Children’s Acquisition of Phonology

1. Children’s Acquisition of Phonology Presented by Belinda Weng(翁素贤）

2. Outline • 1, Infant’s speech perception • 2, Proto-words • 3, Problem-solving theory • 4, Children’s phonological rules(processes) • 5,the acquisition of tones

3. 1, Infant’s speech perception • What colors can you see in this rainbow? • Red red-yellow yellow • Voice onset time(VOT) refers to the time between the beginning of the pronunciation of the word and the onset of the vibration of the vocal cords. • /b/ /d/Vibrating /p//t/ not vibrating • For example, when you say "ba" your vocal chords vibrate right from the start. When you say "pa" your vocal chords do not vibrate until after a short delay. • The only difference between the sound "ba" and the sound "pa" is that the voice onset time for "ba" is shorter than the voice onset time for "pa".

4. Categorical perception:a range of voice onset times are perceived as "ba" and a different range of voice onset times are perceived as "pa". This phenomenon is called categorical perception. • Therefore, it is not a question of whether one consonant has voice and one does not, but of where in the syllable the voice starts. Voice starts before the consonants /p/ has finished for /pa/, but starts as soon as the consonant /b/ is released for /ba/. • Conclusion: Children are innately capable of distinguishing the voice onset time.

5. 2, Proto words (first-words) • Definition: first words emerge before the end of the babble period and are often idiosyncratic to the child. The very first attempts, which are not really true words at all are often sequences of sounds which children decide to use for various communicative purposes. • Examples: • 1,general marker • [di:] That’s interesting! [diduba] Stop that barking! 2,same vowel [э] of different tones mid-low to falling tone: Yes, we ‘re together. mid to low falling tone: Look, that’s interesting. 3,French low-pitched utterance: attempts to label things mid-pitch:give or show things to someone high-pitched: demand

6. 3, Problem-solving Theory • 1, Problem-solving theory(Cognitive Theory):the child is seen as a somewhat intelligent creature actively trying to solve a difficult problem, i.e. how to talk like the people around her do? • 2, General strategies children may adopt to solve the problem: a,avoidance of difficult sounds or sound sequences, like /l/,/r/, or /spr/,/st/ b,exploitation of favorite sounds:e.g. a preference for monosyllables over longer strings and stops(b,p,t,d,k,g) over all other types of consonant production c,systematic replacement or less systematic rearrangement of the sounds in the target word, such as /noun/ for down and bat for bad

7. 4, Phonological rules(processes) • Phonological rules or processes are systematic procedures for making adult words pronounceable. The patterns and systematicity enable children to produce an approximation of an adult model. • Are you ready? Let’s find the rules together!

8. First, Preference for CVCV • 1,final consonant omission(early process) • Adult target Child’s version • Noise noiz noi • Back bak ba • Cat kat ka • Bib bib bi • 2,consonant cluster reduction(sk, pl, str, etc) • Adult target child’s version • Spill spil pil/fil • School skul kul • Bread bred bed • 3, addition/ substitution of vowel sounds • Adult target Children’s version • Egg eg egэ • Pig pig pigэ • Blue blu bэlu

9. Conclusion • Adult target Child’s version • CCV(glu) CV(gu) CVC(pig) CVCV(pigэ) • CVC(bib) CV(bi) • Rule: preference for simple CVCV sound structure is found in a variety of languages, not just English.

10. Second, Stopping process • How to distinguish a consonant? •   Place of articulation • Labial Alveolar Velar • voiced voiceless voiced voiceless voiced voiceless • Manner • of articulation • Stops b p d t g k • Fricatives v f z s • Nasals m n

11. Observe the following phenomena carefully and tell the difference between adult target and child version? • Adult target Child’s version Language • Sundar tunder Hindi • Hus hut Norweigian • Zebra debra English • Fazik pazik Hungarian • Sopa topa Spanish • Key:the fricative consonants in the adult targets have been replaced by stop consonants.

12. adult target children’s version • Zip zip dip • Sip sip tip • Miss mis mit • Rule: children tend to replace fricatives with stop consonants which have the same place of articulation and the same voicing. Explanation: due to ease of production, fricatives require a much finer control of the tongue and lips than stops do.

13. Third, voicing/devoicing of consonant sounds • adult target children’s version • Bed bed bet • kick kik gik bag bag bak pip pip bip Rule: voicing all consonants at the beginning of words,while de-voicing all consonants at the end of words.

14. Fourth, assimilation process adult target children’s version Dog dog gog Tub tub bub Sam sam nam Rule: Children frequently modify consonants to make them more like other consonants in the same word, usually initial consonants assimilating to later ones. Sometimes, children can carry the assimilation process even further in two-syllable words by assimilating whole syllables. Water wawa Bottle baba This process is so common in early childhood that this reduplication of syllables has become standard in “baby-talk”.

15. Fifth,Suprasegmental-segmental interactions • In the early period of development, word pronunciations are often affected by length of the word and its stress patterns. • adult target child’s version • Behind be’hind hind • Supposed su’pozd pozd • Tomato to’mato mato • Without wi’thout out • Rule: In words of more than one syllable, children often omit one or more of the unstressed syllables. • Explanation: since weakly stressed syllables are harder to perceive , the errors may be due to perception rather than production.

16. 5,The Acquisition of Tones • Tonal languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, etc. • What ‘s the sequence of tone acquisition in each language? • 1,Mandarin: 4 tones • high-level妈,high-rising麻,low-falling-rising马,high-falling骂 Hierarchy of “Ease of learning “proposed by Li and Thompson:in mandarin, the high-level and falling tones are easier for children to learn to produce than rising and low-falling-rising tones.

17. 2,Cantonese:6 tones • high-level诗，mid-level试，low-level事， • extra-low时， high-rising使，mid-rising市 • Tse’s discovery:high-level and low-level tones are the first to be acquired • Tse’s conclusion: regardless of the number of tones in a language, the first ones that children seem to acquire are the highest-level tone (if there is more than one level tone) and either the lowest-level or a falling tone. • Explanation:high-level and falling tones are acquired earlier because rising tones are more difficult for children to produce for physiological reasons. • However, we cannot make statements of a universal nature about the sequence of tone acquisition, as there are some exceptions like Thai.

18. A quiz : • Many languages have standard ‘baby-talk’ words which are often used when speaking to young children. These tend to replect the kinds of sound simplification processes that children use themselves. Below are some examples from English and Comanche(an American Indian language). • Adult Baby-talk • Biscuit bickie • Dog doggie • Mupik(owl) mupi • tatoko(toe) tato • Stomach tummy Reduction of consonant cluster and final consonant deletion CVCV Final consonant deletion Omit the unstressed syllable Reduction of consonant cluster and final consonant deletion

19. Reference: • 1, Peccei,J.S., 2000,Child Language,Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press • 2, Gleason, B.,2005， The development of Language，Beijing:Beijing World Publishing Corporation • 3, Foster-Cohen,S.H.,2002,An Introduction to Child Language Development,Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press • 4,Yeni-Kmshian,Grace H.,Kavanagh, James F.,Ferguson, Charles Albert,1980,Child Phonology, New York: Academic Press

20. Thanks for your cooperation!