Grammatical Conditioning in the Development of Phonological Productions

Kelly Burkinshaw

University of Calgary

Supervised by:

Dr. Yvan Rose

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Introduction

� While children’s babbles gradually evolve from articulatorily-predictable vocalizations into forms which match the statistical properties of the ambient language (MacNeilage & Davis 1990; Kern & Davis 2009; Vihman 1996), production patterns in later words cannot always be captured statistically (Demuth 2007)

Introduction

� Grammatical/phonological perspective: � Sounds are learned categorically; acquisition of a sound is

influenced by factors such as its syllable position, and whether that position is present in the child’s grammar

� Statistical/gradient perspective: � Sounds are learned gradiently; the child will slowly learn how

to reproduce sounds in a way that is more reflective of how they appear in adult speech

� How do we decide which model to use? It depends on what children do – but what children do depends on what they, themselves, understand.

Hypothesis

� Children’s level of understanding of their language’s phonological system may be observable in their speech

� Grammatical/phonological learners will display effects or stages which reflect their understanding of phonology

� Statistical/gradient learners will show gradual improvement in productive abilities

Data

� This work looks at two cases studies of children learning European Portuguese:

� Inês: 0;11.13 to 4;02.17 � Shows clear positional effects

� Joana: 0;11.23 to 4;10.07 � Shows gradual improvement with no positional effects

� Data come from the CHILDES database (Correia, Costa, Freitas, 2010), and are analyzed with Phon

European Portuguese

Consonantal Inventory of Onsets (Mateus & d’Andrade 2000, Cruz-Ferreira 1999)

Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Uvular

Plosive p b t d k ɡ Nasal m n ɲ Fricative f v s z ʃ ʒ ʁ Lateral l ʎ Flap ɾ Glide w j

European Portuguese

Consonantal Inventory of Codas

(Mateus & d’Andrade 2000, Cruz-Ferreira 1999)

Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Uvular

Plosive

Nasal

Fricative ʃ (ʒ) Lateral ɫ Flap ɾ Glide

European Portuguese

� Word-final codas in EP are susceptible to two kinds of resyllabification (Mateus & d’Andrade 2000): � Utterance-final:

An epenthetic vowel is added after /ɾ/ and /l/ e.g. /ˈmew ˈ+oɾ/ [ˈmew ˈ+oɾɨ]

� Utterance-medial: /ʃ, ɾ, ɫ/ coda will become the onset of a following vowel-initial word

e.g. /ˈmaɫ a/ [ˈma la] When this occurs with /ʃ/, there is POA substitution as well

e.g. /ˈpojʃ ˈɛ/ [ˈpoj ˈzɛ]

Inês – a grammatical/categorical learner

� Evidence of systematic behaviours in Inês’s development: � Systematic stopping of all fricative onsets stopping, but not

codas

� Positional effects within the development of /ʃ/ � Stages of deletion before sweeping changes in production

� See also Rose (2014)

Inês’s Fricative Stopping

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

100

0_11

_13

1_00

_25

1_01

_29

1_03

_06

1_04

_09

1_05

_11

1_06

_11

1_07

_02

1_08

_02

1_09

_18

1_10

_29

2_00

_11

2_01

_10

2_02

_01

2_03

_08

2_04

_18

2_05

_24

2_07

_16

2_08

_22

2_10

_20

2_11

_21

3_00

_15

3_02

_03

3_04

_06

3_05

_28

3_07

_29

3_10

_01

3_11

_12

4_01

_00

4_02

_17

f/v ↔ p/b, t/d

s/z ↔ t/d

ʃ/ʒ ↔ t/d

ʀ ↔ k/ɡ

� Fricative onsets

Inês’s Fricative Stopping

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

100

0_11

_13

1_00

_25

1_01

_29

1_03

_06

1_04

_09

1_05

_11

1_06

_11

1_07

_02

1_08

_02

1_09

_18

1_10

_29

2_00

_11

2_01

_10

2_02

_01

2_03

_08

2_04

_18

2_05

_24

2_07

_16

2_08

_22

2_10

_20

2_11

_21

3_00

_15

3_02

_03

3_04

_06

3_05

_28

3_07

_29

3_10

_01

3_11

_12

4_01

_00

4_02

_17

ʃ ↔ t/d

� Resyllabified coda /ʃ/ (before vowel-initial words)

