When do children acquire intonation as a focus-marker?

This study investigated how children acquire intonation as a focus-marker in Dutch. The use of intonation in different information structural contexts was analysed for children from four age groups (1- to 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds, 4- to 5-year-olds, and 7- to 8-year-olds) in both spontaneous and elicited production. Results show that children go through distinct development stages before becoming adult-like in the use of intonation in focus marking at the age of 7 or 8.