The Acquisition of Speech Rhythm by Bilingual Spanish- and English-Speaking 4- and 5-Year-Old Children.

Purpose: In this study, the authors investigated speech rhythm acquisition by bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children, comparing their performance with functionally monolingual peers in both languages and to monolingual and bilingual adults. Method: Participants included younger children (3;9 [y...

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Published in:Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research Vol. 50; no. 4; pp. 999 - 1015
Main Authors: Bunta, Ferenc, Ingram, David
Format: Article
Published: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association August 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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      dt: August 2007
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      pub: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
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        10.1044/1092-4388(2007/070)
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      tig:
        atl: The Acquisition of Speech Rhythm by Bilingual Spanish- and English-Speaking 4- and 5-Year-Old Children.
      aug:
        au:
          Bunta, Ferenc
          Ingram, David
      su:
        Rhythm in the English language
        Children's language
        Language rhythm
        Spanish language
        Bilingualism
        Psychology
      sug:
        subj:
          Rhythm in the English language
          Children's language
          Language rhythm
          Spanish language
          Bilingualism
          Psychology
      ab: Purpose: In this study, the authors investigated speech rhythm acquisition by bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children, comparing their performance with functionally monolingual peers in both languages and to monolingual and bilingual adults. Method: Participants included younger children (3;9 [years;months] to 4;5.15[years;months.days]), older children (4;6.18 to 5;2), and adults (over 18 years). Twenty-six sentences were elicited and analyzed using the normalized vocalic and intervocalic Pairwise Variability Indices (PVIs) that express the level of variability in successive duration measurements, on the basis of E.Grabeand E. L. Low (2002). Results: Younger bilingual children displayed distinct speech rhythm patterns for their target languages, and they deviated from their monolingual English-speaking peers. Older bilingual children also separated speech rhythm by language, and differences between older bilingual children and their monolingual peers speaking English were also found. Younger and older bilingual children differed on the vocalic PVI, but not the intervocalic PVI, providing partial support for age differences. Bilingual adults showed separation of their languages and performed similarly to their monolingual peers. Conclusion: Bilingual children show distinct speech rhythm patterns for their target languages but with some early equal timing bias that diminishes over time, on the basis of the vocalic measurements. Overall, the vocalic PVI is more robust than the intervocalic PVI, but further research is necessary. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
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    language: English
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