Non-adjacent consonant sequence patterns in English target words during the first-word period

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 1065-1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
KATSURA AOYAMA ◽  
BARBARA L. DAVIS
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Frequent Type ◽  
Sequence Patterns ◽  
Ambient Language ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Language Characteristics ◽  
Production Capacities ◽  
Target Words

ABSTRACTThe goal of this study was to investigate non-adjacent consonant sequence patterns in target words during the first-word period in infants learning American English. In the spontaneous speech of eighteen participants, target words with a Consonant–Vowel–Consonant (C1VC2) shape were analyzed. Target words were grouped into nine types, categorized by place of articulation (labial, coronal, dorsal) of initial and final consonants (e.g.mom, labial–labial;mat, labial–coronal;dog, coronal–dorsal). The results indicated that some consonant sequences occurred much more frequently than others in early target words. The two most frequent types were coronal–coronal (e.g.dad) and labial–coronal (e.g.mat). The least frequent type was dorsal–dorsal (e.g.cake). These patterns are consistent with phonotactic characteristics of English and infants' production capacities reported in previous studies. This study demonstrates that infants' expressive vocabularies reflect both ambient language characteristics and their own production capacities, at least for consonant sequences in C1VC2word forms.

Relationship between the target word form and children’s productions: place of articulation in Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (C1VC2) words in American English

Phonetica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-94
Author(s):  
Katsura Aoyama ◽  
Barbara L. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Target Word ◽  
American English ◽  
English Word ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Target Words

Abstract The aim of the present study was to investigate relationships between characteristics of children’s target words and their actual productions during the single-word period in American English. Word productions in spontaneous and functional speech from 18 children acquiring American English were analyzed. Consonant sequences in 3,328 consonant-vowel-consonant (C1VC2) target words were analyzed in terms of global place of articulation (labials, coronals, and dorsals). Children’s actual productions of place sequences were compared between target words containing repeated place sequences (e.g., mom, map, dad, not) and target words containing variegated place sequences (e.g., mat, dog, cat, nap). Overall, when the target word contained two consonants at the same global place of articulation (e.g., labial-labial, map; coronal-coronal, not), approximately 50% of children’s actual productions matched consonant place characteristics. Conversely, when the target word consisted of variegated place sequences (e.g., mat, dog, cat, nap), only about 20% of the productions matched the target consonant sequences. These results suggest that children’s actual productions are influenced by their own production abilities as well as by the phonetic forms of target words.

First words and prosodic structures

2019 ◽  
pp. 93-121
Author(s):  
Marilyn May Vihman
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
American English ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
British English ◽  
Ambient Language ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Prosodic Structures ◽  
Language Influence ◽  
First Words

This chapter presents data from four to eight children each learning one of six languages, British English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Italian, and Welsh. As a basis for cross-linguistic comparison the chapter first considers similarities and differences in the target forms of the first words of these children. It then presents the children’s later prosodic structures, including American English in the comparison. The chapter considers the development changes apparent from comparing the first words with the later structures and quantifies the extent of variegation in first word targets and later child word forms. In concluding, it is found that common resources are strongly in evidence in the first words but by the later point there is good evidence of ambient language influence as well as of individual differences within the groups.

Phonological selection patterns in early words: A preliminary cross-linguistic investigation

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-579
Author(s):  
Barbara L. Davis ◽  
Florence Chenu ◽  
Hoyoung Yi
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
General Evaluation ◽  
Word Position ◽  
Daily Interactions ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Target Words

AbstractSome researchers have suggested that young children choose to say mainly words containing sounds they can produce and avoid words with sounds they find difficult to produce. This proposed pattern of ‘selection’ supports a hypothesis of dominance of phonological factors in words children choose to say. Based on longitudinal spontaneous data samples during their first 50 word period, word-based tokens produced by two English and two French monolingual children were analyzed. Token frequencies in spontaneously produced word targets (SW-T) were compared to children's actual productions (SW-A) of those target words to understand relationships between targets children choose to say and their patterns in actual productions, (i.e., to evaluate the presence of ‘selection’). Place of articulation (i.e., labial, coronal and dorsal) in initial word position within CV, CVC, and CVCV word forms was compared. Analysis of spontaneous output in daily interactions in children learning two languages with differing phonological systems enables a more general evaluation of issues related to the interface of phonological and lexical aspects during the earliest period of language acquisition.

