Age-related differences in perceptual effects of formant transitions within syllables and across syllable boundaries

The Role of Early Language Experience in the Development of Speech Perception and Phonological Processing Abilities: Evidence from 5-Year-Olds with Histories of Otitis Media with Effusion and Low Socioeconomic Status.

Recent models of developmental changes in speech perception suggest that the weights assigned to acoustic properties change as children gain experience with a native language. Empirical evidence supports this position, but few suggestions have been offered as to what guides this shift. These three experiments were designed to improve our ability to predict how perceptual weighting schemes change with development. The specific hypothesis explored was twofold: (1) the weight assigned by adults to any one acoustic property differs across phonetic environments according to how informative that property is in each environment; and (2) the weight assigned by children to any one acoustic property differs less across phonetic environments because children have not fully learned the patterns of covariation between phonetic informativeness and environment for each property. Experiment 1 replicated previous findings of age-related differences in the weights assigned to noise spectra and formant transitions in labeli...

Predicting developmental shifts in perceptual weighting schemes.

This article proposes that patterns of phonological contrast should be added to the list of factors that influence sound change. It adopts a hierarchically determined model of contrast that allows for a constrained degree of crosslinguistic variation in contrastive feature specifications. The predictions of this model are tested against a database comprising the set of vowel changes in the Algonquian languages. The model reveals striking commonalities in the underlying sources of these changes and straightforwardly predicts the previously unrecognized patterning of the languages into two groups: (i) those in which */ɛ/ tends to merge with */i/ and palatalization is triggered by */i/, and (ii) those in which */ɛ/ tends to merge with */a/ and palatalization is triggered by */ɛ/. In addition to providing a new argument for the relevance of contrast to phonology, the model also gives us a way to import traditional philological findings into a framework that brings them to bear on theoretical questions.

Patterns of contrast in phonological change: Evidence from Algonquian vowel systems

The primary aim of this study was to determine if adults whose native language permits neither voiced nor voiceless stops to occur in word‐final position can master the English word‐final /t/–/d/ contrast. Native English‐speaking listeners identified the voicing feature in word‐final stops produced by talkers in five groups: native speakers of English, experienced and inexperienced native Spanish speakers of English, and experienced and inexperienced native Mandarin speakers of English. Contrary to hypothesis, the experienced second language (L2) learners’ stops were not identified significantly better than stops produced by the inexperienced L2 learners; and their stops were correctly identified significantly less often than stops produced by the native English speakers. Acoustic analyses revealed that the native English speakers made vowels significantly longer before /d/ than /t/, produced /t/‐final words with a higher F1 offset frequency than /d/‐final words, produced more closure voicing in /d/ than /t/, and sustained closure longer for /t/ than /d/. The L2 learners produced the same kinds of acoustic differences between /t/ and /d/, but theirs were usually of significantly smaller magnitude. Taken together, the results suggest that only a few of the 40 L2 learners examined in the present study had mastered the English word‐final /t/–/d/ contrast. Several possible explanations for this negative finding are presented. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the native English listeners made perceptual use of the small, albeit significant, vowel duration differences produced in minimal pairs by the nonnative speakers. A significantly stronger correlation existed between vowel duration differences and the listeners’ identifications of final stops in minimal pairs when the perceptual judgments were obtained in an ‘‘edited’’ condition (where post‐vocalic cues were removed) than in a ‘‘full cue’’ condition. This suggested that listeners may modify their identification of stops based on the availability of acoustic cues.

/pdf/production-of-the-word-final-english-t-d-contrast-by-native-3oclxzj4jp.pdf

Production of the word-final English /t/-/d/ contrast by native speakers of English, Mandarin, and Spanish.

The present study explored children's perceptual capabilities with regard to the temporal acoustic cue of differential vowel duration, comparing children's perceptual identifications to those of adults. Three-year-old children, six-year-old children, and adults participated in two experiments, in which they were asked to identify (as voiced or voiceless) CVC words with uniformly voiceless final obstruents, but in which vowel duration was systematically varied. Children were also asked to identify a set of CONTROL stimuli, in which both closure voicing and vowel duration differences were present. Results indicate that both subject age and vowel duration of the TEST stimuli significantly affect identification responses. Adults and six-year olds evidence perceptual cross-over in their judgements for the TEST stimuli, while three-year-olds do not seem to change their identifications, regardless of variations in vowel duration. However, for both groups of children, the accuracy of identifications was greater for originally voiced stimuli on the CONTROL set of words, in which more than one potential cue to the voicing distinction was present. These results suggest that there is a complex and somewhat paradoxical relationship between developing production and perception which deserves further research. Children may consistently produce a phonetic difference (vowel duration) which they are unable to use as the SOLE perceptual cue for a phonological contrast.

Learning the phonetic cues to the voiced-voiceless distinction: a comparison of child and adult speech perception*

Phonetically motivated parallels between child phonology and historical sound change

Linguistic and cognitive assessment of children whose home language is not English involves a number of complex issues. These include criteria for labeling minority children cognitively deficient, the relationship between bilingualism and cognitive development, acquisition of Spanish and English by bilingual children, and the design of programs for children from non-English speaking background who are also experiencing development disability. Following a review of related literature are sketches of three bilingual children with developmental problems as well as diverse sets of abilities.

Specifying The Needs Of A ‘Bilingual’ Developmentally Disabled Population: Issues And Case Studies

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Learning the phonetic cues to the voiced-voiceless distinction: a comparison of child and adult speech perception*

Phonetically motivated parallels between child phonology and historical sound change

Specifying The Needs Of A ‘Bilingual’ Developmentally Disabled Population: Issues And Case Studies