Two-part vowel modifications in Child Directed Speech in Warlpiri may enhance child attention to speech and scaffold noun acquisition.
Phonetica
; 80(1-2): 1-42, 2023 02 23.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37314963
ABSTRACT
Study 1 compared vowels in Child Directed Speech (CDS; child ages 25-46 months) to vowels in Adult Directed Speech (ADS) in natural conversation in the Australian Indigenous language Warlpiri, which has three vowels (/i/, /a/, /u). Study 2 compared the vowels of the child interlocutors from Study 1 to caregiver ADS and CDS. Study 1 indicates that Warlpiri CDS vowels are characterised by fronting, /a/-lowering, f o -raising, and increased duration, but not vowel space expansion. Vowels in CDS nouns, however, show increased between-contrast differentiation and reduced within-contrast variation, similar to what has been reported for other languages. We argue that this two-part CDS modification process serves a dual purpose:
Vowel space shifting induces IDS/CDS that sounds more child-like, which may enhance child attention to speech, while increased between-contrast differentiation and reduced within-contrast variation in nouns may serve didactic purposes by providing high-quality information about lexical specifications. Study 2 indicates that Warlpiri CDS vowels are more like child vowels, providing indirect evidence that aspects of CDS may serve non-linguistic purposes simultaneously with other aspects serving linguistic-didactic purposes. The studies have novel implications for the way CDS vowel modifications are considered and highlight the necessity of naturalistic data collection, novel analyses, and typological diversity.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Speech
/
Speech Perception
Limits:
Adult
/
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
En
Journal:
Phonetica
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Australia