Development of a Nonphonemic Feature in Child Speech—Differential Vowel Duration in English

1970 ◽  
Vol 48 (1A) ◽  
pp. 94-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Naeser
Keyword(s):  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Child Speech

scholarly journals The acquisition of long consonants in Norwegian

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elinor Payne ◽  
Brechtje Post ◽  
Nina Gram Garmann ◽  
Hanne Gram Simonsen
Keyword(s):  
Speech Rate ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Transitional Stage ◽  
Temporal Relationships ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Child Speech ◽  
Do So

This study investigated the nature and acquisition of long consonants in Norwegian. By age 2;6 children already differentiate between [V:C] vs [VC:] structures in their own productions and, as with adults, do so most reliably through proportion of vowel duration in the rhyme (V/VC), the only systematic marker of the contrast. For both adults and children, the contrastiveness of vowel and consonant durations in themselves varies according to consonant manner: in sonorants both V and C duration are also contrastive, while in voiceless stops, consonant duration in itself is not contrastive. Evidence is also found for preaspiration as a possible secondary cue to long stops, and is present from the earliest stages of child speech investigated. By age 6, increasing speed and fluency in global intergestural coordination may undermine local temporal relationships already acquired at a slower speech rate, bringing about a transitional stage of apparent regression in development.

Temporal Characteristics of Speech in Simultaneous Communication

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1014-1024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert L. Whitehead ◽  
Nicholas Schiavetti ◽  
Brenda H. Whitehead ◽  
Dale Evan Metz
Keyword(s):  
Pause Duration ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Temporal Characteristics ◽  
Spoken English ◽  
Temporal Features ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Word Duration ◽  
Rate Of Speech ◽  
Speech Condition

The purpose of this investigation was twofold: (a) to determine if there are changes in specific temporal characteristics of speech that occur during simultaneous communication, and (b) to determine if known temporal rules of spoken English are disrupted during simultaneous communication. Ten speakers uttered sentences consisting of a carrier phrase and experimental CVC words under conditions of: (a) speech, (b) speech combined with signed English, and (c) speech combined with signed English for every word except the CVC word that was fingerspelled. The temporal features investigated included: (a) sentence duration, (b) experimental CVC word duration, (c) vowel duration in experimental CVC words, (d) pause duration before and after experimental CVC words, and (e) consonantal effects on vowel duration. Results indicated that for all durational measures, the speech/sign/fingerspelling condition was longest, followed by the speech/sign condition, with the speech condition being shortest. It was also found that for all three speaking conditions, vowels were longer in duration when preceding voiced consonants than vowels preceding their voiceless cognates, and that a low vowel was longer in duration than a high vowel. These findings indicate that speakers consistently reduced their rate of speech when using simultaneous communication, but did not violate these specific temporal rules of English important for consonant and vowel perception.

Non-referential gestures in adult and child speech: Are they prosodic?

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Shattuck-Hufnagel ◽  
Ada Ren ◽  
Mili Mathew ◽  
Ivan Yuen ◽  
Katherine Demuth
Keyword(s):  
Child Speech

Vowel development in young Mandarin-English bilingual children

Phonetica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Yang
Keyword(s):  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Formant Frequency ◽  
High Group ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Vowel Systems ◽  
Phonetic Features ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
L1 And L2

Abstract This study examined the development of vowel categories in young Mandarin -English bilingual children. The participants included 35 children aged between 3 and 4 years old (15 Mandarin-English bilinguals, six English monolinguals, and 14 Mandarin monolinguals). The bilingual children were divided into two groups: one group had a shorter duration (<1 year) of intensive immersion in English (Bi-low group) and one group had a longer duration (>1 year) of intensive immersion in English (Bi-high group). The participants were recorded producing one list of Mandarin words containing the vowels /a, i, u, y, ɤ/ and/or one list of English words containing the vowels /i, ɪ, e, ɛ, æ, u, ʊ, o, ɑ, ʌ/. Formant frequency values were extracted at five equidistant time locations (the 20–35–50–65–80% point) over the course of vowel duration. Cross-language and within-language comparisons were conducted on the midpoint formant values and formant trajectories. The results showed that children in the Bi-low group produced their English vowels into clusters and showed positional deviations from the monolingual targets. However, they maintained the phonetic features of their native vowel sounds well and mainly used an assimilatory process to organize the vowel systems. Children in the Bi-high group separated their English vowels well. They used both assimilatory and dissimilatory processes to construct and refine the two vowel systems. These bilingual children approximated monolingual English children to a better extent than the children in the Bi-low group. However, when compared to the monolingual peers, they demonstrated observable deviations in both L1 and L2.

