This article reports on a study to determine the role of intonation in language acquisition. Related studies are mentioned. Research methods for the study are outlined and two case studies are reviewed. Conclusions show that adult-child interaction influences not only the child's use of intonation but also his acquisition of syntax. (Text is in…

The sentence intonation of Panjabi (a tone language) is described, as it is spoken in the district of Sialkot in West Pakistan. A system of phonetic transcription is established, and the intonation of sentences and questions is treated in two chapters. (JB)

Although a great many textbooks of general phonetics deal with the articulation and the acoustics of speech sounds, these works generally deal only briefly with the facts of suprasegmental phonetics--rythm, accent, and intonation. The author feels "it is precisely suprasegmental phonetics which is the most important in our French classes because…

In Cantonese, there are cases where two semantically related monosyllabic morphemes contrast with each other by tone only. Such cases may be classified into four groups. Synchronic classification of examples may be of some pedagogical use to teachers and students of Cantonese. (CHK)

Describes an innovative program that systematically exposes second-language learners to the phonetic elements of French, including prosodic features of the language. The first half of the 12 one-hour lessons introduces active listening exercises, delaying oral production until lesson seven. The program's goals and instructional units are included.…

Examines the prosodic characteristics of "motherese" in the speech of 24 German mothers. Each subject was recorded while addressing (1) her three- to five-day-old baby, (2) the absent infant, as if present, and (3) the adult interviewer. Several hypotheses regarding short and long term effects of "motherese" are discussed.…

Abbreviated version of this paper was read under the title Nuclear Accent and Intonation Rules of English'' at the 1970 summer meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, in Columbus, Ohio, and an interim version appeared in UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics'' (1971). (VM)

Both Italian and English have four degrees of stress: emphatic, main, secondary and weak. This paper outlines some similarities, then reviews differences between the languages that can cause difficulties in learning the second language. (CHK)

Field research into the Heiltsuk language, part of the Kwakiutlic branch of the Wakashan language family, in British Columbia is reported. Some of the features of Heiltsuk phonetics are discussed. (RM)

This paper examines three aspects of phonological interference observable in the speech of Puerto Rican bilinguals: (1) segmentation patterns, (2) accentual patterns, and (3) pitch patterns. Ten representative speakers, including nine students and one faculty member, were selected to read a story in the original Spanish and in English translation.…

This article presents a description of intonation in English in terms of the relationship between the syntactic surface structure of a given sentence and certain distinctive intonative features.

It is shown that a sentence spoken in a foreign language (here, English), though grammatically and lexically correct, may not evoke the proper reaction, because of incorrect intonation. Teaching texts have neglected this field. Some suggestions are given for avoiding misunderstandings caused by faulty intonation. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Investigation of the communicative functions of pitch direction and range in one-year-olds (N=2) indicated that use of pitch among infants may be related to a period where communicative intentions are clearly defined, but language is not yet available. A higher pitch was observed among infants who made repeated requests for objects as opposed to…

A literary style intent on relating the written word to sound via word length, rhythm, stress, and intonation, has produced a new phonic literature related to the needs of the present. (MM)

Indicates that native and nonnative speakers alike can make use of intonation if they explicitly listen for it, although prosodic features are generally ignored when other cues (semantic and pragmatic) are available. (Author/RL)