Languages differ in both the use of prosody in focus marking and
prosodic systems. In the light of recent studies of acquisition of
prosodic focus marking in typologically different languages, we
argue that typological differences have direct influences on
acquisition of prosodic focus marking. More specifically,
differences in reliance on phonetic uses of prosody and transparency
of how prosody is used phonologically to encode focus can lead to
cross-linguistic differences in rate of acquisition. Differences in
whether the prosodic means involved are also used for lexical
purposes and in interface between prosody and word order can trigger
cross-linguistic differences in route of acquisition.
Article outline
Introduction
An overview of methods
The picture/video-description task
The picture-matching game
The answer-reconstruction game
Acquisition of prosodic focus marking across languages
Effects of reliance on phonetic uses of prosody
Effects of transparency in phonological uses of
prosody
Effects of lexical use of pitch
Effects of relative importance of prosody and word order in
focus marking
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