Development of Phonetic Contrasts in Cantonese Tone Acquisition

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-108
Author(s):  
Peggy Pik Ki Mok ◽  
Vivian Guo Li ◽  
Holly Sze Ho Fung
Keyword(s):  
Inflection Point ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Tone Production ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Natural Production ◽  
Monosyllabic Words ◽  
Phonetic Contrasts ◽  
Transcription Data ◽  
Production Accuracy

Purpose Previous studies showed both early and late acquisition of Cantonese tones based on transcription data using different criteria, but very little acoustic data were reported. Our study examined Cantonese tone acquisition using both transcription and acoustic data, illustrating the early and protracted aspects of Cantonese tone acquisition. Method One hundred fifty-nine Cantonese-speaking children aged between 2;1 and 6;0 (years;months) and 10 reference speakers participated in a tone production experiment based on picture naming. Natural production materials with 30 monosyllabic words were transcribed by two native judges. Acoustic measurements included overall tonal dispersion and specific contrasts between similar tone pairs: ratios of average fundamental frequency height for the level tones (T1, T3, T6), magnitude of rise and inflection point for the rising tones (T2, T5), magnitude of fall, H1*–H2*, and harmonic-to-noise ratio for the low tones (T4, T6). Auditory assessment of creakiness for T4 was also included. Results Children in the eldest group (aged 5;7–6;0) were still not completely adultlike in production accuracy, although two thirds of them had production accuracy over 90%. Children in all age groups had production accuracy significantly higher than chance level, and they could produce the major acoustic contrasts between specific tone pairs similarly as reference speakers. Fine phonetic detail of the inflection point and creakiness was more challenging for children. Conclusion Our findings illustrated the multifaceted aspects (both early and late) of Cantonese tone acquisition and called for a wider perspective on how to define successful phonological acquisition. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.11594853

Suprasegmental Features Are Not Acquired Early: Perception and Production of Monosyllabic Cantonese Lexical Tones in 4- to 6-Year-Old Preschool Children

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1070-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Puisan Wong ◽  
Carrie Tsz-Tin Leung
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Naming Task ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
Lexical Information ◽  
Tone Production ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Suprasegmental Features ◽  
Monosyllabic Words ◽  
Production Accuracy

Purpose Previous studies reported that children acquire Cantonese tones before 3 years of age, supporting the assumption in models of phonological development that suprasegmental features are acquired rapidly and early in children. Yet, recent research found a large disparity in the age of Cantonese tone acquisition. This study investigated Cantonese tone development in 4- to 6-year-old children. Method Forty-eight 4- to 6-year-old Cantonese-speaking children and 28 mothers of the children labeled 30 pictures representing familiar words in the 6 tones in a picture-naming task and identified pictures representing words in different Cantonese tones in a picture-pointing task. To control for lexical biases in tone assessment, tone productions were low-pass filtered to eliminate lexical information. Five judges categorized the tones in filtered stimuli. Tone production accuracy, tone perception accuracy, and correlation between tone production and perception accuracy were examined. Results Children did not start to produce adultlike tones until 5 and 6 years of age. Four-year-olds produced none of the tones with adultlike accuracy. Five- and 6-year-olds attained adultlike productions in 2 (T5 and T6) to 3 (T4, T5, and T6) tones, respectively. Children made better progress in tone perception and achieved higher accuracy in perception than in production. However, children in all age groups perceived none of the tones as accurately as adults, except that T1 was perceived with adultlike accuracy by 6-year-olds. Only weak association was found between children's tone perception and production accuracy. Conclusions Contradicting to the long-held assumption that children acquire lexical tone rapidly and early before the mastery of segmentals, this study found that 4- to 6-year-old children have not mastered the perception or production of the full set of Cantonese tones in familiar monosyllabic words. Larger development was found in children's tone perception than tone production. The higher tone perception accuracy but weak correlation between tone perception and production abilities in children suggested that tone perception accuracy is not sufficient for children's tone production accuracy. The findings have clinical and theoretical implications.

