Suprasegmental specification Dutch/English?

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J. J. Lodder - 05 Jan 2007 11:42 GMT

From nl.taal:
===
Christophe A & J Morton J (1998)

"Is Dutch native English? Linguistic analysis by 2-month-olds"
Developmental Science 1(2):215-219.
http://tinyurl.com/u2dzl [PDF 5 pp, 223 kb]

Abstract
"A variant of the non-nutritive habituation/dishabituation
sucking method was used to test 2-month-old English
infants' perception of languages. This method tests for
the spontaneous interest of the baby to a change in
the stimulus.
English and Japanese were clearly discriminated. The
difference between French and Japanese was equally
clearly not of interest to babies using this procedure,
the babies behaving as though both languages were
classified simply as 'foreign'.
In order to further specify babies' representation of
native and foreign language, we used Dutch, which
shares a number of suprasegmental features with
English. The results from our last 2 experiments
indicate that a portion of our 6-12 week-old babies
consider Dutch as native, suggesting that we tapped in
a transition period where the babies are still refining the
suprasegmental specification of their native language."
===

However: what is 'suprasegmental specification'
and how do I see the similarities?

Jan

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athel...@yahoo - 05 Jan 2007 11:50 GMT

> From nl.taal:
> ===
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> sucking method was used to test 2-month-old English
> infants' perception of languages. This method tests for

[ ... ]

> However: what is 'suprasegmental specification'
> and how do I see the similarities?

I think you need to risk having your head bitten off by asking this at
sci.lang. They know that sort of thing there, even though they don't
always have as kind and gentle a way of treating newcomers as we aim
for in aue. (An exception should be noted, in all fairness: Yusuf
Gursey is unfailingly courteous and helpful, but I doubt whether this
is his sort of question.)

athel

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Mike Lyle - 05 Jan 2007 12:18 GMT

> > From nl.taal:
> > ===
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> Gursey is unfailingly courteous and helpful, but I doubt whether this
> is his sort of question.)

Just for fun, I'll have a go. (Be aware that it's a long time since I
"studied" this kind of thing -- I use the word in a loose sense. One of
the pros could soon be along to deride my efforts.)

Segmental sounds are the irreducible units within the recognised range
of sounds of a particular language -- phonemes. Suprasegmental ones are
the result of modifications to those sounds: things like stress and
tone. I assume "specification" here refers to that range of sounds
belonging to the language in question.

Signature

Mike.

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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007

Suprasegmental specification Dutch/English?