ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2002
ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2002

Mutual knowledge and prosody in young children

Karine Martel

This work aims at modelising the use of the suprasegmental system and its relation with the enunciative structure in young children in a dialogue situation with a competent speaker. The role of the intonative and temporal parameters during the grammaticalisation period, which takes place between 2 and 3.5 years of age is investigated in this paper. Results show that children who use intonation precociously for communicative purposes, also use it in a specific way related to their ability to detach themselves from the context. Three chronological periods emerge. As time goes by the complexification of the grammatical structures generates a functional redistribution of prosody.