Inês’s Fricative Stopping

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

100

0_11

_13

1_00

_25

1_01

_29

1_03

_06

1_04

_09

1_05

_11

1_06

_11

1_07

_02

1_08

_02

1_09

_18

1_10

_29

2_00

_11

2_01

_10

2_02

_01

2_03

_08

2_04

_18

2_05

_24

2_07

_16

2_08

_22

2_10

_20

2_11

_21

3_00

_15

3_02

_03

3_04

_06

3_05

_28

3_07

_29

3_10

_01

3_11

_12

4_01

_00

4_02

_17

ʃ/ʒ ↔ t/d

� Non-resyllabified coda /ʃ/

Inês’s Development

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

0_11

_13

1_00

_25

1_01

_29

1_03

_06

1_04

_09

1_05

_11

1_06

_11

1_07

_02

1_08

_02

1_09

_18

1_10

_29

2_00

_11

2_01

_10

2_02

_01

2_03

_08

2_04

_18

2_05

_24

2_07

_16

2_08

_22

2_10

_20

2_11

_21

3_00

_15

3_02

_03

3_04

_06

3_05

_28

3_07

_29

3_10

_01

3_11

_12

4_01

_00

4_02

_17

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ʃ/ʒ ʃ/ʒ ↔ s/z

ʃ/ʒ ↔ t/d

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ∅

Other

� /ʃ/ in utterance final codas

Inês’s Development

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

0_11

_13

1_00

_25

1_01

_29

1_03

_06

1_04

_09

1_05

_11

1_06

_11

1_07

_02

1_08

_02

1_09

_18

1_10

_29

2_00

_11

2_01

_10

2_02

_01

2_03

_08

2_04

_18

2_05

_24

2_07

_16

2_08

_22

2_10

_20

2_11

_21

3_00

_15

3_02

_03

3_04

_06

3_05

_28

3_07

_29

3_10

_01

3_11

_12

4_01

_00

4_02

_17

ʃ ↔ ʃ/ʒ

ʃ ↔ s/z

ʃ ↔ t/d

Other

� /ʃ/ in utterance medial word final codas (resyllabified)

Inês’s Development

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0_11

_13

1_00

_25

1_01

_29

1_03

_06

1_04

_09

1_05

_11

1_06

_11

1_07

_02

1_08

_02

1_09

_18

1_10

_29

2_00

_11

2_01

_10

2_02

_01

2_03

_08

2_04

_18

2_05

_24

2_07

_16

2_08

_22

2_10

_20

2_11

_21

3_00

_15

3_02

_03

3_04

_06

3_05

_28

3_07

_29

3_10

_01

3_11

_12

4_01

_00

4_02

_17

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ʃ/ʒ ʃ/ʒ ↔ s/z

ʃ/ʒ ↔ t/d

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ∅

Other

� /ʃ/ in … word final codas (non-resyllabified)

Inês’s Development

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

100

0_11

_13

1_00

_25

1_01

_29

1_03

_06

1_04

_09

1_05

_11

1_06

_11

1_07

_02

1_08

_02

1_09

_18

1_10

_29

2_00

_11

2_01

_10

2_02

_01

2_03

_08

2_04

_18

2_05

_24

2_07

_16

2_08

_22

2_10

_20

2_11

_21

3_00

_15

3_02

_03

3_04

_06

3_05

_28

3_07

_29

3_10

_01

3_11

_12

4_01

_00

4_02

_17

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ʃ/ʒ ʃ/ʒ ↔ s/z

ʃ/ʒ ↔ t/d

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ∅

Other

� /ʃ/ in word medial codas

Inês’s Development

Joana – a statistical/gradient learner

� With respect to the development of /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ in different positions (i.e. within the syllable, word, or utterance), Joana shows no clear positional effects

