scholarly journals Parents’ hyper-pitch and vowel category compactness in infant-directed speech are associated with 18-month-old toddlers’ expressive vocabulary

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audun Rosslund ◽  
Julien Mayor ◽  
Gabriella Óturai ◽  
Natalia Kartushina
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Pitch Range ◽  
Northern Norway ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Space Expansion ◽  
Vowel Categories

The present study examines the acoustic properties of infant-directed speech (IDS) as compared to adult-directed speech (ADS) in Norwegian parents of 18-month-old toddlers, and whether these properties relate to toddlers’ expressive vocabulary size. Twenty-one parent- toddler dyads from Tromsø, Northern Norway participated in the study. Parents (16 mothers, 5 fathers), speaking a Northern Norwegian dialect, were recorded in the lab reading a storybook to their toddler (IDS register), and to an experimenter (ADS register). The storybook was designed for the purpose of the study, ensuring identical linguistic contexts across speakers and registers, and multiple representations of each of the nine Norwegian long vowels. We examined both traditionally reported measures of IDS: pitch, pitch range, vowel duration and vowel space expansion, but also novel measures: vowel category compactness and vowel category distinctiveness. Our results showed that Norwegian IDS, as compared to ADS, had similar characteristics as in other languages: higher pitch, wider pitch range, longer vowel duration, and expanded vowel space area; in addition, it had less compact vowel categories. Further, parents’ hyper-pitch, that is, the within-parent increase in pitch in IDS as compared to ADS, and vowel category compactness in IDS itself, were positively related to toddlers' vocabulary. Our results point towards potentially facilitating roles of parents’ increase in pitch when talking to their toddler and of consistency in vowel production in early word learning.

Stylistic Variation in Heritage Spanish Vowel Production

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Ronquest
Keyword(s):  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Quality ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Stylistic Variation ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Space Expansion ◽  
Heritage Speakers Of Spanish ◽  
Expansion Effect

While recent studies of Spanish vowels produced by heritage speakers of Spanish (HSS) have revealed important differences in acoustic distribution and unstressed vowel reduction in comparison to monolingual norms (Alvord & Rogers, 2014; Boomershine, 2012; Ronquest, 2013; Willis, 2005), the influence of speech style on vowels produced by HSS remains relatively unexplored. Previous research examining stylistic variation in monolingual and bilingual varieties of Spanish report vowel space expansion in controlled speech relative to spontaneous speech (Alvord & Rogers, 2014; Harmegnies & Poch-Olivé, 1992; Poch-Olivé, Harmegnies, & Martín Butragueño, 2008) and increased vowel duration (Bradlow, 2002), although many of these studies included a small number of participants or did not examine the entire vowel system. The present investigation extends previous research by including a larger number of speakers and three novel tasks, as well as examining the effects of style on both quality and duration throughout the system as a whole. Acoustic and statistical analyses confirmed an overall vowel space expansion effect in controlled speech similar to that reported in previous studies, although not all vowels varied equally and along the same dimensions. Furthermore, vowel duration exhibited less variation than expected and was limited to the lowest vowels, suggesting that vowel quality and duration may be affected independently of one another. Combined, the general results not only reveal that speech style has a similar impact on vowels produced by HSS and other bilingual and monolingual populations, but also emphasize the importance of analyzing the entire vowel system on multiple dimensions.

scholarly journals Infant-directed speech from seven to nineteen months has similar acoustic properties but different functions

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 1035-1053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina KALASHNIKOVA ◽  
Denis BURNHAM
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
Speech Quality ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Communicative Development ◽  
Three Components

AbstractThis longitudinal study assessed three acoustic components of maternal infant-directed speech (IDS) – pitch, affect, and vowel hyperarticulation – in relation to infants’ age and their expressive vocabulary size. These three individual components were measured in IDS addressed to infants at 7, 9, 11, 15, and 19 months (N = 18). All three components were exaggerated at all ages in mothers’ IDS compared to their adult-directed speech. Importantly, the only significant predictor of infants’ expressive vocabulary size at 15 and 19 months was vowel hyperarticulation, but only at 9 months and beyond, not at 7 months, and not pitch or affect at any age. These results set apart vowel hyperarticulation in IDS to infants as the critical IDS component for vocabulary development. Thus IDS, specifically the degree of vowel hyperarticulation therein, is a vehicle by which parents can provide the most optimal speech quality for their infants’ linguistic and communicative development.

