Research is reported that verifies the hypothesis that most hearing-impaired children whose auditory input is limited to the low frequencies (500 Hz or less) do perceive intonation differences. The four experiments reported used children ages 7 to 14. (MSE)

In lieu of language lab attendance, second-year language students had the option of attending a drama lab. This program has met with great success. The objective of the lab is to improve skills in pronunciation, intonation, and stress patterns. Also, an environment is created in which the student feels at home with the target language. (PJM)

Confirms previous observations about the tonal character of English stress. Notes that Finnish listeners relied on duration as the perceptual cue for noun/noun phrase distinction (blackbird/black bird), reflecting the absence of linguistic contrasts based on an active use of the larynx in standard Finnish stress and intonation. (Author/RL)

Sentence perspective is determined by communicative function. In English this especially involves word order and the subject, the passive voice, and intonation. Intonation in particular needs more attention in FL teaching and in the training of FL teachers. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Presents a method for the systematic teaching of prosodic features, particularly in French, based on a general theory of intonation and on the use of a pitch visualizer. (Text is in French.) (AM)

This article discusses the problems encountered by second language learners in mastering the phonology of the target language, and suggests the use of music in second language teaching, particularly for intonation. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

Analysis of the development of the forms and functions of interrogatives in Tamil-speaking parent-child interactions during early stages of language acquisition revealed that children first acquired and used intonation questions, followed by questions using "where,""what," and "who." Yes/no questions using the…

Fundamental frequency, duration, and amplitude measures were extracted from stressed and unstressed syllables in interword and intraword comparisons. Analysis of target stress patterns revealed no difference between acoustic marking of stress by 6 adults and 22 toddlers. Findings indicate that children generally control these variables to derive…

Presenting an account of the general workings and functions of English intonation and accentuation, the discussion notes the prominent role of accent placement. An attempted overall framework for interpreting intonation and accent in English takes account of the discourse dimension to render the subject accessible to both teacher and learner.…

The CAI system described offers instantaneous visual presentation of such features of speech prosody as intonation, rhythm, and stress. A TV screen shows both the model sentence (as the student hears it) and the student's own imitation thereof. The system allows for text management, computer-generated sound, and visualized intonation contours. (10…

Examination of the perceptibility of carryover coarticulatory perturbations occurring at syllabic vowels in Mandarin Chinese suggests that, in connected speech, a portion of fundamental frequency at intertonemic onset is perturbed, including initial voiced consonants and vowels, and that the perturbations result from preservative as well as…

Certain apparently deviant, inverted forms of the French imperative (e.g. "pas touche!" for "ne touche pas!") are analyzed. A number of phonosyntactic explanations that focus on phonological order, rhythm, and intonation are examined. The strength of the imperative intention is also considered. (MSE)

In a study of interspecies understanding, 75 naive human listeners classified 18 vocalizations of monkeys into 1 of 7 semantic categories, which were also related to the behavioral situation. Results suggest that both species share vocalization patterns signalling fear, aggression, dominance, and emotional neutrality. (45 references) (LB)

Some of the articulatory, theoretical, instrumental, and psycholinguistic evidence concerning the validity of the notion of ambisyllabicity in English is examined. Applications of the concept, including the notion of syllables being "half-closed" by ambisyllabic consonants, are considered. A set of rules is presented. (76 references) (Author/LB)

Discusses the use of imagination as a tool to improve students' musicianship. Suggests that imagery can be used to teach intonation, tone color, sight-reading, and expression. Describes active listening in which the students must use musical memory and participate in musical expression to produce a certain sound that may be difficult to describe.…