Intonation description of interrogative sentences produced by children with phonological disorder

• Grant number: 25/09748-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Speech Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Geovana Carina Neris Soncin Santos
• Grantee: Melissa Nascimento do Carmo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências (FFC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Marília. Marília , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 20/10144-3 - Prosody production and perception in children with typical and atypical phonological development, AP.JP

Abstract

In Brazilian Portuguese, the distinction between declarative sentences and yes/no interrogative sentences is marked strictly by prosodic features, making prosody essential for signaling the illocutionary force of these speech acts in communicative interaction. Specifically, this distinction is conveyed through intonation, particularly by different nuclear pitch accents. However, it is important to note that this characterization refers to adult speech. Regarding children's speech, the intonational description of interrogative sentences remains underexplored, leaving a gap in our understanding of how the intonational pattern of this sentence type is acquired. Conversely, in the clinical applied context, studies have reported difficulties in the production of interrogative sentences among children with atypical language and/or speech development, such as those with phonological disorder. Considering this scenario, the aim of this project is to acoustically analyze the production of interrogative sentences in the speech of children with phonological disorder (PD) and children with typical language development (TLD), in order to identify whether there are intonational differences between the groups in their production of these sentences. To achieve this aim, speech samples from these groups of children, drawn from the "Child Speech Prosody Database" (from FAPESP Project/2020-10144-3), will be analyzed. These data were obtained through two speech production experiments: one repetition task and one elicitation task based on child-adult interaction. The data will be analyzed based on the theoretical and methodological principles of the integrated approach between Prosodic Phonology and Intonational Phonology. As a contribution, this study will present results with both descriptive relevance to the field of language acquisition and applied relevance to clinical studies, especially regarding the assessment of communicative competence in children with speech/language disorders.