Word-level stress processing in children with different language backgrounds

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Claudia Friedrich; Dr. Ulrike Schild
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 546007701

In stress-timed languages, a single syllable within a words is usually more prominent than other syllables, i.e. this syllable is stressed. While some of these languages assign stress very strictly to a particular syllable position within a word or utterance, other languages allow variations but establish a predominant position. Still other languages have almost no restrictions on stress assignment. Previous research revealed that the capacity of adult listeners for using stress cues varies as a function of stress characteristics of their first language (L1): Adults with an L1 with relatively lax stress placement restrictions most effectively used stress cues in their native language as well as in a second language (L2). Adults with an L1 that is stricter on stress assignment showed restricted abilities in using stress cues. In the proposed project, we ask whether the language system commits to the stress characteristics of the L1 in childhood. To this end, we will compare the processing of word-level stress in (i) monolingual children and (ii) bilingual children, having acquired their L2 in the second year of life or later. (i) For monolingual children, we will compare sensitivity to stress violation of native words as a function of the L1. We hypothesize that Czech-learning children and adults (whose L1 does not allow stress variation) are less sensitive to stress violation than German-learning children and adults (whose L1 allows stress variation to a moderate degree). (ii) By investigating bilingual children with different L1, we will test whether stricter or laxer stress assignment in an L1 modulates the use of stress for identifying words in an L2 with moderate stress bias (German). We hypothesize that children with an L1 that is stricter in stress assignment than German will be less sensitive to stress variation than a German control group. In contrast, children with an L1 that is looser in stress assignment than German may be more sensitive than the German control group. In addition, we will investigate whether the age-of-acquisition of the L2 will modulate this effect. We will follow our research questions by recording children's eye movements in a "looking while listening" paradigm. Children will see a familiar and a novel object and hear the name of the familiar object either correctly or incorrectly stressed. The study aims to find out whether the use of word-level stress cues in an L2 is modulated by the stress characteristics of children's L1 and by the age of acquisition of that L2. The results should show whether there is a sensitive phase for the adaptation of the processing system to prosodic features of the target language(s).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Czech Republic
• Cooperation Partner: Katerina Chladkova, Ph.D.