scholarly journals Practice and Experience Predict Coarticulation in Child Speech

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Margaret Cychosz ◽  
Benjamin Munson ◽  
Jan R. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Child Speech

scholarly journals THE PERCEPTION OF ARABIC VOWEL DURATION BY L1 HEBREW SPEAKERS

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Yael Zaltz ◽  
Osnat Segal
Keyword(s):  
Training Session ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Arabic Speakers ◽  
Native Arabic Speakers ◽  
Phonological Contrasts ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Phonological System

Abstract The acquisition of a second language (L2) may be challenging in adulthood, as the phonological system of the native language (L1) can sometimes limit the perception of phonological contrasts in L2. The present study aimed to (a) examine the influence of an L1 (Hebrew) that lacks a phonemic contrast for vowel length on the ability to discriminate between short and long vowels in L2 (Arabic); and (b) assess the effect of a short training on the participants’ discrimination performance. A total of 60 participants, 20 native Arabic speakers and 40 native Hebrew speakers, were tested using the ABX procedure in two sessions that were 10 days apart. A single training session was provided for half of the Hebrew speakers (n = 20) approximately 2–3 days after the first (pretraining) testing session. The results indicated that the trained Hebrew participants’ discrimination levels (measured by accuracy and reaction times) were above chance level but were nevertheless lower in comparison to the Arabic speakers. However, a short training session was sufficient to yield a nativelike performance that generalized to untrained nonwords. These findings support the theoretical models that predict a reserved ability to acquire new phonetic/phonological cues in L2 and have important practical implications for the process of learning a new phonological system in adulthood.

Acoustic cues to coda stop voicing contrasts in Australian English-speaking children

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Julien MILLASSEAU ◽  
Ivan YUEN ◽  
Laurence BRUGGEMAN ◽  
Katherine DEMUTH
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Word Onset ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Australian English ◽  
Children With Hearing Loss ◽  
Phonological Contrasts

Abstract While voicing contrasts in word-onset position are acquired relatively early, much less is known about how and when they are acquired in word-coda position, where accurate production of these contrasts is also critical for distinguishing words (e.g., do g vs. do ck ). This study examined how the acoustic cues to coda voicing contrasts are realized in the speech of 4-year-old Australian English-speaking children. The results showed that children used similar acoustic cues to those of adults, including longer vowel duration and more frequent voice bar for voiced stops, and longer closure and burst durations for voiceless stops along with more frequent irregular pitch periods. This suggests that 4-year-olds have acquired productive use of the acoustic cues to coda voicing contrasts, though implementations are not yet fully adult-like. The findings have implications for understanding the development of phonological contrasts in populations for whom these may be challenging, such as children with hearing loss.

Vocabulary competence in first- and secondborn siblings of the same chronological age

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-873 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARC H. BORNSTEIN ◽  
DIANE B. LEACH ◽  
O. MAURICE HAYNES
Keyword(s):  
Gender Composition ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Age Difference ◽  
Sibling Pairs ◽  
Multiple Measures ◽  
Maternal Report ◽  
Child Speech ◽  
Maternal Reports ◽  
Assessment Measures

We explored vocabulary competence in 55 firstborn and secondborn sibling pairs when each child reached 1;8 using multiple measures of maternal report, child speech, and experimenter assessment. Measures from each of the three sources were interrelated. Firstborns' vocabulary competence exceeded secondborns' only in maternal reports, not in child speech or in experimenter assessments. Firstborn girls outperformed boys on all vocabulary competence measures, and secondborn girls outperformed boys on most measures. Vocabulary competence was independent of the gender composition and, generally, of the age difference in sibling pairs. Vocabulary competence in firstborns and secondborns was only weakly related.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document