Use of Contrastive Stress by Preschool Children

Abstract

Twenty preschool children were asked to describe pairs of pictures, the second of which contrasted with the first in terms of agent, action, or object. The children showed a clear tendency to stress the part of the description corresponding to the contrasting element. This demonstrates mastery of contrastive stress patterns (in absence of any formal teaching) by young children. The technique provides a controlled means of eliciting this aspect of speech in children.