Genetic and environmental effects in L1 phonological acquisitionThe case of consonant harmony in Greek child speech

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Tzakosta
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Input Frequency ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Consonant Harmony ◽  
Multiple Factors ◽  
Greek Child ◽  
Ambient Language ◽  
Child Speech ◽  
Manner Of Articulation

AbstractConsonant harmony (CH) is a phenomenon commonly found in child language. Cross-linguistically, Place of Articulation (PoA), specifically the Coronal Node, undergoes CH, while regressive harmony seems to be the preferred directionality that CH takes (cf. Goad 2001a, b; Levelt 1994; Rose 2000, 2001). In the present study, drawing on naturalistic data from nine children acquiring Greek L1, we place emphasis on the fact that multiple factors need to be considered in parallel, in order to account for CH patterns: Not only PoA, but also Manner of Articulation (MoA) contributes to CH; consequently, (de)voicing or continuity harmony emerges. Although regressive harmony is generally favoured, markedness scales and word stress highly affect directionality. Coronal, stop and voiceless segments trigger and undergo CH depending on their degree of prominence and their position in the word. Harmony can be partial or full, i.e. either place or manner or both place and manner of articulation are targeted. Progressive harmony emerges when the triggers belong to the stressed syllable or when they are stops. Cases of double, bidirectional and recursive harmony are also reported. In general, Greek CH patterns are the product of combined factors determined by phonological principles and input frequency in the ambient language. In other words, the degree to which Greek CH patterns are different from cross-linguistic findings depends on the combination of UG principles and language specific/environmental effects, as well as the prominence of certain of these factors over others.

scholarly journals Retrieving L2 word stress from orthography: Evidence from word naming and cross-modal priming

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 409-442
Author(s):  
Amanda Post da Silveira
Keyword(s):  
American English ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Mixed List ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Word Naming ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Word Stress ◽  
Moderate Frequency ◽  
Lexical Perception ◽  
Target Words

In this paper we investigated how L1 word stress affects L2 word naming for cognates and non-cognates in two lexical stress languages, Brazilian Portuguese (BP, L1) and American English (AE, L2). In Experiment 1,  BP-AE bilinguals named a mixed list of disyllabic moderate frequency words in L1 (Portuguese) and L2 (English). In Experiment 2, Portuguese-English bilinguals named English (L2) disyllabic target words presented simultaneously with auditory Portuguese (L1) disyllabic primes. It is concluded that word stress has a task-dependent role to play in bilingual word naming and must be incorporated in bilingual models of lexical production and lexical perception and reading aloud models.

The Speech and Language Characteristics of Children with Prader-Willi Syndrome

1990 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sallie A. Kleppe ◽  
Kerri Misaki Katayama ◽  
Kenneth G. Shipley ◽  
David R. Foushee
Keyword(s):  
Expressive Language ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Prader Willi Syndrome ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Speech Articulation ◽  
Communicative Development ◽  
Language Characteristics ◽  
Children's Speech

Prader-Willi syndrome was initially identified in 1956. Since then, a majority of the literature pertaining to Prader-Willi has focused on the medical and genetic aspects of the syndrome. There has been limited information available regarding the speech and language abilities of children with Prader-Willi. This study investigated the communicative development of 18 children with the syndrome, ranging in age from 8:8 to 17:1. A number of evaluative procedures were used to evaluate the subjects' spontaneous speech, articulation, and receptive and expressive language abilities, as well as their voice, fluency, oral mechanisms, hearing, and their developmental histories. A variety of communicative deficiencies were found in the children's speech, language, voice, and fluency.

