Children's speech timing control

Abstract

This study investigated the accuracy with which five-, seven-, nine-, and 11-year-old children could (1) repeat the lines “Twinkle, twinkle, little star; how I wonder what your are,” and (2) tap their fingers in a steady rhythm. These repeated behaviors were analyzed with respect to the statistical model proposed by Allen and Cooper [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 53, 379(A) (1973)], with the following results: (1) the model accounted for an average of over 95% of the variance in the different children's speech data, suggesting that it is a valid description of speech tinting control for these subjects; (2) there was a clear developmental trend, with all of the 11-year-olds behaving within normal adult limits; (3) there was good agreement between speaking and tapping control, suggesting a common timing mechanism; (4) there was no evidence for peripheral speech timing feedback, even among the five-year-olds; (5) post-hoc comparison of some children's data with those of their siblings or their previously studied parents suggests a significant genetic component to (speech) motor timing control.