Spanish Prosody in The Cat in the Hat
Date
2022-01-21
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Abstract
The book, The Cat in the Hat, is a popular pick for children under 3 years old. Predictable
metric and rhyming structure is composed of multiple metric levels. Prosodic cues such as
intensity, duration, pitch and intonation create these distinct metric levels in a language. This
study aims to analyze whether Spanish speakers employ prosodic cues to construct a metrical
hierarchy, and if so, how. Metrical hierarchy in a language conveys information regarding the
location of beat and stress in an utterance. Spanish speakers were asked to read El Gato
Ensombrerado, the Spanish translation of The Cat in the Hat. The recordings were then analyzed,
specifically looking at duration, intensity, and pitch. Where we found significant effects in all of
these dependent variables, which were intensity, duration, and pitch. Our findings can contribute
to the understanding of child directed speech structure to help children’s language acquisition.
Description
Keywords
Neuroscience, Psychology, Spanish, Prosody, Prosodic cues, Metric Levels, Rhyming Structure, Intensity, Duration, Pitch, Intonation, Spanish Speakers, Child language acquisition, Language, El Gato Ensombrerado, The Cat in the Hat, Translation