Going beyond adult speech: why language development research should consider speech from children

Recent research reveals that children’s language development is tied to their linguistic input. While the majority of this research has focused on speech children hear from adults, children around the world do not exclusively interact with adults. Instead, children regularly interact with other children, whether in the home or in early childhood education settings. Here, I contextualize the frequency of interactions with speech from other children. I then highlight properties of speech from children, such as its acoustic signature and content, that might make it particularly relevant for early language learning. Lastly, I discuss how considering speech from children allows us to create theories that are inclusive of societies around the world, where caretaking often involves more children and in lower-SES settings, where higher birthrates are common. I conclude that theories of language development should consider speech from other children as an important component.