Vocalic Intrusions in Consonant Clusters in Child-Directed vs. Adult-Directed Speech.

Elinor Payne,Elisabeth Holm,Eirik Tengesdal,Brechtje Post,Pernille Hansen ,Nina Gram Garmann,Hanne Gram Simonsen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.688002

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate a prosodic-phonetic feature in child-directed speech within a dynamic, complex, interactive theoretical framework. We focus on vocalic intrusions, commonly occurring in Norwegian word initial consonant clusters. We analysed child-directed speech from nine Norwegian-speaking mothers to their children, aged 2;6, 4, and 6 years, and compared the incidence and duration of vocalic intrusions in initial consonant clusters in these data with those in adult-directed speech and child speech. When viewed overall, vocalic intrusion was found to be similar in incidence in child- and adult-directed speech. However, closer examination revealed differential behaviour in child-directed speech for certain conditions. Firstly, a difference emerged for one particular phonetic context: While vocalic intrusions in /Cr/ clusters are frequent in adult-directed speech, their presence is near-categorical in child-directed speech. Secondly, we found that the duration of vocalic intrusions was longer in child- than in adult-directed speech, but only when directed to 2;6-year-olds. We argue that vocalic intrusions in child-directed speech may have both a bonding as well as a didactic function, and that these may vary according to the age of the child being addressed.

Highlights

In infant- and child-directed speech (IDS and children above years (CDS)), adults are known to adjust their speech in various ways
In the same study (Garmann et al, 2021), we found that, while vocalic intrusions were evident in English child speech [as one possible strategy for tackling clusters, and one that is attested to some degree cross-linguistically (McLeod et al, 2001)], they were far less prevalent than in Norwegian child speech
We found that child speech displays more vocalic intrusion in consonant clusters than does ADS (Garmann et al, 2021), which suggests vocalic intrusion may be more prevalent in CDS than in ADS

Summary

Introduction

In infant- and child-directed speech (IDS and CDS), adults are known to adjust their speech in various ways. IDS and CDS have shorter and less complex sentences (Snow, 1972) with fewer false starts and hesitations. Adults repeat their utterances more to 2-year-olds than to 10-year-olds (Snow, 1972), place key words at the end of an utterance, or sometimes in isolation, and produce them with more emphatic stress (Aslin et al, 1996). IDS and CDS are reported to be generally more exaggerated in their intonation with a higher pitch and wider pitch range, and are slower in tempo (Cruttenden, 1994).

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Conclusion