Children's Comprehension of Time-Altered Sentences

The influence of speech timing on children's auditory processing of sentences was examined with a question-answering comprehension task. Sentences were presented under two conditions, one employing natural speech and the other speech with an electronically-altered temporal pattern. Three types of sentences in each presentation condition were administered to children enrolled in the first, second and third grades. The sentence types consisted of center-embedded (SS) and right-branching (OS) relative clause sentences and conjoined constructions. The main effects of presentation condition, sentence type, and grade level were each significant, as was the three-way interaction. The results are discussed with regard to the interaction among speech timing, sentence structure, and children's age.