Benchmarking Typically Developing Children’s Prosodic Performance on the Irish-English Version of the Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech-Communication (PEPS-C)
Affiliations: [a] University College Cork, Ireland | [b] High Appin, Tynron, Scotland, UK
Correspondence:
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Correspondence to: Michelle Foley, 7 Maple Drive, Castlepark, Mallow, County Cork. E-mail: foley_michelle@yahoo.co.uk.
Abstract: Objective:To develop the Irish-English version of the Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech-Communication (PEPS-C) assessment, identify the normal prosodic performance of typically developing children aged 5–11 years on the PEPS-C assessment, and identify significant age-related changes between different age groups. Method:Thirty typically developing children between the ages of 5;9 and 11;1 years completed the PEPS-C assessment, which involved both receptive and expressive tasks. Results:Significant differences were found between the youngest group’s prosodic performance and the two older groups. The 5- to 6-year-old age group performed less well than the 10- to 11-year-old age group (p < 0.05). The 10- to 11-year-old age group performed above chance level on all prosodic tasks. Conclusion:While 5- and 6-year-old children have acquired some functional prosodic skills, there are further developments between the ages of 5;9 and 9;5, with some aspects of prosody continuing to develop up to 11 years.
Keywords: prosody, intonation, assessment, language
