John Benjamins Publishing Company
Chapter 13. Gradual development of focus prosody and affect prosody comprehension
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Kiwako Ito
Abstract
Excellence in communication skills requires an ability to appropriately represent the discourse structure including focus, as well as good comprehension of speaker affect. Both focus and affect are communicated in large part through prosody, so comprehension and production of the accompanying prosody is essential. However, past studies on focus prosody have been both theoretically and methodologically separated from the research on affect prosody. (In this chapter, I use the term ‘focus prosody’ to refer to prosodic phenomena that are either produced or perceived as the cue to a specific part of speech that conveys the focal content of a message. This includes ‘narrow focus’, which is defined in terms of the informational scope (e.g., answers to Wh-questions), and ‘contrastive focus’, which is a subtype of narrow focus that evokes interpretational alternatives.) This chapter argues that the suggested difference in the developmental trajectory (i.e., focus prosody develops slower as compared to affect prosody) may be an artifact of the perspective divergence, and points out that the mastery of prosodic skills in both these domains must be necessarily gradual – though they may not develop hand-in-hand. A holistic approach that considers the interaction between affect prosody and focus prosody is proposed as a future direction of the research on prosodic development within and across individuals.
Abstract
Excellence in communication skills requires an ability to appropriately represent the discourse structure including focus, as well as good comprehension of speaker affect. Both focus and affect are communicated in large part through prosody, so comprehension and production of the accompanying prosody is essential. However, past studies on focus prosody have been both theoretically and methodologically separated from the research on affect prosody. (In this chapter, I use the term ‘focus prosody’ to refer to prosodic phenomena that are either produced or perceived as the cue to a specific part of speech that conveys the focal content of a message. This includes ‘narrow focus’, which is defined in terms of the informational scope (e.g., answers to Wh-questions), and ‘contrastive focus’, which is a subtype of narrow focus that evokes interpretational alternatives.) This chapter argues that the suggested difference in the developmental trajectory (i.e., focus prosody develops slower as compared to affect prosody) may be an artifact of the perspective divergence, and points out that the mastery of prosodic skills in both these domains must be necessarily gradual – though they may not develop hand-in-hand. A holistic approach that considers the interaction between affect prosody and focus prosody is proposed as a future direction of the research on prosodic development within and across individuals.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
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Part 1. Early sensitivity to prosody
- Chapter 2. Early perception of phrasal prosody and its role in syntactic and lexical acquisition 17
- Chapter 3. Early sensitivity and acquisition of prosodic patterns at the lexical level 37
- Chapter 4. The role of prosody in early word learning 59
- Chapter 5. The role of prosody in early speech segmentation and word-referent mapping 79
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Part 2. Learning to produce prosody
- Chapter 6. Set in time 103
- Chapter 7. Speech rhythm in development 125
- Chapter 8. Early development of intonation 145
- Chapter 9. Prosodic phonology in acquisition 165
- Chapter 10. The development of prosodic structure 185
- Chapter 11. Understanding the development of prosodic words 207
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Part 3. Moving to meaning: Prosody and pragmatic development
- Chapter 12. Early development of the prosody-meaning interface 227
- Chapter 13. Gradual development of focus prosody and affect prosody comprehension 247
- Chapter 14. Children’s development of internal state prosody 271
- Chapter 15. Get the focus right across languages 295
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Part 4. Prosody in bilingualism and in specific populations
- Chapter 16. Bilingual children’s prosodic development 317
- Chapter 17. Prosodic development in atypical populations 343
- Index 363
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Introduction 1
-
Part 1. Early sensitivity to prosody
- Chapter 2. Early perception of phrasal prosody and its role in syntactic and lexical acquisition 17
- Chapter 3. Early sensitivity and acquisition of prosodic patterns at the lexical level 37
- Chapter 4. The role of prosody in early word learning 59
- Chapter 5. The role of prosody in early speech segmentation and word-referent mapping 79
-
Part 2. Learning to produce prosody
- Chapter 6. Set in time 103
- Chapter 7. Speech rhythm in development 125
- Chapter 8. Early development of intonation 145
- Chapter 9. Prosodic phonology in acquisition 165
- Chapter 10. The development of prosodic structure 185
- Chapter 11. Understanding the development of prosodic words 207
-
Part 3. Moving to meaning: Prosody and pragmatic development
- Chapter 12. Early development of the prosody-meaning interface 227
- Chapter 13. Gradual development of focus prosody and affect prosody comprehension 247
- Chapter 14. Children’s development of internal state prosody 271
- Chapter 15. Get the focus right across languages 295
-
Part 4. Prosody in bilingualism and in specific populations
- Chapter 16. Bilingual children’s prosodic development 317
- Chapter 17. Prosodic development in atypical populations 343
- Index 363
