APriL

Goals:

The research goals of APriL (which stands for ‘Acquisition of PRosody In L1′) are the following:

  • to investigate the contribution of a number of phonological factors to cross-linguistic differences in speech rhythm in adults
  • to clarify differences in L1 acquisition of rhythm in what are traditionally referred to as stress-timed and syllable-timed languages
  • to investigate intonational development cross-linguistically

Topics:

The research consists of a number of distinct, but closely related research projects:

  • L1 acquisition of rhythm in Catalan, Spanish and English – Funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Ref. 2007 PBR 29; August 2007 – July 2008; PI Prieto)
  • A cross-linguistic study of intonational development in young infants and children – Funded by the British Academy (Ref. SG-51777; March 2009 – February 2010; PI Post)
  • The acquisition of intonational grammar in Catalan, English, and Spanish – Funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Ref. 2009 PBR 00018, August 2009 – July 2010; PI Prieto)

Participants (in alphabetical order):

  • Investigators: Lluïsa Astruc, Elinor Payne, Brechtje Post, Pilar Prieto, Maria del Mar Vanrell
  • Research Assistants: Núria Argemí, Anna Barberà, Melanie Bell, Suzanne Chidlaw, Ana Estrella, and Naomi Hilton