This study is an investigation of the degree to which preschool children enrolled in Cantonese-immersion preschools in three areas of the United States differed from their monolingual counterparts in pitch-matching accuracy. In a 2003 study, I found that in monolingual American English-speaking children, pitch-matching accuracy was most significantly predicted by the mean speech frequency of the voice, speech range, and age. In the present study, 20 children from the first study were matched solely by age and sex to 20 immersion children (N = 40). Results indicated that participation in the Cantonese-immersion programs most significantly affected overall pitch-matching accuracy (p < .001), with age as the strongest predictor of singing the lower notes in the study (p = . 04). Implications of these findings in relation to physiological vocal development and vocal use are also discussed.
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