Acoustical Analysis of Spanish Vowels Produced by Laryngectomized Subjects

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 988-996 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Cervera ◽  
José L. Miralles ◽  
Julio González-Àlvarez
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Acoustic Characteristics ◽  
Temporal Domain ◽  
Word Context ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
English Speaking

The purpose of this study was to describe the acoustic characteristics of Spanish vowels in subjects who had undergone a total laryngectomy and to compare the results with those obtained in a control group of subjects who spoke normally. Our results are discussed in relation to those obtained in previous studies with English-speaking laryngectomized patients. The comparison between English and Spanish, which differ widely in the size of their vowel inventories, will help us to determine specific or universal vowel production characteristics in these patients. Our second objective was to relate the acoustic properties of these vowels to the perceptual data obtained in our previous work (J. L. Miralles & T. Cervera, 1995). In that study, results indicated that vowels produced by alaryngeal speakers were well perceived in word context. Vowels were produced in CVCV word context by two groups of patients who had undergone laryngectomy: tracheoesophageal speakers (TES) and esophageal speakers. In addition a control group of normal talkers was included. Audio recordings of 24 Spanish words produced by each speaker were analyzed using CSL (Kay Elemetrics). Results showed that F1, F2, and vowel duration of alaryngeal speakers differ significantly from normal values. In general, laryngectomized patients produce vowels with higher formant frequencies and longer durations than the group of laryngeal subjects. Thus, the data indicate modifications either in the frequency or temporal domain, following the same tendency found in previous studies with English-speaking laryngectomized speakers.

scholarly journals Vowel Dispersion in English Diphthongs: Evidence from Adult Production

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacy Jennifer Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Distance ◽  
Additional Constraint ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Strong Preference ◽  
Production Data ◽  
Dispersion Theory ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Distance Constraints ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Additional Constraints

In this paper, I address the problem of including diphthong vowels into a Dispersion Theory (Flemming 2004) framework. First, I review the main aspects of Dispersion Theory in Flemming (2004), which gives an analysis of vowel inventories using a perception-based account of contrast, but noticeably omits diphthongs, which–while different from monophthongs–are highly productive, contrastive members of vowel inventories. Next, in order to correctly represent and incorporate diphthongs, I discuss acoustic properties of diphthongs and their presence in vowel inventories cross-linguistically. Diphthongs are compared to the monophthong inventory using production data to assess their relative positions in the vowel space. The English vowel production data should reflect the language-specific constraint ranking of *Effort with the maximum contrast and minimum distance constraints as predicted in Flemming's theory.                To derive diphthongs, Flemming (2004)’s constraints as well as additional constraints from Minkova & Stockwell (2003) are used to account for the distance between the two offset targets. An additional constraint is proposed to account for the strong preference in the English production data to centralize the onset targets. Derivations for individual diphthong productions compared to possible surrounding candidates are provided in the analysis.

Infant-directed speech (IDS) vowel clarity and child language outcomes

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 1140-1162 ◽  
Author(s):  
KELLY M. HARTMAN ◽  
NAN BERNSTEIN RATNER ◽  
ROCHELLE S. NEWMAN
Keyword(s):  
Child Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Language Outcomes ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Maternal Speech

AbstractThere have been many studies examining the differences between infant-directed speech (IDS) and adult-directed speech (ADS). However, investigations asking whether mothers clarify vowel articulation in IDS have reached equivocal findings. Moreover, it is unclear whether maternal speech clarification has any effect on a child's developing language skills. This study examined vowel clarification in mothers’ IDS at 0;10–11, 1;6, and 2;0, as compared to their vowel production in ADS. Relationships between vowel space, vowel duration, and vowel variability and child language outcomes at two years were also explored. Results show that vowel space and vowel duration tended to be greater in IDS than in ADS, and that one measure of vowel clarity, a mother's vowel space at 1;6, was significantly related to receptive as well as expressive child language outcomes at two years of age.

Acoustic development of vowel production in native Mandarin-speaking children

2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-51
Author(s):  
Jing Yang ◽  
Robert A. Fox
Keyword(s):  
Movement Patterns ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Positional Variation ◽  
Scatter Plots ◽  
Disyllabic Words ◽  
Acoustic Space ◽  
Vowel Categories ◽  
Mandarin Vowels

The present study aims to document the developmental profile of static and dynamic acoustic features of vowel productions in monolingual Mandarin-speaking children aged between three and six years in comparison to adults. Twenty-nine monolingual Mandarin children and 12 native Mandarin adults were recorded producing ten Mandarin disyllabic words containing five monophthongal vowel phonemes /a i u yɤ/. F1 and F2 values were measured at five equidistant temporal locations (the 20–35–50–65–80% points of the vowel's duration) and normalized. Scatter plots showed clear separations between vowel categories although the size of individual vowel categories exhibited a decreasing trend as the age increased. This indicates that speakers as young as three years old could separate these five Mandarin vowels in the acoustic space but they were still refining the acoustic properties of their vowel production as they matured. Although the tested vowels were monophthongs, they were still characterized by distinctive formant movement patterns. Mandarin children generally demonstrated formant movement patterns comparable to those of adult speakers. However, children still showed positional variation and differed from adults in the magnitudes of spectral change for certain vowels. This indicates that vowel development is a long-term process which extends beyond three years of age.

