Acoustic correlates of rhythm in English and French four-year-olds

Abstract

Although rhythm may provide a basic grid for the acquisition of language,experimental studies investigating its development are scarce. Inthis paper, we examine the rhythmic patterns produced by 4-year-oldFrench and English children and their mothers. In utterances of minimallyfour syllables, two durational measures were taken; that of eachvowel, and that of the intervals between the offset of one voweland the onset of the next. From each set of measures, a rhythm indexwas calculated which expresses the degree of variability betweensuccessive intervals of each type. The results show (i) that thevowel duration, but not the intervocalic measure, distinguishes betweendifferent languages and different age groups; (ii) that successivevowel durations produced by French mothers are more nearly equalthan those produced by English mothers, and (iii) that the rhythmicpatterns of English mothers and children differ, but those of Frenchmothers and children do not. Our findings are in accord with traditionaldescriptions of French and English as syllable and stress-timed respectively,and show that 4-year-old French children appear to have acquiredthe syllable-timed rhythm of French, but 4-year-old English childrenhave not acquired the stress-timed rhythm of English.