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SUMMARY:A multisystemic model of rhythm development: Disentangling phonolo
 gy and prosody in a cross-linguistic study - Brechtje Post\, RCEAL
DTSTART:20100216T160000Z
DTEND:20100216T173000Z
UID:TALK21997@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Chris Cummins
DESCRIPTION:The characteristic rhythm of a language – traditionally refe
 rred to in terms of stress- and syllable-timing – has been claimed to em
 erge from various phonological properties\, especially vowel reduction and
  syllable complexity (e.g. Bertinetto 1981\, Dasher and Bolinger 1982\, Ro
 ach 1982\, Dauer 1983). If so\, learning to produce an appropriate rhythmi
 c pattern as a child depends not only on sufficient motor control\, but al
 so on the acquisition of those properties. This implies that\, while rhyth
 mic development may start early (e.g. Nazzi et al 1998)\, it potentially e
 ncompasses the entire period of phonological development until approximate
 ly age 9 (Ruscello 2003). \n\nThe few existing developmental studies of rh
 ythm production appear to support this view (Boysson-Bardies and Vihman 19
 91\, Grabe et al 1999\, Lléo and Kehoe 2002\, Payne et al. submitted)\, s
 howing that rhythm in child speech follows different developmental paths d
 epending on language\, and remains un-target-like even at 6 (Payne et al. 
 submitted). This suggests that adult-like timing emerges gradually\, when 
 language-specific phonological and prosodic properties are acquired. \n\nI
 n this paper\, we investigate to what extent the acquisition of systemic p
 roperties like syllable structure\, stress placement\, phrasing and segmen
 t inventory can indeed account for cross-linguistic developmental differen
 ces in rhythm. Comparing English (stress-timed)\, Spanish (syllable-timed)
 \, and Catalan (mixed/intermediate rhythm class) 2-\, 4-\, and 6-year-olds
 \, we hypothesise that rhythmic differences emerge in parallel with the ac
 quisition of phonology. Hence\, cross-linguistic rhythmic differences shou
 ld already be apparent at age 2\, but become stronger with age\, reflectin
 g phonological and prosodic differences. Initial findings show that\, alth
 ough there are indeed ambient effects of syllable structure at age 2\, syl
 lable complexity cannot fully explain the findings. Factors such as stress
  placement and phrasing\, which are some of the properties which are not y
 et fully acquired at 6\, also play a role\, supporting a more refined\, mu
 lti-systemic model of rhythmic development. \n\nThis study is part of 'APr
 iL'\, an international collaborative project with Lluïsa Astruc (Open Uni
 versity)\, Elinor Payne (University of Oxford)\, and Pilar Prieto and Mari
 a del Mar Vanrell (both Universitat Pompeu Fabra)\, funded by the Generali
 tat de Catalunya (Ref. 2007 PBR 29 and Ref. 2009 PBR 00018\; PI Prieto) an
 d the British Academy (Ref. SG-51777\; PI Post).\n\n
LOCATION:GR-06/07\, English Faculty Building
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