A hallható levegővétel és a néma szünetek összefüggése gyermekek spontán beszédében

Abstract

Several functions of silent pause in speech are known. A much less investigated area, however, is the relation between pausing and audible breathing. It has been proved that speech breathing is subordinated to higher level planning processes in the speech of adults. The aim of this study is to investigate the relation between pausing strategies and breathing in children′s spontaneous speech.  We hypothesize that children are less able to coordinate breathing and the various functions of pausing due to the smaller lung capacity and less speech experience. To prove our hypothesis, we have analysed 40 narratives by six to nine-year-old children. We have analysed the frequency, functions, temporal features of silent pauses, with special attention to audible breathing. The acoustic analysis has been done by the software Praat and the statistical analysis has been done in SPSS. Results show that compared to adults, children are less able to regulate the relation between breathing and silent pauses. In pausing, however, certain patterns typical of adulthood can be detected already in the kindergarten.