in the presence of the ir infant sibling and once when the infant was out of view. Paired exc erpts from 22 children were presented to adult listeners, who were req uired to identify the infant-directed excerpt in each pair. Listeners' accuracy was above chance levels but below what would be expected for mothers' singing in comparable contexts. Children altered their singi ng style in the infant's presence by singing at a higher pitch level a nd with a different vocal quality.