Acoustic emphasis in four year olds

Elizabeth Wonnacott; Duane G. Watson

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2007.10.005

Acoustic emphasis in four year olds

Elizabeth Wonnacott, Duane G. Watson

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Acoustic emphasis may convey a range of subtle discourse distinctions, yet little is known about how this complex ability develops in children. This paper presents a first investigation of the factors which influence the production of acoustic prominence in young children's spontaneous speech. In a production experiment, SVO sentences were elicited from 4 year olds who were asked to describe events in a video. Children were found to place more acoustic prominence both on 'new' words and on words that were 'given' but had shifted to a more accessible position within the discourse. This effect of accessibility concurs with recent studies of adult speech. We conclude that, by age four, children show appropriate, adult-like use of acoustic prominence, suggesting sensitivity to a variety of discourse distinctions.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	1093-1101
Number of pages	9
Journal	Cognition
Volume	107
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2007.10.005
State	Published - Jun 2008

Keywords

Accent
Accessibility
Discourse
Language development
Language production
Prosody

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Language and Linguistics
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Linguistics and Language
Cognitive Neuroscience

Online availability

10.1016/j.cognition.2007.10.005

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title = "Acoustic emphasis in four year olds",

abstract = "Acoustic emphasis may convey a range of subtle discourse distinctions, yet little is known about how this complex ability develops in children. This paper presents a first investigation of the factors which influence the production of acoustic prominence in young children's spontaneous speech. In a production experiment, SVO sentences were elicited from 4 year olds who were asked to describe events in a video. Children were found to place more acoustic prominence both on 'new' words and on words that were 'given' but had shifted to a more accessible position within the discourse. This effect of accessibility concurs with recent studies of adult speech. We conclude that, by age four, children show appropriate, adult-like use of acoustic prominence, suggesting sensitivity to a variety of discourse distinctions.",

keywords = "Accent, Accessibility, Discourse, Language development, Language production, Prosody",

author = "Elizabeth Wonnacott and Watson, {Duane G.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by National Institute of Health Grants NIH Grants 5T32 MH 19942-08 and NIH 2T32 DC 0000 35-11 and by ESRC grant PTA-026-27-1296. We are very grateful to Elissa Newport for her helpful discussion on this topic, and for allowing us the use of her laboratory and resources at The University of Rochester. We would also like to thank Cindy Fisher for her help in recruiting child participants at The University of Illinois. Finally, we would like to thank Katie Daniels and Kathleen Eberhardt for their help in data collection and analysis. ",

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doi = "10.1016/j.cognition.2007.10.005",

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AU - Wonnacott, Elizabeth

AU - Watson, Duane G.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by National Institute of Health Grants NIH Grants 5T32 MH 19942-08 and NIH 2T32 DC 0000 35-11 and by ESRC grant PTA-026-27-1296. We are very grateful to Elissa Newport for her helpful discussion on this topic, and for allowing us the use of her laboratory and resources at The University of Rochester. We would also like to thank Cindy Fisher for her help in recruiting child participants at The University of Illinois. Finally, we would like to thank Katie Daniels and Kathleen Eberhardt for their help in data collection and analysis.

PY - 2008/6

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N2 - Acoustic emphasis may convey a range of subtle discourse distinctions, yet little is known about how this complex ability develops in children. This paper presents a first investigation of the factors which influence the production of acoustic prominence in young children's spontaneous speech. In a production experiment, SVO sentences were elicited from 4 year olds who were asked to describe events in a video. Children were found to place more acoustic prominence both on 'new' words and on words that were 'given' but had shifted to a more accessible position within the discourse. This effect of accessibility concurs with recent studies of adult speech. We conclude that, by age four, children show appropriate, adult-like use of acoustic prominence, suggesting sensitivity to a variety of discourse distinctions.

AB - Acoustic emphasis may convey a range of subtle discourse distinctions, yet little is known about how this complex ability develops in children. This paper presents a first investigation of the factors which influence the production of acoustic prominence in young children's spontaneous speech. In a production experiment, SVO sentences were elicited from 4 year olds who were asked to describe events in a video. Children were found to place more acoustic prominence both on 'new' words and on words that were 'given' but had shifted to a more accessible position within the discourse. This effect of accessibility concurs with recent studies of adult speech. We conclude that, by age four, children show appropriate, adult-like use of acoustic prominence, suggesting sensitivity to a variety of discourse distinctions.

KW - Accent

KW - Accessibility

KW - Discourse

KW - Language development

KW - Language production

KW - Prosody

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Acoustic emphasis in four year olds

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Online availability

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