Intermediate Vocalizations: An Investigation of the Boundary Between Speech and Songs in Young Children's Vocalizations

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to describe the rich variety of vocal behaviours of preschool children, how I see these vocalizations mutate in relation to the children 's linguistic and musical development, and the contexts in which these developments take place. Speech and singing responses were collected from eight children during child-adult interactions and in play settings. Each child was visited every four to six months over a 42-month period. The recorded vocal responses of the children were subsequently analyzed by three qualified judges. Most of the children 's vocalizations were in accord with adult conceptions of song and speech. Acoustic intermediate vocalizations were found more frequently in young children who are at the initial stage of acquiring vocal control. In older children who had already made clear distinctions between their singing and speaking, they might sometimes purposefully alternate between singing and speaking to communicate in novel forms of contextual intermediate vocalizations. The intermediate vocalizations observed offer a rich account of the linguistic and musical development of children. However, the fuzzy boundary between preschool children 's song and speech brings out the question as to what constitutes a conception of singing and speaking both acoustically and contextually.