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Relations between prosodic variables and communicative functions*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Judy Flax,
Margaret Lahey,
Katherine Harris and
Arthur Boothroyd
Judy Flax*
Affiliation:
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Margaret Lahey
Affiliation:
Emerson College
Katherine Harris
Affiliation:
City University of New York
Arthur Boothroyd
Affiliation:
City University of New York
*
11 Washington Ave, Short Hills, NJ07078, USA.
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Abstract

Three children were observed interacting with their mothers at three different times: before the onset of single words, when vocabulary consisted of 10 words, and when vocabulary consisted of 50 words. Relations between communicative functions and acoustic analyses of prosodie variables (i.e. rise vs. nonrise of terminal contours) were studied. Considerable variability was found among the children in the number of rises produced overall and those produced for any function. Each child's use of rise was fairly constant over time and rises were produced RELATIVELY more frequently than nonrises with functions requiring a response from the listener. Factors affecting similarities and differences are discussed.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 1991, pp. 3 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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Footnotes

*

The study reported here is based on a doctoral dissertation completed by the first author at the Graduate School of the City University of New York. We appreciate comments on a version of the manuscript by Lois Bloom.

References

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