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Pitch alterations in British motherese: some preliminary acoustic data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Brenda Shute  and
Kevin Wheldall
Brenda Shute
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Kevin Wheldall*
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
*
Centre for Child Study, University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK.
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Abstract

Speech samples from eight British female adults addressing young children and another adult were analysed in terms of vocal pitch. Increases in vocal pitch when addressing young children were observed but were smaller than the increases noted by North American researchers, and variability across speakers was marked. Some adults only slightly raised their vocal pitch to young children. Pitch increases were generally more marked for mean as against modal pitch measures, and for free speech as against reading aloud conditions.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , October 1989 , pp. 503 - 512
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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