Developmental Psychology Copyright 1987 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

1987, Vol. 23, No. 1,62-67 0012-1649/87/M0.75

Infant Vocalizations and Parental Reactions During

the First 4 Months of Life
Heidi Keller and Axel Scholmerich
Osnabriick University
Osnabriick, Federal Republic of Germany

Infant vocalizations were classified into four types according to their affective expression and ana-
lyzed in a longitudinal sample of infants ranging in age from 2 to 14 weeks. It was demonstrated that
infants produced different types of vocalizations from the beginning. Different interactional states
led to different rates of vocalization. Positive vocalizations occurred most frequently during eye
contact. Positive vocalizations were predominantly responded to by parental verbal/vocal reactions,
whereas physiological, negative, and effort vocalizations primarily led to changes in parents' tactile
and vestibular behaviors and concomitant verbalizing. The results demonstrate the communicative
nature of parent-child interactions in thefirstmonths of life, which thus helps to establish a social
relationship with the caregiver.

Infant vocalizations during the first months of life elicit pa-
rental attachment behaviors such as gazing and smiling (see,
e.g., Stem & Jaffe, 1976). Apparently, even thesefirstutterances
serve the function of "signal transmission over distances"
(Scherer, 1982, p. 128). In the "mutual exchange that can best
be described as affective in nature and that functions as a com-
municative system" (Thoman, 1981, p. 192), vocal signals ex-
press the behavioral state of the infant as well as needs and
wishes, thus providing the caretaker with the information nec-
essary for interventions.
As shown in the work of Sander (1974) and Thoman (Tho-
man, Acebo, Dreyer, Becker, & Freese, 1979; Thoman, Becker,
& Freese, 1977; Thomas & Freese, 1982), general systems the-
ory is applicable to parent-infant interaction. This approach
implies "the study of the processes by which behaviors are inte-
grated and by which the form and organization of behaviors
change with age" (Thoman & Freese, 1982, p. 377), under the
assumption that the activities of each member of the dyad are
a function of the total interactive system.
As demonstrated by spectrographic analyses, infants are ca-
pable very early in life of producing different sounds (Morath,
1977). For example, parents can describe their 4-month-olds*
specific sounds and attribute meaning and long-term functions
to them (Wong & Miller, 1984). Mothers adapt both the struc-
ture and content of their language to the age of their infants.
Kruper and Uzgiris (1984) documented this regulation as it oc-
curred in interaction involving infants ranging in age from Vh
months to 11'/: months. Besides the structural similarities (see,
for instance, Stern & Jaffe, 1976), a high degree of variability in
quantity, frequency, and intensity of speech has been observed
among parents (Papousek, Papousek, & Bomstein, 1985).
This study is part of a longitudinal research project funded by the
German Research Council.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Heidi
Keller, Fachbereich Psychologie, Universitat Osnabriick, Seminarstr.
20, D-4500 Osnabriick, Federal Republic of Germany.
62
Most studies of vocal and verbal interactions start after the
infant has reached 3 months (one exception is a study by Berger
& Cunningham, 1983) and focus on issues in language acquisi-
tion. In contrast, in this study, we analyzed the communication
structure in terms of the interactional system between parents
and infants during the first 4 months of an infant's life. We ad-
dressed three topics:
1. Because the affective nature of early vocalizations is often
stressed (e.g., Thoman & Freese, 1982), babies should be capa-
ble of expressing different states, emotions, and needs with
different vocal utterances right from birth. Thus, we expected
that infants in the first month of life would produce different
types of vocalizations, with an increasing proportion of com-
municative vocalizations and a decreasing proportion of non-
communicative vocalizations.
2. Because infant vocalizations occur in a dyadic system and
constitute "real communication" (see Brazelton, Koslowski, &
Main, 1974) with exchange of information, we expected that
types of vocalizations would be distributed differently during
the interactional states of eye contact and no eye contact.
3. Caregivers respond differently to different infant vocaliza-
tions because they are interpreted as expressing different affec-
tive states. This has, for example, been demonstrated for differ-
ent physical features characterizing the cries of newboras
(Brennan & Kirk land, 1982; Wolff, 1969). We expected that
different proportions of parental behaviors (verbal, tactile, or
vestibular) would be shown with different types of infant vocal-
izations.
Method
Subjects
The subjects were 20firstborninfants (10 males, 10 females) and their
parents, who participated in a longitudinal study covering the first 6
years of life. We used the following selection criteria to exclude infants
who might have perceptual difficulties associated with perinatal condi-
tions: (a) age of the parents (mother, 18-32 years; father 18-40 years);
 INFANT VOCALIZATIONS AND PARENTAL REACTIONS
(b) birth weight between 2,500 and 4,000 grams; (c) Agpar score of at
least 8 in thefirstminute; (d) no neurological abnormalities; and (e) no
medication during birth.
All families were native-born citizens of the Federal Republic of Ger-
many. The data were collected during home visits when the infants were
2,6,10, and 14 weeks of age.
Data Recording
Mother-child and father-child interactions were videotaped at home
after the infant had been fed and diapered. Parents were requested to
interact with their infants as they usually would when not involved in
caregiving activities. The average interaction time was about 5 min. We
filmed with a split-screen technique, with one camera focused on the
parent and infant together and the other on the head and upper trunk
