The role of pause as a prosodic boundary marker: Language ERP studies in German 3- and 6-year-olds

Spoken language is hierarchically structured into prosodic units divided by prosodic breaks. The largest prosodic breaks in an utterance are intonational phrase boundaries (IPBs), which are defined by three acoustic cues, namely, pitch change, preboundary lengthening, and pausing. Previous studies have revealed that the electrophysiological marker of IPB perception, the Closure Positive Shift (CPS), is established between 2 and 3 years of age. Here, we examined the neural activity underlying IPB perception in children by targeting their reliance on pausing; hypothesized to be a key boundary cue in German. To evaluate the role of pausing, we tested IPB perception without the boundary pause, but with pitch change and preboundary lengthening. We tested children at the age of 3 years, when the CPS in response to IPBs has just emerged, and at 6 years, when language abilities are further developed. Results revealed that 6-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, show the CPS in response to IPBs without full prosodic marking. These results indicate developmental differences with respect to the role of pausing as a prosodic boundary cue in German. The correlation of children's IPB perception and their syntactic abilities further corroborates the close prosody-syntax interaction in children's advancing ability to process phrase structure.