Initial intonation and lexicon

Prosody is the bridge between interactional/discursive and formal/grammatical aspects in language acquisition. These two aspects are explored, through intonation characteristics in the speech of 3 children exposed to (Brazilian) Portuguese. Basic intonation distinctions are observed in the data sinc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Veredas (Juiz de Fora, Brazil) Brazil), 2012-01, p.40-54
Main Authors: Scarpa, Ester, Fernandes-Svartman, Flaviane
Format: Article
Language:Portuguese
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Prosody is the bridge between interactional/discursive and formal/grammatical aspects in language acquisition. These two aspects are explored, through intonation characteristics in the speech of 3 children exposed to (Brazilian) Portuguese. Basic intonation distinctions are observed in the data since the production of the first words interpretable as such by the speech community. They are contrasts in F0 (pitch-range and pitch-direction) assigned to 1,2,3, and, to a lesser extent, to 4-syllable utterances. Said distinctions are relevant in terms of grammatical (modalities, vocatives) and pragmatic meanings, as well as providing clues to prosodic bootstrapping of determiners, argument roles and aspect. Adapted from the source document
ISSN:1415-2533