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Young children's use of prosody*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

David Furrow
David Furrow
Affiliation:
Mount Saint Vincent University
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Abstract

This study examined the relationship between prosodic variables in children's spontaneous speech and aspects of children's social behaviour while speaking. Twelve children aged 1; 11 to 2; 1 were videotaped in free play with an adult. Two hundred spontaneous utterances were sampled, and each utterance was psychophysically rated on loudness, pitch, and pitch range. These measurements were aggregated in a single measure of prosody for each utterance, which was related to whether or not children (a) made eye contact, (b) showed other social behaviours, or (c) showed no interactive behaviour with adults when an utterance was made. Results showed that utterances made while maintaining eye contact were on average louder and higher and more variably pitched. Such a finding indicates that children use prosodic elements of speech for communicative purposes.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1984 , pp. 203 - 213
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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