Assessing the Link Between Perception and Production in Cantonese Tone Acquisition

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 1243-1257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggy Pik Ki Mok ◽  
Holly Sze Ho Fung ◽  
Vivian Guo Li
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
General Principle ◽  
Choice Task ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Tone Pair ◽  
Tone Production ◽  
Monosyllabic Words ◽  
Early Production ◽  
Forced Choice Task ◽  
Production Accuracy

Purpose Previous studies showed early production precedes late perception in Cantonese tone acquisition, contrary to the general principle that perception precedes production in child language. How tone production and perception are linked in 1st language acquisition remains largely unknown. Our study revisited the acquisition of tone in Cantonese-speaking children, exploring the possible link between production and perception in 1st language acquisition. Method One hundred eleven Cantonese-speaking children aged between 2;0 and 6;0 (years;months) and 10 adolescent reference speakers participated in tone production and perception experiments. Production materials with 30 monosyllabic words were transcribed in filtered and unfiltered conditions by 2 native judges. Perception accuracy was based on a 2-alternative forced-choice task with pictures covering all possible tone pair contrasts. Results Children's accuracy of production and perception of all the 6 Cantonese tones was still not adultlike by age 6;0. Both production and perception accuracies matured with age. A weak positive link was found between the 2 accuracies. Mother's native language contributed to children's production accuracy. Conclusions Our findings show that production and perception abilities are associated in tone acquisition. Further study is needed to explore factors affecting production accuracy in children. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7960826

scholarly journals Early phonology revealed by international adoptees' birth language retention

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (28) ◽  
pp. 7307-7312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyoun Choi ◽  
Mirjam Broersma ◽  
Anne Cutler
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Korean Language ◽  
Good Discrimination ◽  
Intensive Training ◽  
Language Retention ◽  
Phonological Knowledge ◽  
International Adoptees ◽  
Language Knowledge ◽  
Phonetic Contrasts ◽  
Acquisition Processes

Until at least 6 mo of age, infants show good discrimination for familiar phonetic contrasts (i.e., those heard in the environmental language) and contrasts that are unfamiliar. Adult-like discrimination (significantly worse for nonnative than for native contrasts) appears only later, by 9–10 mo. This has been interpreted as indicating that infants have no knowledge of phonology until vocabulary development begins, after 6 mo of age. Recently, however, word recognition has been observed before age 6 mo, apparently decoupling the vocabulary and phonology acquisition processes. Here we show that phonological acquisition is also in progress before 6 mo of age. The evidence comes from retention of birth-language knowledge in international adoptees. In the largest ever such study, we recruited 29 adult Dutch speakers who had been adopted from Korea when young and had no conscious knowledge of Korean language at all. Half were adopted at age 3–5 mo (before native-specific discrimination develops) and half at 17 mo or older (after word learning has begun). In a short intensive training program, we observe that adoptees (compared with 29 matched controls) more rapidly learn tripartite Korean consonant distinctions without counterparts in their later-acquired Dutch, suggesting that the adoptees retained phonological knowledge about the Korean distinction. The advantage is equivalent for the younger-adopted and the older-adopted groups, and both groups not only acquire the tripartite distinction for the trained consonants but also generalize it to untrained consonants. Although infants younger than 6 mo can still discriminate unfamiliar phonetic distinctions, this finding indicates that native-language phonological knowledge is nonetheless being acquired at that age.

