Children's Sensitivity to Pitch Variation in Language.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Quam, Carolyn.

Contributor:

Swingley, Daniel, advisor.

University of Pennsylvania.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cognitive psychology.

Psychology, Experimental.

Developmental psychology.

Linguistics.

0290.

0620.

0623.

0633.

Penn dissertations--Psychology.

Psychology--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Psychology.

Psychology--Penn dissertations.

0290.

0620.

0623.

0633.

Physical Description:

218 pages

Contained In:

Dissertation Abstracts International 72-05B.

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

text file

Summary:

Children acquire consonant and vowel categories by 12 months, but take much longer to learn to interpret perceptible variation. This dissertation considers children's interpretation of pitch variation. Pitch operates, often simultaneously, at different levels of linguistic structure. English-learning children must disregard pitch at the lexical level---since English is not a tone language---while still attending to pitch for its other functions. Chapters 1 and 5 outline the learning problem and suggest ways children might solve it. Chapter 2 demonstrates that 2.5-year-olds know pitch cannot differentiate words in English. Chapter 3 finds that not until age 4--5 do children correctly interpret pitch cues to emotions. Chapter 4 demonstrates some sensitivity between 2.5 and 5 years to the pitch cue to lexical stress, but continuing difficulties at the older ages. These findings suggest a late trajectory for interpretation of prosodic variation; throughout, I propose explanations for this protracted time-course.

Notes:

Thesis (Ph.D. in Psychology) -- University of Pennsylvania, 2010.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-05, Section: B, page: 3111.

Adviser: Daniel Swingley.

Local Notes:

School code: 0175.

ISBN:

9781124521473

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.