The prosody of yes/no-questions in German first language acquisition

Abstract

Even though there are many studies on the acquisition of intonation, it is not clear yet how the acquisitional path of yes/no-questions (YNQs) develops in children learning languages that distinguish interrogatives and declaratives by means of pitch contours. The present study investigates the intonational realisation of information-seeking YNQs and declarative statements (DCLs) by monolingual German children between 2;8 and 4;0. Child productions were analysed for pitch range and phonological pitch patterns. Our findings suggest that, independent of age, DCLs are predominantly marked by falling f0 with a L-% boundary tone. The youngest children produce YNQs with both falling and rising patterns where L-% is the most common boundary tone. In contrast, 3- to 4-year-olds produce YNQs mostly with rising f0 with either L-H% or H-^H%. Thus, although the youngest children may be aware of the prosodic difference, they do not use pitch consistently yet to differentiate YNQs and DCLs. As of age 3;0, German children make conscious and consistent use of boundary tones to mark YNQs and DCLs.