ИСТИНА

Corpus linguistics offers new opportunities for verifying previous research data and, in certain cases, re-interpreting them. Age-related changes in prosody typically described as a result of physical decline appear to be signs of speaking skills development when they are applied to middle age, a relatively advantageous stage of life, both socially and physically, before and at which most dramatic changes emerge. Older age facts of prosody changes give evidence of compensation processes based on social practice skills set against the physical and perceptual losses. Accentual prominence increases due to pitch, duration and, less noticeably, intensity contrast between accented and unaccented syllables.