The first steps in Tashelhiyt Berber language acquisition: a longitudinal case study

1. The first steps in Tashelhiyt Berber language acquisition: a longitudinal case study Kern, Sophie & Mohamed Lahrouchi Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage (UMR5596, Lyon) & Structure Formelle du Langage (UMR 7023, Paris8). Sophie.Kern@univ-lyon2.fr&Mohamed.Lahrouchi@univ-paris8.fr Goal Describe the earliest stages of vocal development in one Tashelhiyt learning child from 7 to 25 months of age • More oral stops, nasals and glides than other manners of articulation in Bab and Words • Increase of nasals and decrease of glides and glottal fricatives in Words • More labials and coronals than other places of articulation in Bab and Words • Increase of labials and decrease of dorsals and gutturals in Words • Theoretical background • 1) Similarities in the earliest stages of vocal development for production output pattern • - Isolated sounds : • stops, nasals and glides • labials and coronals • mid and low front and central vowels • - CV cooccurrences : • labial consonants + central vowels • coronal consonants + front vowels • dorsal consonants + back vowels • - Across syllable (in CVCV) : • more high-low variegation than front-back vowel variegation • more manner than place consonant variegation • - Syllable types: • more open than closed syllables, few consonant clusters • 2) Diversification and complexification of production output pattern with age • 3) Cross-language differences in the late babbling and first word periods • More vowels from the left inferior part of vocalic space than others in Bab and Words • More duplication than variegation in Babbling and Words • Increase of duplication in words Language acquisition : interaction of biomechanical development and learning from ambient language Method Language: Berber belongs to the Afroasiatic family. Tashelhiyt is one of the three main varieties spoken in Morocco, whose native speakers are estimated at 3 millions (Chaker 1992) Tashelhiyt phonemic system: consonants Tashelhiyt phonemic system: vowels Data collection: Longitudinal study of 1 Tashelhiyt-speaking child(Agadir). Audio-video recording ofspontaneous vocalizations(one hour every two weeks) from7 to 24months Data processing: >>IPAbroad phonetic transcription conventions >>LIPPdata analysis (Oller & Delgado, 1990) Data analysis Two types of productions:BABBLING and WORDS >>Consonanttypes >>Voweltypes >>CV cooccurrences >>Across Syllable Patterns(CVCV forms) Consonants: manner vs place change for C Vowels: height vs front-back change for V >>Syllable types • More manner than place changes in Babbling and words • Manner to place ratio higher in Words than Babbling • More height changes than backness changes in Babbling and words • Height to backness ratio higher in Words than babbling • Preference for Coronal/front and Labial/central (ratio over 1) in Babbling and Words • Preference for Dorsal/back only in Babbling • More open than closed syllables in Babbling and Words • Open to closed syllables ratio higher in Words than in Babbling • Conclusion • Tashelhiyt child followed the same preferences : stops (oral and nasal), labial and coronal place of articulation, vowels from the lower left part of vocalic space, open syllables, manner over place and height over backness changes in CVCV, CVco: coronal+front, labial+central, dorsal+back • >> No influence of target language • Few differences between Babbling and Words: • More nasal stops and labials, more duplicated babbling, more manner changes, more open syllables in Words than in Babbling • >> Continuity between Babbling and Words • >> Simplification of vocal input in Words