of the infant. Thus we were able to code the opening of the eyes and the
direction of the gaze precisely. Time was registered on the videotapes.
Data Analysis
The procedures for data analysis were developed with a pilot sample
of 15 10-week-olds and their parents. The 14-week-olds in the longitudi-
nal sample exhibited some categories not exhibited in the pilot sample,
so we added these to the list of categories (see Herzka, 1979; Keller,
1980), making a total of 22 different vocalizations. These were catego-
rized into the following four types reflecting their affective expression
(Scherer, 1982; see YoungA DeCarie, 1977).
Physiological vocalizations. As Scherer (1982) argued, at least some
human emotional sounds seem to be by-products of adaptive physiolog-
ical responses (usually respiratory) such as deep inhalation when the
individual experiences surprise or fear. This category covers throat-clos-
ing sounds, clicking, drinking sounds, and primal sounds.
Negative vocalizations. These vocalizations all begin with a cessation
of respiration followed by a quick series of rhythmical sounds; they are
loud and of high frequency, often produced deep in the throat. Global
nonspecific crying has been labeled one of thefirstcommunicative be-
haviors (Emde, Gaensbauer, & Harmon, 1976). This type of vocaliza-
tion covers whining, fussing, crying, sighing, and sounds of discomfort
Positive vocalizations. These vocalizations are uttered with low to
moderate intensity and are formed in the process of gentle exhalation.
They are commonly thought to express positive emotions and include
"a" sounds, happiness sounds, babbling, cooing, blurting, consonant-
vowel groups, laughing, "r" strings, and repetition sounds.
Effort vocalizations. These vocalizations express an effort in combi-
nation with a movement, state, or, later, the production of sounds. They
include "h" sounds, motor effort sounds, and consonant-building
sounds.
The following parental behaviors were coded:
Tactile behaviors—those behaviors that mediate sensations through
the skin's tactile receptors pertaining to touch, pressure, and tempera-
ture. The four categories used were (a) tactile stimulation ceases with
the onset of vocalization, (b) tactile stimulation commences with cessa-
tion of vocalization, (c) another part of the body is stimulated, and (d)
another tactile behavior is performed.
Vestibular behaviors—those behaviors that result in sensations medi-
ated through the receptors of equilibrium, mostly involving move-
ments. The four categories used were (a) movement ceases with the on-
set of vocalization, (b) movement commences with end of vocalization,
(c) change in tempo, and (d) another movement is performed.
Verbal/vocal behaviors. The four categories of clear reaction to vocal-
ization were (a) parent makes comments, (b) parent repeats a vocaliza-
tion, (c) parent begins speaking after vocalization without reference to
vocalization; and (d) parent completes sentence with pause during vo-
calization.
63
Interactional states. Eye contact was denned as parent and infant
looking at each other simultaneously. No eye contact was defined as
either parent or infant or both looking away from the interactional
partner.
Data Coding
Whenever an infant vocalization occurred, it was classified according
to the categories described above by a research assistant who was trained
with three other raters and had reached 90% agreement during the pilot
classification program. Interobserver reliability was not checked again
throughout the coding. Some (fewer than 2% of all vocalizations) could
only be classified after discussion with the other raters. Toe time inter-
vals of 5 s before and after the vocalization were analysed for parental
behaviors and coded according to our interaction-analysis manual (Kel-
ler, 1980).
Data Format
The data are reported as frequencies, standardizedfrequenciesto ac-
count for different observation times, or percentages. we used binomial
distributions and chi-squares to test for differences. The unit of analysis
was the single vocalization. The total number of vocalizations analyzed
was 1,201. Results are grouped according to the three topics addressed
in this study.
Results
Development and Differentiation ofInfant Vocalizations
The variability of vocalizations increased over time. Table 1
presents the number of vocalizations (sum of interactions with
mothers and fathers), time of observation in minutes (again,
sum of interactions with mothers and fathers), vocalizations per
minute, and percentages of positive, negative, effort, and physi-
ological vocalizations for each of the four observation dates.
The rate of vocalizations per minute for each observation
date greatly increased up to the infants110th week of life, then
decreased until the 14th week. The distribution of vocalizations
over the four observation dates differed significantly (p < .01,
binomial test) from a random distribution. The percentages of
the four types of vocalizations at the four observation dates
show the following pattern: Positive vocalizations increased
strongly (3% at 2 weeks to 35% at 14 weeks), negative vocaliza-
tions started high and decreased (43% at 2 weeks to 24% at 14
weeks), effort vocalizations showed an increase (24% at 2 weeks
to 48% at 6 weeks) and leveled off afterwards (40% at 14 weeks),
and physiological vocalizations almost disappeared after a high
start (30% at 2 weeks, a quick drop to 9% at 6 weeks, and 1 % at
14 weeks).
The chi-square for the standardized frequencies for 100 min
of observation time for each observation date showed an effect
over time, x2(9) = 237.578, p < .001.
Interactional Context: The Effect ofEye Contact
The distributions of vocalizations during eye contact and vo-
calizations during parts of the interaction without eye contact
are shown in Figures 1 and 2; statistical effects are reported in
Table 2.
Positive vocalizations. The percentage of positive vocaliza-
tions that occurred during eye contact was low for 2-week-old
64 HEIDI KELLER AND AXEL SCHOLMERICH