Simulated Conductive Hearing Loss in Children

2004 ◽  
Vol 15 (04) ◽  
pp. 300-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrey Oliver Penn ◽  
D. Wesley Grantham ◽  
Judith S. Gravel
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Speech Recognition ◽  
Conductive Hearing Loss ◽  
Otitis Media With Effusion ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Recognition Ability ◽  
Monosyllabic Words ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Conductive Hearing ◽  
Nonsense Syllables

Otitis media with effusion (OME) often results in hearing loss for children with the condition. In order to provide appropriate and effective audiologic management, it is important to understand the impact of OME on speech recognition ability when hearing loss is present. This study examined the speech recognition abilities of normal-hearing six- and seven-year-old children (n = 12) and adults (n = 12) using monosyllabic words and nonsense syllables presented at two levels of simulated conductive hearing loss characteristic of OME. Average speech recognition scores decreased as the degree of simulated conductive hearing loss increased. Both age groups scored significantly poorer for nonsense syllables than for monosyllabic words. In general, the children performed more poorly than the adults with the exception of the easiest listening condition for word stimuli. Furthermore, children appeared less able than adults to use their knowledge of familiar words to improve performance. These findings suggest that rehabilitative strategies may best be focused on combining familiarization techniques and amplification options.

scholarly journals Phonological acquisition in children with early-treated congenital hypothyroidism: association with clinical and laboratory parameters

CoDAS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Dassie-Leite ◽  
Mara Behlau ◽  
Suzana Nesi-França ◽  
Monica Nunes Lima ◽  
Luiz de Lacerda
Keyword(s):  
Congenital Hypothyroidism ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Consonant Cluster ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Adequate Treatment ◽  
Phonological Disorders ◽  
Treatment Onset

ABSTRACT Purpose To evaluate the phonological characteristics of children with congenital hypothyroidism (CH). Methods Observational, analytical, cross-sectional, ambispective study including prepubertal children with CH (n=100; study group, SG) and controls without CH ( n=100; control group, CG). Assessments included a speech language pathology interview, the phonological evaluation of the ABFW Child Language Test, medical data, and neuropsychological tests in the first three years of life. Results On treatment onset of the SG, the median chronological age of the participants was 18.0 days and 48.4% had total T4 <2.5 µg/dL (31.75 nmol/L). At the age of 7 years, children in the SG had higher rates of consonant cluster simplification and lower rates of complete phonological system compared to those in the CG. On analysis of combined age groups (4+5 and 6+7 years), the CG had a higher frequency of complete acquisition versus the SG. On multivariate analysis, thyroid agenesis, abnormal scores on the Clinical Linguistic and Auditory Milestone Scale and developmental quotient tests were associated with the occurrence of phonological disorders. Conclusion Children with CH present delay in phonological acquisition, despite early diagnosis and adequate treatment, especially between the ages of 6–7 years. The etiology of CH and the results of neuropsychological tests in the first years of life seem to be related to this delay.

Use of a Monosyllabic Adaptive Speech Test (MAST) with Young Children

1986 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerrie Mackie ◽  
Phillip Dermody
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Frequency Effect ◽  
Word Frequency Effect ◽  
Closed Set ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Speech Test ◽  
Threshold Procedure ◽  
Monosyllabic Words ◽  
Conductive Hearing

Sixty children aged 3, 5, and 7 years were tested using a simple up-down adaptive speech threshold procedure. The test stimuli were familiar monosyllabic words presented as a closed set with a picture-pointing response. The results indicate that monosyllabic adaptive speech test (MAST) procedures can be used reliably with children as young as 3 years of age. Thirty of the children also received a different randomization of the same speech stimuli presented at a constant level, equal to their MAST threshold. The results confirmed the accuracy of the MAST estimate of the children's 50% speech threshold. Further support for the validity of the MAST threshold procedure with young children was obtained using a group of 10 children with conductive hearing loss. Their results show a significant correlation between the MAST threshold and pure-tone loss. The data also indicated significant improvement in MAST thresholds over the three age groups investigated. These developmental changes are discussed in terms of a word frequency effect.

