Prosodic abilities of Spanish-speaking adolescents and adults with Williams syndrome

Abstract

In spite of the relevant role of prosody in communication, and in contrast with other linguistic components, there is paucity of research in this field for Williams syndrome (WS). Therefore, this study performed a systematic assessment of prosodic abilities in WS. The Spanish version of the Profiling Elements of Prosody in Speech—Communication battery was administered to 27 Spanish-speaking adolescents and adults with WS and a control group of 54 typically developing participants matched for chronological age (CA). Participants with WS presented prosodic deficits, relative to their CA, to comprehend and express prosodic cues both on a function and a form level. These difficulties were mainly due to their cognitive impairments. In addition, the areas of understanding and expressing the prosodic function of segmentation and the expression of the nonfinal contrastive focus were found to be particularly impaired in WS.

Keywords:

• Williams syndrome
• Prosodic abilities
• Adolescents
• Adults
• Deficits

Acknowledgements

This research has been funded by a grant from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Spanish Government (AP2003-5098) to Pastora Martínez-Castilla. We would also like to thank the Williams Syndrome Association of Spain and the parents and participants who have collaborated in this research. Finally, we thank Jason Willis-Lee for proofreading the manuscript.