Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:27:30.532Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Development of prosodic patterns in Mandarin-learning infants*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2008

LI-MEI CHEN  and
RAYMOND D. KENT
LI-MEI CHEN
Affiliation:
National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan, ROC
RAYMOND D. KENT*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
*
Address for correspondence: Raymond D. Kent, Waisman Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin, 53705, USA. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Early prosodic development (f0 variation) was systematically measured in Mandarin-learning infants at the transition from babbling to producing first words. Spontaneous vocalizations of twenty-four infants aged 0 ; 7 to 1 ; 6 were recorded in 45-minute sessions. The speech production of twenty-four caregivers was also audio-recorded during caregiver–infant natural daily interactions at home. All recordings were transcribed using broad prosodic patterns. Analysis revealed four major findings: (1) falling f0 contours were more prominently produced than level and rising contours; (2) high prosodic patterns occurred more frequently than mid and low prosodic patterns; (3) these distribution patterns of f0 contours showed significant similarities in babbling and early words; and (4) these distribution patterns were also similar in infants' and their caregivers' data.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 73 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

We are grateful to the infants and their families who participated in this study. Without their involvement, this study would not have been possible. Their hospitality made the whole recording procedure an enjoyable experience. Special thanks also to anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

References

REFERENCES

Chen, L.-M. & Kent, R. D. (2005). Consonant-vowel co-occurrence patterns in Mandarin-learning infants. Journal of Child Language 32(3), 507–534.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cheng, C.-M. (1982). Analysis of present-day Mandarin. Journal of Chinese Linguistics 10, 281–358.Google Scholar
Delack, J. B. & Fowlow, P. J. (1978). The ontogenesis of differential vocalization: Development of prosodic contrastivity during the first year of life. In Waterson, N. & Snow, C. (eds), The development of communication, 93–110. New York: Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Hallé, P., de Boysson-Bardies, B. & Vihman, M. M. (1991). Beginnings of prosodic organization: Intonation and duration patterns of disyllables produced by French and Japanese infants. Language and Speech 34, 299–318.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. (1941). Child language, aphasia, and phonological universals. The Hague: Mouton [English translation 1968].Google Scholar
Jeng, H.-H. (1979). The acquisition of Chinese phonology in relation to Jakobson's law of irreversible solidarity. Proceedings of the 9th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences 2, 155–61. Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen.Google Scholar
Kent, R. D. (1992). The biology of phonological development. In Ferguson, C. A., Menn, L. & Stoel-Gammon, C. (eds), Phonological development: Models, research, implications, 65–90. Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Kent, R. D. & Bauer, H. R. (1985). Vocalizations of one-year-olds. Journal of Child Language 12, 491–526.Google Scholar
Kent, R. D. & Murray, A. D. (1982). Acoustic features of infant vocalic utterances at 3, 6, and 9 months. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 72(2), 353–65.Google Scholar
Lin, S.-C. (1971). Phonetic development of Chinese infants. Acta Psychologica Taiwanica (Taipei, Chinese Psychological Association) 13, 191–95.Google Scholar
Locke, J. L. (1983). Phonological acquisition and change. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Locke, J. L. & Pearson, D. M. (1992). Vocal learning and the emergence of phonological capacity: A neurobiological approach. In Ferguson, C. A., Menn, L. & Stoel-Gammon, C. (eds), Phonological development: Models, research, implications, 91–129. Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Robb, M. P., Saxman, J. H. & Grant, A. A. (1989). Vocal fundamental frequency characteristics during the first two years of life. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 85, 1708–717.Google Scholar
Snow, D. (1995). Formal regularity of the falling tone in children's early meaningful speech. Journal of Phonetics 23, 387–405.Google Scholar
Snow, D. (2006). Regression and reorganization of intonation between 6 and 23 months. Child Development 77(2), 281–96.Google Scholar
Snow, D. & Stoel-Gammon, C. (1994). Intonation and final lengthening in early child language. In Yavas, M. (ed.), First and second language phonology, 81–105. San Diego: Singular Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Tsay, J. (2001). Phonetic parameters of tone acquisition in Taiwanese. In Mineharu, N. (ed.), Issues in East Asian language acquisition, 205–226. Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers.Google Scholar