dc.contributor.author |
Pronina, Mariia |
dc.contributor.author |
Hübscher, Iris |
dc.contributor.author |
Vilà-Giménez, Ingrid |
dc.contributor.author |
Prieto Vives, Pilar, 1965- |
dc.date.accessioned |
2022-05-25T05:33:33Z |
dc.date.available |
2022-05-25T05:33:33Z |
dc.date.issued |
2021 |
dc.identifier.citation |
Pronina M, Hübscher I, Vilà-Giménez I, Prieto P. Bridging the gap between prosody and pragmatics: the acquisition of pragmatic prosody in the preschool years and its relation with theory of mind. Front Psychol. 2021;12:662124. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.662124 |
dc.identifier.issn |
1664-1068 |
dc.identifier.uri |
http://hdl.handle.net/10230/53236 |
dc.description.abstract |
While it is well known that prosodic features are central in the conveyance of pragmatic
meaning across languages, developmental research has assessed a narrow set of
pragmatic functions of prosody. Research on prosodic development has focused on
early infancy, with the subsequent preschool ages and beyond having received less
attention. This study sets out to explore how young preschoolers develop the ability
to use prosody to express pragmatic meanings while taking into account children’s
Theory of Mind (ToM) development. Though ToM has been suggested to be linked to the
development of receptive prosody, little is known about its relationship with expressive
prosodic skills. A total of 102 3- to 4-year-old Catalan-speaking children were assessed
for their pragmatic prosody skills using 35 picture-supported prompts revolving around
a variety of social scenarios, as well as for their ToM skills. The responses were analyzed
for prosodic appropriateness. The analyses revealed that 3- to 4-year-olds successfully
produced prosody to encode basic expressive acts and unbiased speech acts such
as information-seeking questions. Yet they had more trouble with complex expressive
acts and biased speech acts such as the ones that convey speakers’ beliefs. Further
analyses showed that ToM alone is not sufficient to explain children’s prosodic score,
but the prosodic performance in some pragmatic areas (unbiased pragmatic meanings)
was predicted by the interaction between ToM and age. Overall, this evidence for the
acquisition of pragmatic prosody by young preschoolers demonstrates the importance
of bridging the gap between prosody and pragmatics when accounting for prosodic
developmental profiles, as well as taking into account the potential influence of ToM and
other socio-cognitive and language skills in this development. |
dc.description.sponsorship |
This work benefited from funding awarded by the Spanish
Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MCIU),
Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI), Fondo Europeo de
Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (PGC2018-097007-B-I00), and the
Generalitat de Catalunya (2017 SGR_971). IH was supported by
the University of Zurich’s University Research Priority Program
“Language and Space.” MP also acknowledges support from
the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Ministry of
Business and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia and the
European Social Fund (2020 FI_B2 00192). |
dc.format.mimetype |
application/pdf |
dc.language.iso |
eng |
dc.publisher |
Frontiers |
dc.rights |
Copyright © 2021 Pronina, Hübscher, Vilà-Giménez and Prieto. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
dc.rights.uri |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
dc.title |
Bridging the gap between prosody and pragmatics: the acquisition of pragmatic prosody in the preschool years and Its relation with theory of mind |
dc.type |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
dc.identifier.doi |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.662124 |
dc.subject.keyword |
Prosody |
dc.subject.keyword |
Acquisition |
dc.subject.keyword |
Pragmatics |
dc.subject.keyword |
Development |
dc.subject.keyword |
Theory of Mind (ToM) |
dc.subject.keyword |
Preschoolers |
dc.relation.projectID |
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/2PE/PGC2018-097007-B-I00 |
dc.rights.accessRights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
dc.type.version |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |