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Intonation comprehension in ten-year-olds*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Alan Cruttenden
Alan Cruttenden
Affiliation:
University of Manchester
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Abstract

The comprehension of nine intonational contrasts involving different intonation-groupings, different nucleus placements, and different tones, was examined in 20 ten-year-old children and 20 adults. Fewer ten-year-olds than adults answered correctly on almost all tasks. Initial hypotheses concerning the order of acquisition among the three systems (grouping, nucleus placement, and tone) were in general not confirmed. But the distinction between context-wide and context-limited tonal meanings was predictive of acquisition; and a similar distinction based on local meanings rather than on the intonation patterns themselves is likely to apply to groupings and nucleus placements.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , October 1985 , pp. 643 - 661
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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