Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Acquisition of Prosodic Patterns in English and Greek

本研究的核心是一个基本问题：儿童是如何以及何时习得母语韵律模式的？ 虽然幼儿对他们语言的韵律特性很敏感，但儿童可能要到12岁才能完全掌握他们的语音使用。本论文将是第一个利用声学数据对韵律发展进行大规模研究的项目。将收集三个年龄组（6岁，9岁和12岁）的数据，以评估两种语言（希腊语和英语）的韵律产生的发展模式。本研究探讨韵律现象在不同领域（复合词，短语和音节重音），以解释他们的收购顺序。比较希腊语和英语将导致更好地理解语言共同的韵律属性，而不是由特定的语言系统所决定的。由于语音发展在阅读技能的发展中起着重要作用，因此研究结果可能会产生与教育相关的见解。了解发展过程也可能有助于改善韵律发展问题儿童（如自闭症）的教学方法。

At the core of this research is a fundamental question: how and when do children acquire the prosodic patterns of their mother tongue? Although young infants are sensitive to the prosodic properties of their language, children may not fully master their phonological use until the age of 12. This dissertation project will be the first large scale study of the development of prosody using acoustic data. Data will be collected from three age groups (6-year-olds, 9-year-olds, and 12-year-olds) to assess the developmental patterns in the production of prosody in two languages: Greek and English. The study examines prosodic phenomena operating in different domains (compound, phrase and clitic stress) in order to explain the order in which they are acquired. Comparing Greek and English will lead to a better understanding of the prosodic properties that languages have in common, as opposed to those determined by the specific linguistic system one learns. Since phonological development plays a major role in the development of reading skills, the findings may yield insights relevant to education. Understanding the developmental process may also contribute to improved methods of instruction for children with developmental problems in prosody (e.g. autism).