ERIC Number: EJ1398865
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1547-5441
EISSN: EISSN-1547-3341
Role of Pitch in Toddler Looking to New and Given Referents in American English
Thorson, Jill C.; Franklin, Lauren R.; Morgan, James L.
Language Learning and Development, v19 n4 p458-479 2023
This study examined how toddler looking to a discourse referent is mediated by the information status of the referent and the pitch contour of the referring expression. Eighteen-month-olds saw a short discourse of three sets of images with the proportion of looking time to a target analyzed during the final image. At test, the information status of the referent was either "new" or "given" and the referring expression was presented with one of three pitch contours ("flat f0," "monotonal ([approximately]H*"), or "bitonal" ("[approximately]L+H*")). In Experiment 1, toddlers looked reliably longer to a target referent when it was either "new" to the discourse or carried a non-flat pitch contour. In Experiment 2, the referring expression was removed to observe effects of information status alone on looking to a target referent. Toddlers looked significantly longer to a target when it was "new" versus "given." More fine-grained time course analyses of eye movements revealed differences in the speed and duration of fixation to a target. Overall, the experiments show that discourse reference in toddlers is mediated by the presence of newness and pitch contours, even in the case of "given" information.
Descriptors: Intonation, Suprasegmentals, Toddlers, Language Acquisition, Phonology, North American English, Task Analysis, Eye Movements, Language Processing, Visual Stimuli
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (DHHS/NIH)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: R01HD068501