**5. Language: What does it mean for the human development?**

The contact with members of the linguistic community since the first days of a child's life is of basic importance to language development. An important part of information that developing babies process is the linguistic input of members of their community. As Keller (2007) points out, one of the components in the parental system of care is the narrative envelope. Babies are wrapped in this narrative envelope and their development processes are immersed on it, including language acquisition. Focusing on one aspect of the narrative envelope, maternal speech directed to children has been studied for decades in order to understand the process of language acquisition.

From a socio-cultural perspective, one factor of great importance in the development of children's linguistic capacity is the language of members of their socio-cultural context. Vila (1995) emphasizes that the experience of language usage in interpersonal interactions, especially with adults, is the child's main source of information about language itself, about his/her culture, and about the role of language in the culture in which he/she is inserted. From the linguistic *input* it is possible to identify the speaker's community, to transmit socio-cultural models, and to adapt the use of the language to the community the individual belongs.

The characteristics observed in the structure and the type of maternal speech directed to the child indicate that it constitutes a type of differentiated input (motherese), which intuitively considers the child's age, his/her language development stage, and mother's conceptions and expectations regarding the child's level of development.

In the beginning of last decade, some studies, as Chapman (2000) focus on the individual process of infant language acquisition, considering historical events and variations of the environment evidencing that the research of genetics and input of the environment can both contribute to an interactional perspective. The author has stressed out the importance of the relationship between natural and cultural aspects in the functioning of the linguistic system, and concluded that initial language development must be seen as the integration of multiple aspects, some of them learned at the beginning of the development.

Also, Hoff and Naigles (2002) had investigated vocabulary production in 63 American dyads in linguistic interactions in two different moments (when the child turned two years-old and ten weeks later) during twenty five minutes observation sessions. Results indicated that the production of maternal speech in quantitative terms, with a rich lexicon and with complex semantics, can bring significant benefits for the lexical development of children.

to which the literary indicates. It was also found that mothers were more attentive and concerned than other caregivers, with the necessity of a capacity of emotional regulation by babies. Mothers thought they need to develop this capacity during the first three years of life,

The concern of mothers and caregivers in general with the different ways of emotional development is related to the influence of the *psychology of the caretakers* and health practices they adopted in the early years of life of the children. However, as discussed, ethnotheories and practices of care reflect cultural models prevailing in societies where the child and their different caregivers live, and have implications for emotional competence to the development.

The contact with members of the linguistic community since the first days of a child's life is of basic importance to language development. An important part of information that developing babies process is the linguistic input of members of their community. As Keller (2007) points out, one of the components in the parental system of care is the narrative envelope. Babies are wrapped in this narrative envelope and their development processes are immersed on it, including language acquisition. Focusing on one aspect of the narrative envelope, maternal speech directed to children has been studied for decades in order to understand the process

From a socio-cultural perspective, one factor of great importance in the development of children's linguistic capacity is the language of members of their socio-cultural context. Vila (1995) emphasizes that the experience of language usage in interpersonal interactions, especially with adults, is the child's main source of information about language itself, about his/her culture, and about the role of language in the culture in which he/she is inserted. From the linguistic *input* it is possible to identify the speaker's community, to transmit socio-cultural models, and to adapt the use of the language to the community the individual belongs.

The characteristics observed in the structure and the type of maternal speech directed to the child indicate that it constitutes a type of differentiated input (motherese), which intuitively considers the child's age, his/her language development stage, and mother's conceptions and

In the beginning of last decade, some studies, as Chapman (2000) focus on the individual process of infant language acquisition, considering historical events and variations of the environment evidencing that the research of genetics and input of the environment can both contribute to an interactional perspective. The author has stressed out the importance of the relationship between natural and cultural aspects in the functioning of the linguistic system, and concluded that initial language development must be seen as the integration of multiple

Also, Hoff and Naigles (2002) had investigated vocabulary production in 63 American dyads in linguistic interactions in two different moments (when the child turned two years-old and

expectations regarding the child's level of development.

aspects, some of them learned at the beginning of the development.

especially, those who have their children, part of the day, in a nursery.

**5. Language: What does it mean for the human development?**

of language acquisition.

136 Parenting in South American and African Contexts
