Development of phrase-level prosody from infancy to late childhood

Abstract

This chapter reviews the state-of-the-art research on phrase-level prosodic development. The chapter first discusses prosodic variation in early vocalizations, its communicative connotations, and perception of tonal patterns and prosodic phrases in infancy. Second, it reviews the main findings on development in the inventory of phonologically distinct tonal patterns (i.e. pitch accents, boundary tones) and in prosodic phrasing and rhythm from the one-word stage to the multi-word stage in speech production. Third, it considers developmental patterns at the interface between prosody and information structure and in the expression of emotions and epistemic meanings from both a production and a comprehension perspective. In the chapter’s treatment of these topics, it reviews proposals for factors that shape the rate and route of development where appropriate. Finally, the chapter suggests directions for future research.