The effect of gender on multimodal child-directed language: Evidence from analyses of broadcast programmes

We investigated gender differences in multimodal communication directed to children and adults. Eighty-two broadcasters (46 females and 36 males) participated in hosting adult-directed and child-directed broadcasting programmes respectively, and their lexical/syntactic features, prosody, and gestures were compared. Results revealed that broadcasters adapted their communication styles when addressing children. However, notable gender differences emerged: male broadcasters exhibited less diverse vocabulary, longer utterances, lower pitch but higher intensity, faster speaking rate with more pauses, and fewer referential gestures than their female counterparts. Furthermore, male broadcasters demonstrated larger adjustments in word frequency and vocal intensity but smaller adjustments in the use of questions and gestures than females. These findings highlight distinct patterns in how men and women adapt multimodal communication to children, offering valuable insights into gendered strategies in child-directed language production and recipient design. Moreover, it offers implications for developing tailored broadcast training.