“Song Before Speech”: Infant Vocal Expressions, Attachment, and the Ritornello

AbstractThis paper explores the musical dimensions of early infant vocal expressions—crying, cooing, and babbling—and their role in shaping secure attachment through the lens of Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of the ritornello. Building on Bowlby’s attachment theory, which emphasizes the infant’s innate signaling behaviors and the caregiver’s responsive attunement, the discussion foregrounds how repeated vocal exchanges create a sonic “territory” that fosters a sense of emotional safety. Drawing on studies of mother–infant interactions, the paper examines how rhythmic and melodic qualities of cries and babbles elicit complementary parental responses, forming protoconversations integral to a child’s emerging self-regulation. The theory of communicative musicality is invoked to illustrate how these interactive “songs” precede formal language yet convey complex affective states. Deleuze and Guattari’s refrains framework highlights the creative, organizing power of repeated sound patterns in stabilizing early relational life. Incorporating insights from Kristeva, Trevarthen, and Stern, the paper argues that the preverbal “song before speech” establishes a foundation for later linguistic and psychosocial development. Finally, clinical perspectives show how voicework and expressive therapies can re-access and re-configure these preverbal sonic territories in adulthood, offering corrective emotional experiences for individuals with disrupted attachments. Through this approach, the paper reaffirms the important impact of musicality in infancy, underscoring how repeated vocal refrains not only forge secure bonds but also endure as vital resources for therapeutic healing.