Changes in audio-spatial working memory abilities during childhood: The role of spatial and phonological development

Working memory is a cognitive system devoted to storage and retrieval processing of information. Numerous studies on the development of working memory have investigated the processing of visuo-spatial and verbal non-spatialized information; however, little is known regarding the refinement of acoustic spatial and memory abilities across development. Here, we hypothesize that audio-spatial memory skills improve over development, due to strengthening spatial and cognitive skills such as semantic elaboration. We asked children aged 6 to 11 years old (n = 55) to pair spatialized animal calls with the corresponding animal spoken name. Spatialized sounds were emitted from an audio-haptic device, haptically explored by children with the dominant hand’s index finger. Children younger than 8 anchored their exploration strategy on previously discovered sounds instead of holding this information in working memory and performed worse than older peers when asked to pair the spoken word with the corresponding animal call. In line with our hypothesis, these findings demonstrate that age-related improvements in spatial exploration and verbal coding memorization strategies affect how children learn and memorize items belonging to a complex acoustic spatial layout. Similar to vision, audio-spatial memory abilities strongly depend on cognitive development in early years of life.

Ultrasonographic analysis of coronal fricative phonemes

Compare the tongue contour in different groups (children with typical, atypical phonological development and adults) in the production of fricative children, through ultrasound videos. The six participants were divided in three groups: Group DF - two children with phonological processes anteriorization of fricative (/ʃ/→ [s]), (both with seven years), group DT - two children with typical development of language (eight and nine years old) and group AD - two adults, all speakers of Brazilian Portuguese. The videos of the movement of the tongue in the production of target sounds inserted in the words /'sapo/, /'sika/, /'suko/, /'∫ave/, /'∫ike/ and /'∫uva/ were organized and evaluated by three judges speech therapists with experience in this area, guided in VAS. It has been observed that, for two of the judges, there was a significant difference between the words produced by children with DF and CT when compared with the words in contexts and vowel [i] and [u], and the productions of these children /∫/→[s] and /s/→[s], respectively, but not for words accompanied [a]. When comparing the data of children with DF and AD, there was statistically significant (p-value < 0.05) in the context of vowel [u]. The judges have detected articulatory differences between typical and atypical productions for children, as well as differentiation also as to the production of adults.

Phonological Development in Urdu-Speaking Children: A Systematic Review

Background Speech and language researchers study phonological acquisition and evaluate the errors that children make to understand this complex process. This information provides clinicians with a scientific reference for better assessment and intervention services to children with articulation/phonological disorders. Urdu is a language spoken by more than 200 million speakers worldwide. However, research on Urdu phonological development is in its infancy. Purpose This systematic review aimed to identify relevant studies and provide a comprehensive review of which aspects of Urdu phonological development have been targeted, along with the reported findings. Method Five phases of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses guidelines were followed. All retrieved studies published between January 1980 and March 2020 and focusing on Urdu speech sound acquisition and/or phonological processes in typically developing native Urdu speakers aged up to 8 years were included in the review. The final search was conducted on May 4, 2020. Results A total of 873 records were identified from five databases and a manual search. Nine studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the final review. All studies were published in the English language, five of which were unpublished master's theses and four were peer-reviewed journal articles. Four of these studies focused on consonant acquisition, whereas five explored phonological processes. No study focused on the acquisition of Urdu vowels, diphthongs, or consonant clusters. These shortlisted studies were reviewed in detail to determine participants' demographic characteristics, focused areas of phonological acquisition, data elicitation methods and contexts, transcription systems, and major findings. Conclusion This study provides a comprehensive review of the available literature on Urdu phonological development and highlights areas for future research.

AN EVALUATION ON SOME FONOLOGICAL LAYERS IN SULTAN VELED'S TURKISH POEMS

One of the first key roles in the process of Old Anatolian Turkish (Sometimes, Old Turkey Turkish or Old Ottoman Turkish term is also used instead of this term.) being the written language in Anatolian geography, which is thought to be the source of most of the modern Oghuz written languages, belongs to Sultan Veled, the eldest son of Mevlânâ Celâleddîn-i Rûmî and Gevher Hatun. It is known that Sufis, who is thought to have lived between 1226-1312, wrote Turkish poems in addition to Persian and Greek. It is estimated that the total of these Turkish poems consist of over three hundred couplets. Sultan Veled, who owns the first works written in Anatolia with Yunus Emre; The Turkish couplets in his works such as Dîvân, Rebâbnâme and Ibtidaname are very important in terms of reflecting the development stages of Oghuz. Apart from the written language in Turkistan geography, these couplets provide important linguistic material in order to follow the emergence and development of a new written language in Anatolia. In this study, some phonological variants and related layers in Sultan Veled's Turkish couplets will be evaluated. The typological data of the Oghuz dialects accepted in the literature will be analyzed by making a comparison with these layers. So that the layers of bol- ~ vol- ~ ol- seen in some copies of these couplets and marking an important transition between East and West Turkish will be subject to re-evaluation. Considering nearly twenty phonological layers composed of süçig > süçü ~ süçi and biŋ ~ miŋ and datlu ~ tatlu dichotomies emerging from phonological development such as -g> Ø in layers, are discussed that whether these forms dialectical or developmental stages that reflect the internal dynamics of Oghuz. Thus, some conclusions can be will be tried to be reached where the Turkish couplets of Sultan Veled, one of the first texts written in Anatolia, should be positioned in the process of becoming the written language of Oghuz. Keywords: Oghuz, Old Anatolian Turkish, Sultan Veled, Dialectology, Phonological Layers.

Evidence of phonological transfer in bilingual preschoolers who speak Arabic and French

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to document evidence of phonological transfer in bilingual preschoolers. Specifically, we focus on the phonological development of bilingual children acquiring French and Arabic. Method: Nine children who spoke Arabic and French, aged three years old, participated in a picture-naming task in both languages. Three types of measurement were used to examine the interaction between the two systems: consonants accuracy; inventory of acquired consonants; and types of errors. Data and analysis: The accuracy of shared and unshared consonants between Arabic and French were compared with a repeated measures analysis of variance, and error patterns were analyzed. Conclusions: Two main results suggest that these bilingual children have two phonological systems that interacted. First, the children had an inventory of acquired consonants that differed according to language. Second, they produced shared consonants more accurately than unshared consonants, indicating positive interactions and low accuracy for unshared consonants, indicating negative interactions. Originality: This study contributes much-needed research relating to the development of bilingual children, particularly children who are acquiring Arabic and French. Implications: These findings enrich the understanding of bilingual phonological development and contribute to understanding how two phonological systems interact. This study also has clinical implications for evaluation and intervention with bilingual children.