scholarly journals Opposing forces on acoustic duration

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Tucker ◽  
Michelle Sims ◽  
R. H. Baayen
Keyword(s):  
Speech Production ◽  
Discrimination Learning ◽  
American English ◽  
The Other ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Irregular Verbs ◽  
Lexical Density ◽  
Redundancy Hypothesis

The present paper investigates the influence of opposing lexical forces on speech production using the duration of the stem vowel of regular and irregular verbs as attested in the Buckeye corpus of conversational North-American English. We compared two sets of predictors, reflecting two different approaches to speechproduction, one based on competition between word forms, the other based on principles of discrimination learning. Classical measures in word form competition theories such as word frequency, lexical density, and gang size (types of vocalic alternation) were predictive of stem vowel duration. However, more precise predic-tions were obtained using measures derived from a two-layer network model trained on the Buckeye corpus. Measures representing strong bottom-up support predicted longer vowel durations. Conversely, measures reflecting uncertainty predicted shorter vowel durations, including a measure of the verb’s semantic density. The learning-based model also suggests that it is not a verb’s frequency as such that gives rise to shorter vowel duration, but rather a verb’s collocational diversity. Results are discussed with reference to the Smooth Signal Redundancy Hypothesis and the Paradigmatic Signal Enhancement Hypothesis.

scholarly journals Source Domains of Smell Related Metaphorical Collocations: Study Based on Corpus of Contemporary American English

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-24
Author(s):  
Linas Selmistraitis ◽  
Renata Boikova
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Distribution ◽  
American English ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Physical Force ◽  
Conceptual Metaphors ◽  
Target Words

The paper discusses source domains of smell related metaphorical collocations. The research is limited to metaphorical collocations with pleasant smell denoting words scent, fragrance, aroma, and perfume in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). The scope of the research is 2187 concordance lines (CL) containing metaphorical collocations with the words scent, fragrance, aroma, and perfume from 3580 CL containing any word phrase with the target words. The research is based on identification and description of the source domains of the collected metaphorical collocations with pleasant smell words, relating the source domains to underlying conceptual metaphors and determining the frequency distribution of the identified source domains. The following source domains were identified in the research: object, substance, physical force, and food. The analysis showed the frequency of source domains across all four groups forming smell related conceptual metaphors: object with 1833 instances of metaphorical collocations (84%), substance with 202 instances (9%), physical force with 130 instances (6%), and food with 22 instances (1%). The present study contributes to the development of cognitive semantics and its findings demonstrate which meanings are prevalent in human mentality when pleasant smell related metaphorical collocations are used.

scholarly journals Using the ToBI transcription to record the intonation of Slovene

Linguistica ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Volk
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Frequency ◽  
American English ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Tone Sequence ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
High Tone ◽  
Audio Recording ◽  
The Core ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Mainstream American English

The paper presents ToBI, a transcription method for prosodic annotation. ToBI is an acronym for Tones and Breaks Indices which first denoted an intonation system developed in the 1990s for annotating intonation and prosody in the database of spoken Mainstream American English. The MAE_ToBI transcription originally consists of six parts – the audio recording of the utterance, the fundamental frequency contour and four parallel tiers for the transcription of tone sequence, ortographic transcription, indication of break indices between words and for additional observations. The core of the transcription, i. e. of the phonological analyses of the intonation pattern, is represented by the tone tier where tonal variation is transcribed by using labels for high tone and low tone where a tone can appear as a pitch accent, phrase accent and boundary tone. Due to its simplicity and flexibility, the system soon began to be used for the prosodic annotation of other variants of English and many other languages, as well as in different non-linguistic fields, leading to the creation of many new ToBI systems adapted to individual languages and dialects. The author is the first to use this method for Slovene, more precisely, for the intonational transcription and analysis of the corpus of spontaneous speech of Slovene Istria, in order to investigate if the ToBi system is useful for the annotation of Slovene and its regional variants.  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document