Table 1
Number of All Vocalizations (Sum of Interactions With Mothers and Fathers), Observation Time, Vocalizations per Minute
(Vocalization Rate), and Percentage of Types of Vocalizations
Percentage of vocalizations
Weeks Number of Voc Minutes observed Voc/min (rate) Pos Neg Eff Phy
2 115 85 1.35 2.6 42.6 24.3 30.4
6 160 79 2.02 11.9 30.6 48.1 9.4
10 442 110 4.02 39.1 21.0 39.4 0.5
14 487 165 2.95 34.9 23.8 39.9 1.2
Total 1,201 439 2.74

Note. Voc = vocalizations; Voc/min = vocalizations per minute; Pos = positive; Neg = negative; Eff= effort; Phy = physiological.

infants, increased Steadily, and leveled off at 50% by 14 weeks.
For no eye contact, the increase occurred later (when the infants
were 6 weeks old), reached 30% for 10-week-olds, and dropped
to 20% for 14-week-olds.
Negative vocalizations. The percentage of all vocalizations
that were negative was 53% for 2-week-old infants during no
eye contact; this figure dropped to 45% for 6-week-olds and then
leveled off between 24% and 35%. During eye contact, however,
only 8% of all vocalizations were negative at 2 weeks. This per-
centage later increased slightly, peaking at 18% with 10-week-
olds and subsequently dropped off.
Effort vocalizations. There was only minute variation be-
tween effort vocalizations during eye contact and those during
no eye contact as well as over time.
Physiological vocalizations. The physiological vocalizations
of 2-week-olds differed greatly, with 60% of these vocalizations
occurring during eye contact and only 22% during no eye con-
tact. For both conditions, physiological vocalizations had al-
most disappeared by the time the infants were 10 weeks old.
Table 2 presents levels of significance for the difference be-
tween the four types of vocalizations that occurred during eye
contact and no eye contact at each of the observation dates. For
positive and negative vocalizations, the effects were all in the
expected direction (during eye contact: more positive, less nega-
tive); for effort vocalizations there was no clear trend in the di-
rection of effects. The comparison was based on the percentages
under the two conditions (binomial test). The strongest and
most consistent effect of eye contact was on positive vocaliza-
Table2
Levels of Significancefor the Difference in the Percentagesfor
Each Type of Vocalization and Each Observation Date
Between Eye Contact and No Eye Contact
Type of vocalization
Observation date
(weeks) Positive Negative Effort Physiological
2 ft
.01 ns .01
6 .01 .01 .05 ns
10 .01 .05 .05
14 .01 .01 ns
* No significance test because number of cases was too small.
tions. With 2-week-old infants, a difference could not be estab-
lished because of the small number of positive vocalizations; all
other observation periods yielded significant effects (p < .01).
Negative vocalizations also showed significant effects (p < .01)
at three observation periods, but there was a nonsignificant
difference when the infants were 10 weeks of age.
Parental Reactions to Infant Vocalizations
The rate of all coded parental reactions to all infant vocaliza-
tions was remarkably constant over the observation periods, but
there were interesting effects on the frequencies of different re-
actions to the different vocalizations. The following three types