Vowel Production in Prelingually Deafened Mandarin-Speaking Children With Cochlear Implants

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 664-682
Author(s):  
Jing Yang ◽  
Li Xu
Keyword(s):  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Average Length ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Acoustic Profile ◽  
Vowel Recognition ◽  
Vowel Categories ◽  
Mandarin Vowels

Purpose The purpose of this study was to characterize the acoustic profile and to evaluate the intelligibility of vowel productions in prelingually deafened, Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs). Method Twenty-five children with CIs and 20 age-matched children with normal hearing (NH) were recorded producing a list of Mandarin disyllabic and trisyllabic words containing 20 Mandarin vowels [a, i, u, y, ɤ, ɿ, ʅ, ai, ei, ia, ie, ye, ua, uo, au, ou, iau, iou, uai, uei] located in the first consonant–vowel syllable. The children with CIs were all prelingually deafened and received unilateral implantation before 7 years of age with an average length of CI use of 4.54 years. In the acoustic analysis, the first two formants (F1 and F2) were extracted at seven equidistant time locations for the tested vowels. The durational and spectral features were compared between the CI and NH groups. In the vowel intelligibility task, the extracted vowel portions in both NH and CI children were presented to six Mandarin-speaking, NH adult listeners for identification. Results The acoustic analysis revealed that the children with CIs deviated from the NH controls in the acoustic features for both single vowels and compound vowels. The acoustic deviations were reflected in longer duration, more scattered vowel categories, smaller vowel space area, and distinct formant trajectories in the children with CIs in comparison to NH controls. The vowel intelligibility results showed that the recognition accuracy of the vowels produced by the children with CIs was significantly lower than that of the NH children. The confusion pattern of vowel recognition in the children with CIs generally followed that in the NH children. Conclusion Our data suggested that the prelingually deafened children with CIs, with a relatively long duration of CI experience, still showed measurable acoustic deviations and lower intelligibility in vowel productions in comparison to the NH children.

Distinctiveness and Assimilation in Vowel Perception in a Second Language

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 4534-4543
Author(s):  
Wei Hu ◽  
Sha Tao ◽  
Mingshuang Li ◽  
Chang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Vowel Identification ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Perceptual Distance ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
English Vowels ◽  
Chinese Counterpart ◽  
Vowel Categories

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how the distinctive establishment of 2nd language (L2) vowel categories (e.g., how distinctively an L2 vowel is established from nearby L2 vowels and from the native language counterpart in the 1st formant [F1] × 2nd formant [F2] vowel space) affected L2 vowel perception. Method Identification of 12 natural English monophthongs, and categorization and rating of synthetic English vowels /i/ and /ɪ/ in the F1 × F2 space were measured for Chinese-native (CN) and English-native (EN) listeners. CN listeners were also examined with categorization and rating of Chinese vowels in the F1 × F2 space. Results As expected, EN listeners significantly outperformed CN listeners in English vowel identification. Whereas EN listeners showed distinctive establishment of 2 English vowels, CN listeners had multiple patterns of L2 vowel establishment: both, 1, or neither established. Moreover, CN listeners' English vowel perception was significantly related to the perceptual distance between the English vowel and its Chinese counterpart, and the perceptual distance between the adjacent English vowels. Conclusions L2 vowel perception relied on listeners' capacity to distinctively establish L2 vowel categories that were distant from the nearby L2 vowels.

Comparing productive vocabulary measures from the CDI and a systematic diary study

1999 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 177-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
BYRON F. ROBINSON ◽  
CAROLYN B. MERVIS
Keyword(s):  
Growth Curves ◽  
Diary Study ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Closed Class ◽  
Communicative Development ◽  
Best Fitting ◽  
Fitting Model

Expressive vocabulary data gathered during a systematic diary study of one male child's early language development are compared to data that would have resulted from longitudinal administration of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories spoken vocabulary checklist (CDI). Comparisons are made for (1) the number of words at monthly intervals (9;10.15 to 2;0.15), (2) proportion of words by lexical class (i.e. noun, predicate, closed class, ‘other’), (3) growth curves. The CDI underestimates the number of words in the diary study, with the underestimation increasing as vocabulary size increases. The proportion of diary study words appearing on the CDI differed as a function of lexical class. Finally, despite the differences in vocabulary size, logistic curves proved to be the best fitting model to characterize vocabulary development as measured by both the diary study and the CDI. Implications for the longitudinal use of the CDI are discussed.

scholarly journals The Effect of Phonological Neighborhood Density on Vowel Articulation

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1048-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Munson ◽  
Nancy Pearl Solomon
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Neighborhood Density ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Vowel Production ◽  
Phonological Neighborhood Density ◽  
Formant Frequencies ◽  
Phonological Neighborhood

Recent literature suggests that phonological neighborhood density and word frequency can affect speech production, in addition to the well-documented effects that they have on speech perception. This article describes 2 experiments that examined how phonological neighborhood density influences the durations and formant frequencies of adults’ productions of vowels in real words. In Experiment 1, 10 normal speakers produced words that covaried in phonological neighborhood density and word frequency. Infrequent words with many phonological neighbors were produced with shorter durations and more expanded vowel spaces than frequent words with few phonological neighbors. Results of this experiment confirmed that this effect was not related to the duration of the vowels constituting the high- and low-density words. In Experiment 2, 15 adults produced words that varied in both word frequency and neighborhood density. Neighborhood density affected vowel articulation in both high- and low-frequency words. Moreover, frequent words were produced with more contracted vowel spaces than infrequent words. There was no interaction between these factors, and the vowel duration did not vary as a function of neighborhood density. Taken together, the results suggest that neighborhood density affects vowel production independent of word frequency and vowel duration.

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