A phonetic description of Modern Hebrew consonants and vowels

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-27
Author(s):  
Daniel Asherov ◽  
Evan-Gary Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Imaging Study ◽  
Acoustic Data ◽  
Modern Hebrew ◽  
Phonetic Contrasts

Abstract In this paper, we provide a detailed description of the phonetic inventory of Modern Hebrew. We systematically review the phonetic contrasts that distinguish among consonants and vowels, and highlight cases of inter-speaker variation. The contrasts are illustrated with data from an ultrasound tongue imaging study of a native speaker of Modern Hebrew. We provide tongue shape comparisons based on the ultrasound recordings, as well as present acoustic data in form of spectrograms and amplitudes. We also occasionally provide quantitative data from previous studies.

Phonological Development of Monolingual Haitian Creole–Speaking Preschool Children

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justine Archer ◽  
Tempii Champion ◽  
Martha E. Tyrone ◽  
Sylvia Walters
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Assessment ◽  
Gradual Increase ◽  
Speech Sound ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Phonological Development ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Relational Analysis ◽  
Haitian Creole ◽  
Intervention Process ◽  
Language Universal

This study provides preliminary data on the phonological development of Haitian Creole–Speaking children. The purpose of this study is to determine phonological acquisition in the speech of normally developing monolingual Haitian Creole–Speaking preschoolers, ages 2 to 4. Speech samples were collected cross-sectionally from 12 Haitian children divided into three age groups. Participants’ utterances were recorded from spontaneous and/or imitative productions of target words. Data were analyzed through a relational analysis to determine phonemic inventories occurring in each age group’s speech. A gradual increase in speech sound inventories was observed from 2 to 4 years of age. Results indicate that phonological development in Haitian Creole–Speaking children was influenced by both language-universal patterns and language-specific patterns. In conclusion, data obtained on the phonological development of monolingual Haitian Creole preschoolers can provide insight to speech language pathologists during the clinical assessment and intervention process of this population.

scholarly journals High or low? Comparing high and low-variability phonetic training in adult and child second language learners

PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia Giannakopoulou ◽  
Helen Brown ◽  
Meghan Clayards ◽  
Elizabeth Wonnacott
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
High Variability ◽  
Talker Variability ◽  
Multiple Voices ◽  
Phonetic Learning ◽  
Lexical Learning ◽  
Phonetic Contrasts ◽  
Oddity Discrimination

BackgroundHigh talker variability (i.e., multiple voices in the input) has been found effective in training nonnative phonetic contrasts in adults. A small number of studies suggest that children also benefit from high-variability phonetic training with some evidence that they show greater learning (more plasticity) than adults given matched input, although results are mixed. However, no study has directly compared the effectiveness of high versus low talker variability in children.MethodsNative Greek-speaking eight-year-olds (N= 52), and adults (N= 41) were exposed to the English /i/-/ɪ/ contrast in 10 training sessions through a computerized word-learning game. Pre- and post-training tests examined discrimination of the contrast as well as lexical learning. Participants were randomly assigned to high (four talkers) or low (one talker) variability training conditions.ResultsBoth age groups improved during training, and both improved more while trained with a single talker. Results of a three-interval oddity discrimination test did not show the predicted benefit of high-variability training in either age group. Instead, children showed an effect in thereversedirection—i.e., reliably greater improvements in discrimination following single talker training, even for untrained generalization items, although the result is qualified by (accidental) differences between participant groups at pre-test. Adults showed a numeric advantage for high-variability but were inconsistent with respect to voice and word novelty. In addition, no effect of variability was found for lexical learning. There was no evidence of greater plasticity for phonetic learning in child learners.DiscussionThis paper adds to the handful of studies demonstrating that, like adults, child learners can improve their discrimination of a phonetic contrast via computerized training. There was no evidence of a benefit of training with multiple talkers, either for discrimination or word learning. The results also do not support the findings of greater plasticity in child learners found in a previous paper (Giannakopoulou, Uther & Ylinen, 2013a). We discuss these results in terms of various differences between training and test tasks used in the current work compared with previous literature.

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