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Five-year-olds produce prosodic cues to distinguish compounds from lists in Australian English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2020

Ivan YUEN ,
Nan XU RATTANASONE Open the ORCID record for Nan XU RATTANASONE [Opens in a new window] ,
Elaine SCHMIDT ,
Gretel MACDONALD ,
Rebecca HOLT Open the ORCID record for Rebecca HOLT [Opens in a new window]  and
Katherine DEMUTH
Ivan YUEN*
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Department of Linguistics, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia
Nan XU RATTANASONE
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Department of Linguistics, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia
Elaine SCHMIDT
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge, UK
Gretel MACDONALD
Affiliation:
Yuendumu School, Australia
Rebecca HOLT
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Department of Linguistics, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia
Katherine DEMUTH
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Department of Linguistics, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia
*
*Corresponding author: Macquarie University – Linguistics, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW2109, Australia Email: ivan.yuen@mq.edu.au
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Abstract

Although previous research has indicated that five-year-olds can use acoustic cues to disambiguate compounds (N1 + N2) from lists (N1, N2) (e.g., ‘ice-cream’ vs. ‘ice, cream’) (Yoshida & Katz, 2004, 2006), their productions are not yet fully adult-like (Wells, Peppé & Goulandris, 2004). The goal of this study was to examine this issue in Australian English-speaking children, with a focus on their use of F0, word duration, and pauses. Twenty-four five-year-olds and 20 adults participated in an elicited production experiment. Like adults, children produced distinct F0 patterns for the two structures. They also used longer word durations and more pauses in lists compared to compounds, indicating the presence of a boundary in lists. However, unlike adults, they also inappropriately inserted more pauses within the compound, suggesting the presence of a boundary in compounds as well. The implications for understanding children's developing knowledge of how to map acoustic cues to prosodic structures are discussed.

Keywords

prosodylists/compoundsspeech productionprosodic boundarychild language
Type
Article
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , January 2021 , pp. 110 - 128
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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