of parental reactions emerged: Parental verbal reactions to the
four types of infant vocalizations increased over time, tactile
reactions decreased, and vestibular reactions showed no clear
trend. Figure 3 shows the percentages for the three types of reac-
tions to all infant vocalizations.
The parental reactions were highly sensitive to the infants'
vocalizations. By using chi-square (with df= 2) to compare pa-
rental reactions to positive, negative, and effort vocalizations,
respectively, we found that the frequency of parents' verbal re-
actions differed from the frequency of their tactile and vestibu-
POSITIVE •
p 100- NEGATIVE •
E EFFORT •
80-
R PHYSIOLOGICAL *
60-
C
E 40-
N 20-
T 0-
14
a
•
AGE I N W E E K S
Figure 1. Percentage of types of vocalizations during eye contact.
 INFANT VOCALIZATIONS AND PARENTAL REACTIONS 65
POSITIVE • VERBAL •
p NEGATIVE • p 100- TACTILE •
E EFFORT « F JESTIBULAR •
80-
R PHYSIOLOGICAL * k
C c 60-
E E 40-
N N 20-
T T 0-
10 14 10 14

AGE I N W E E K S AGE I WEEKS

Figure 2. Percentage of types of vocalizations during no eye contact.
lar reactions when the infants were 6 weeks old (x2 = 10.21, p <
.01), 10 weeks old (x2 = 50.397, p < .001), and 14 weeks old
(x2 = 34.809, p < .001). Only when the infants were 2 weeks
old was there no significant effect between type of infant vocal-
ization and type of parents' reaction. As can be seen in Figures
4, 5, and 6, parental reactions to positive vocalizations had a
completely different pattern than that for the other types of vo-
calizations: Positive vocalizations elicited verbal reactions more
than other reactions.
As for parental reactions to negative and effort vocalizations,
the sum of tactile and vestibular reactions exceeded that of ver-
bal reactions. This trend was more pronounced for negative vo-
calizations than for effort vocalizations.
Only for effort vocalizations did the percentages of verbal,
tactile, and vestibular reactions change over time: x2(3) = 38.37,
p < .001. For positive and negative vocalizations, the propor-
tions remained relatively stable: x2(3) = 6.46, p > .3, and
2
x (3) = 9.72,/>>.!.
Figure 4. Types of parental reactions to positive vocalizations. (On one
infant vocalization, more than one parental reaction can occur. Thus
the percentages do not total 100%.)
Verbal reactions. Parental verbalizations constituted a high
percentage of all parental reactions to infant vocalizations (42%
when the infants were 2 weeks old, 44% at 6 weeks, 65% at 10
weeks, and 67% at 14 weeks). The frequencies of verbal parental
reactions significantly increased over time; nonverbal reactions
(sum of tactile and vestibular) decreased, x2(3) = 46.679, p <
.01. The distribution of the three types of vocalizations (posi-
tive, negative, and effort; physiological vocalizations were omit-
ted because of their low frequency) that lead to parental verbal
reactions also changed overtime, x*(6) = 37.99, p < .01, in favor
of positive vocalizations.
Tactile behaviors. Tactile behaviors such as parental reac-
tions to infant vocalizations declined over time, as can be seen
in Figure 3. When the infants were 2 weeks old, the parents
reacted with tactile behaviors to 44% of the vocalizations; at 6
weeks, 39%; at 10 weeks, 35%; and at 14 weeks, 20%.

