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The Acquisition of Prosody: Evidence from French- and English-Learning Infants

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Developmental Neurocognition: Speech and Face Processing in the First Year of Life

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASID,volume 69))

Abstract

The reduplicative babbling of five French- and five English-learning infants, recorded when the infants were between the ages of 7;3 months and 11;1 months on average, was examined for evidence of language-specific prosodic patterns. Certain fundamental frequency and syllable-timing patterns in the infants’ utterances clearly reflected the influence of the ambient language. The evidence for language-specific influence on syllable amplitudes was less clear. The results are discussed in terms of a possible order of acquisition for the prosodic features of fundamental frequency, timing, and amplitude.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, 02181, USA

    Andrea G. Levitt

  2. Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511, USA

    Andrea G. Levitt

Authors
  1. Andrea G. Levitt
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Experimental Psychology Laboratory, E.H.E.S.S. and C.N.R.S., Paris, France

    Bénédicte de Boysson-Bardies

  2. Development and Cognition Unit, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, C.N.R.S., Marseille, France

    Scania de Schonen

  3. Psychology Department, SUNY at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA

    Peter Jusczyk

  4. Department of Linguistics, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

    Peter McNeilage

  5. Cognitive Development Unit, MRC, London, UK

    John Morton

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© 1993 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Levitt, A.G. (1993). The Acquisition of Prosody: Evidence from French- and English-Learning Infants. In: de Boysson-Bardies, B., de Schonen, S., Jusczyk, P., McNeilage, P., Morton, J. (eds) Developmental Neurocognition: Speech and Face Processing in the First Year of Life. NATO ASI Series, vol 69. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8234-6_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8234-6_31

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4251-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-015-8234-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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