The feedback model of maternal language indicates that maternal language development is tailored to child feedback. The conversational model indicates that adjustment in mothers' speech occurs before the onset of child language. In order to verify the validity of these models, the language of mothers of six hearing and six deaf 13- to 29-month-olds was examined. The language of the mothers of the six deaf children was found to be very similar to, though generally simpler than, the language of the mothers of the hearing children. In addition, there were no changes in the language of the mothers of the deaf children over a two-month period, although the language of the mothers of the hearing children increased in complexity. A model of maternal language is proposed that incorporates aspects of the conversational and feedback models. (Author/AM)