Constraints in prosodic and morphological development

  Contact person

Harriet JISA , Geraldine HILAIRE-DEBOVE

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Scientific framework and objectives

This operation studies the phonological and morphological development of French and American children. The data consist of bi-monthly audio-video recordings of 6 English- speaking children (Brown, Providence, USA) and 8 French-speaking (Lyon, France), recorded during interaction with their mothers. The study begins when the children are 12 months and will continue until they reach 36 months. The spontaneous data is completed with cross sectional experiments concering specific areas of phonological development.

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Describe phonological development, in particular coda consonants and consonant clusters • Study the influence of prosodic structure of each language on the omissions of segments or syllables (iambic vs trochaïc ; word length ; position of segment) • Examine the impact of prosodic patterns on the emergence of grammatical morphology • Study the influence of maternal input on the emergence of sounds and syllable structures • Investigate individual differences

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  Financial support

• National Institute of Mental Health Grant
  
  Université de Brown, Providence
  2001-2005

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  Publications

• dos Santos, C., Rose, Y., 2006, "Facteurs prosodiques et articulatoires dans l’harmonie consonantique et la métathèse en acquisition du français langue première", Recherches linguistiques de Vincennes, 35, pp. 77-102
• dos Santos, C., Rose, Y., 2005, "Sonorants acquisition and positional neutralization: typological, prosodic and articulatory considerations", Emergence of Linguistic Abilities 2005, Lyon, France, 8-10 décembre 2005
• Hilaire-Debove, G., Kehoe, M., 2004, "Acquisition des consonnes finales (codas) chez les enfants francophones : des universaux aux spécificités de la langue maternelle", actes de XXVèmes Journées d'Etude sur la Parole, Fez, Maroc, 21-23 Avril 2004
• Jisa, H., 2003, "Comment l'acquisition du langage nous renseigne sur l'homme", Terrain, 40, pp. 115-132
• Kehoe, M., Hilaire-Debove, G., 2004, "The structure of branching onsets and rising diphtongs : Evidence from acquisition", proc. of 28th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, USA, Octobre 2003, pp. 282-293