Comparison of pitch reset characteristics between children’s filler syllable and starter syllable productions

Abstract

Children’s filler syllables may assist in maintaining rhythmic envelopes and intonational phrasing, and may be markers of potential or actual morphosyntactic information. Therefore, they should exhibit pitch characteristics indicating coherence with other constituents in the same intonational phrase. They contrast with starter syllables, which serve more pragmatic functions such as discourse place holders. An acoustical analysis of pitch reset is presented which distinguishes between filler and starter productions. Pitch reset was evaluated through two measures: the difference in intensity (decibels) between syllable initiation and syllable termination, and boundary duration (milliseconds) from the offset of the targeted syllable to the onset of the next syllable or constituent. Results demonstrated that fillers and starters could be differentiated using pitch reset measures. Typically, fillers did not exhibit pitch reset, described here as a boundary duration less than 200 ms and intensity difference scores ranging from −15 to +17 dB. Starters, however, did typically exhibit pitch reset, described here as a boundary duration greater than 200 ms and intensity difference scores ranging from 0 to +17 dB. This pilot investigation suggests that fillers exhibit similar pitch reset acoustical characteristics to other syntactic constituents in the intonational phrase in which they are located. [Work supported by NIH.]