Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T16:00:27.251Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Intonation with single words: purposive and grammatical use*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Roslyn Galligan*
Affiliation:
Australian National University
*
Psychology Department, Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T., Australia2601.

Abstract

The study examined the transition to purposive use of intonation with single words for two children. Contrary to Bloom's (1973) claim of no systematic use of intonation in the one-word period, purposive use of rising tones was demonstrated in the context of indicating interest and naming objects. One child, by 1;3, clearly used rising tones to ask ‘legitimate’ questions in which the content of the replies mattered. If an informative response was not given he repeated his question accentuating the rising tone. The other child also sought informative replies, although this could only be established at 1;6. In addition, by 1;5 both children demonstrated widespread grammatical use of intonation in which a word was combined with distinct intonations to indicate a meaning distinction equivalent to one made by the grammar of the language. There were, however, earlier developments that presaged the way, so that the transition to grammatical use of intonation was gradual.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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

*

This paper is based on a doctoral thesis submitted to the University of Toronto. I gratefully acknowledge the support given by, first, a Canada Council Doctoral Fellowship, and, secondly, the University of Melbourne.

References

REFERENCES

Bloom, L. (1973) One word at a time: the use of single word utterances before syntax. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Branigan, G. (1977) Review of L. Bloom, One word at a time. Language 53. 483–92.Google Scholar
Brown, R. (1973) A first language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Crystal, D. (1969) Prosodic systems and intonation in English. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Crystal, D. (1970) Prosodic systems and language acquisition. In Leon, P. (ed.), Prosodic feature analysis. Montreal: Didier.Google Scholar
Crystal, D. (1975) The English tone of voice. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Crystal, D. (1979) Prosodic development. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (eds), Language acquisition. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Crystal, D. (1982) Profiling language disability. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Dore, J. (1973) The development of speech acts. Unpubished doctoral dissertation, City University of New York.Google Scholar
Furrow, D. (1984) Young children's use of prosody. Journal of Child Language 11. 203–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halliday, M. A. K. (1967) Intonation and grammar in British English. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Halliday, M. A. K. (1975) Learning how to mean: explorations in the development of language. London: Edward Arnold.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingram, D. (1971) Transitivity in child language. Language 47. 888910.Google Scholar
Lewis, M. (1936) Infant speech: a study of the beginning of language. New York: Harcourt-Brace.Google Scholar
Menn, L. (1976) Pattern, control and contrast in beginning speech: a case study in the development of word form and function. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Menyuk, P. & Menn, L. (1979) Early strategies for the perception and production of words and sounds. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (eds), Language acquisition: studies in first language development. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Miller, W. R. & Ervin, S. M. (1964) The development of grammar in child language. In U. Bellugi & R. Brown (eds), The acquisition of language. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 29. No. 92.Google Scholar
Pike, K. (1945) The intonation of American English. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Weir, R. (1962) Language in the crib. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Wells, G., Montgomery, M. & Maclure, M. (1979) Adult-child discourse: outline of a model of analysis. Journal of Pragmatics 3. 337–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werner, H. & Kaplan, B. (1963) Symbol formation. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar