Open AccessNonlinear development of speaking rate in child-directed speech
Author(s) -
Eon-Suk Ko
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
lsa annual meeting extended abstracts
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2377-3367
DOI - 10.3765/exabs.v0i0.552
Subject(s) - mean length of utterance , utterance , psychology , language development , phonological development , language acquisition , developmental psychology , linguistics , production rate , typically developing , speech recognition , phonology , computer science , philosophy , mathematics education , autism , industrial engineering , engineering
The current study investigated if the speaking rate in Child-Directed Speech (CDS) changes over the course of child language development, and, if so, what the nature of that change is. The developmental path of CDS speaking rate was analyzed in 25 mother-child pairs from longitudinal corpora in CHILDES database. The results were then compared with the developmental pattern of speaking rate in child-produced speech. A parallel analysis was made on the development of mean length of utterance (MLU) in mother and child. The findings suggest that CDS speaking rate dynamically changes with shifts occurring around the onset of child speech production and again during the multiword stage. A parallel pattern of nonlinearity was also observed in the speaking rate of the child and the MLU of both mother and child. Phonological precision effects in CDS (e.g. exaggerated VOT) are explained as a by-product of varying speaking rate. Implications of the findings for studies of language acquisition are discussed.