VERBAL •
VERBAL • p 100-1 TACTILE •
p 100 i TACTILE •
E VESTIBULAR •
E VESTIBULAR • 80-
R 80- R
60-
-o
C 60-
c
40- *-* E 40-
E
N 20-
N 20- ©-—
T 0
T 0- 6 10 14
2 6 10 14
AGE I N W E E K S
AGE I N W E EK S Figure 5. Types of parental reactions to negative vocalizations. (On one
Figure i. Distribution of different parental reactions infant vocalization, more than one parental reaction can occur. Thus
to all types of infant vocalizations. the percentages do not total 100%.)
66 HEIDI KELLER AND AXEL SCHOLMERICH
VERBAL •
p 100- TACTILE •
F VESTIBULAR •
80-
k be aimed at changing the state by tactile and vestibular behav-
c 60-
E 40-
N 20-
T 0-
2 6 10 14
AGE I N W E E K S
Figure 6. Types of parental reactions to effort vocalizations. (On one
infant vocalization, more than one parental reaction can occur. Thus
the columns do not total 100%.)
The distribution of tactile reactions to three of the four types
of vocalizations (physiological vocalizations were omitted be-
cause of their low frequency with infants 10 and 14 weeks old)
changed over time, x2(6) = 27.478, p < .001. Tactile reactions
to effort vocalizations increased from 37% at 2 weeks to 43% at
6 weeks and 42% at 10 weeks and then dropped to 19% at 14
weeks. Tactile reactions to negative vocalizations showed no
clear trend. Tactile reactions to positive vocalizations declined
between the 6th and 14th weeks of the infants' lives from 26%
to 17%.
Vestibular behaviors. Vestibular behaviors were less variable
over time than verbal and tactile parental reactions (see Figure
3). There was a peak at 6 weeks of age (31%); the three other
percentages ranged between 20% and 23%. The differences were
significant, x2(3) = 11.01,p<.05.
Vestibular reactions occurred especially after negative vocal-
izations with increasing age. There was no significant effect of
time on the distribution of parental vestibular reactions to the
three types of infant vocalizations (physiological vocalizations
were not included because of low frequency).
Discussion
The results suggest that infants perform different types of vo-
calizations that can be interpreted as affective states from 2
weeks of age on; these vocalization patterns develop over the
first 4 months of life.
The communicative nature of early infant vocalizations was
underlined by the fact that their occurrence varied with the dy-
adic state. Eye contact seems to be a condition of mutual atten-
tiveness characterized by high frequencies of infant vocaliza-
tions.
Types of infant vocalizations also varied across dyadic states
in a meaningful way. Positive vocalizations occurred most fre-
quently during eye contact, negative vocalizations least fre-
quently.
Parents responded with a highly diversified pattern of reac-
tions to different infant vocalizations. Positive vocalizations
were apparently interpreted as conversational behavior and
were responded to with verbal/vocal behaviors by the parent.
The other types of vocalizations seemed to express behavioral
states or affect. Accordingly, the parental response appeared to
iors.
From thesefindingswe conclude that parents understood the
message expressed in different types of vocalizations and re-
acted appropriately. Some inconsistencies in their reactions to
effort vocalizations, especially at the later observation dates,
were perhaps due to changes in the communicative meaning
(physical effort versus sound production).
On the basis of this differentiation, we can speculate that
those infants who expressed more positive vocalizations re-
ceived more verbal feedback and thus were receiving more ver-
bal stimulation, which might have consequences for early lan-
guage acquisition.
Establishing relationships with primary caregfvers can be de-
scribed as the infant's developmental task in its first months of
life. The means involved in this communication pattern, at least
on the infant's part, were those that are functionally relevant at
a certain developmental stage (such as looking and vocalizing).
Thus, there might be no quiescent stage (see Berger & Cunning-
ham, 1983) in the development of social relationships, but a
functionally meaningful series of developmental tasks (Havig-
hurst, 1972) that have to be mastered. The effect of different
patterns of relationships on later developmental outcomes must
be evaluated in further studies.
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Revision received May 21,1986 •