CHILDREN'S CLEAR SPEECH SUGGESTS WORD-LEVEL TARGETS: PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE

Melissa A. Redford1 & Christina E. Gildersleeve-Neumann2
1University of Oregon; 2Portland State University

ID 1544
[full paper]

The development of clear speech was examined in a cross-sectional study of three-, four-, and five-year-old children. Thirty children produced target monosyllabic words with monophthongal vowels in clear and casual speech conditions. Vowel acoustics were measured and adults were asked to provide clear speech ratings on either the vowel or the whole word. The results provided little evidence that young children hyperarticulate vowels in clear speech. Rather, the results suggest that children aim for more adult-like word targets in clear compared to casual speech.