� She shows no sweeping changes, including no deletion stages which could reflect her awareness of syllable positions she doesn’t understand

Joana’s Development

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

1_02

_28

1_04

_06

1_05

_05

1_06

_23

1_08

_04

1_09

_24

1_10

_22

2_00

_09

2_02

_18

2_04

_01

2_06

_23

2_08

_05

2_10

_08

2_11

_02

3_00

_26

3_02

_12

3_03

_23

3_04

_25

3_06

_19

3_08

_00

3_10

_04

3_11

_11

4_00

_13

4_02

_11

4_03

_24

4_04

_29

4_06

_00

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ʃ/ʒ ʃ/ʒ ↔ s/z

ʃ/ʒ ↔ t/d

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ∅

Other

� /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ in onsets

Joana’s Development

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1_02

_28

1_04

_06

1_05

_05

1_06

_23

1_08

_04

1_09

_24

1_10

_22

2_00

_09

2_02

_18

2_04

_01

2_06

_23

2_08

_05

2_10

_08

2_11

_02

3_00

_26

3_02

_12

3_03

_23

3_04

_25

3_06

_19

3_08

_00

3_10

_04

3_11

_11

4_00

_13

4_02

_11

4_03

_24

4_04

_29

4_06

_00

4_07

_07

4_08

_11

4_10

_07

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ʃ/ʒ

ʃ/ʒ ↔ s/z

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ∅

Other

� /ʃ/ in utterance final codas

Joana’s Development

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1_02

_28

1_04

_06

1_05

_05

1_06

_23

1_08

_04

1_09

_24

1_10

_22

2_00

_09

2_02

_18

2_04

_01

2_06

_23

2_08

_05

2_10

_08

2_11

_02

3_00

_26

3_02

_12

3_03

_23

3_04

_25

3_06

_19

3_08

_00

3_10

_04

3_11

_11

4_00

_13

4_02

_11

4_03

_24

4_04

_29

4_06

_00

4_07

_07

4_08

_11

4_10

_07

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ʃ/ʒ

ʃ/ʒ ↔ s/z

Other

� /ʃ/ in utterance medial word final codas (resyllabified)

Joana’s Development

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

1_02

_28

1_04

_06

1_05

_05

1_06

_23

1_08

_04

1_09

_24

1_10

_22

2_00

_09

2_02

_18

2_04

_01

2_06

_23

2_08

_05

2_10

_08

2_11

_02

3_00

_26

3_02

_12

3_03

_23

3_04

_25

3_06

_19

3_08

_00

3_10

_04

3_11

_11

4_00

_13

4_02

_11

4_03

_24

4_04

_29

4_06

_00

4_07

_07

4_08

_11

4_10

_07

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ʃ/ʒ

ʃ/ʒ ↔ s/z

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ∅

Other

� /ʃ/ in … word final codas (non-resyllabified)

Joana’s Development

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1_02

_28

1_04

_06

1_05

_05

1_06

_23

1_08

_04

1_09

_24

1_10

_22

2_00

_09

2_02

_18

2_04

_01

2_06

_23

2_08

_05

2_10

_08

2_11

_02

3_00

_26

3_02

_12

3_03

_23

3_04

_25

3_06

_19

3_08

_00

3_10

_04

3_11

_11

4_00

_13

4_02

_11

4_03

_24

4_04

_29

4_06

_00

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ʃ/ʒ

ʃ/ʒ ↔ s/z

ʃ/ʒ ↔ ∅

Other

� /ʃ/ in word medial codas

Joana’s Development

Summary

� Inês was influenced by different prosodic contexts; her data also showed cases where grammatical understanding was preceded by stages of across-the-board deletion. This indicates structural awareness on Inês's part: in the face of structural elements for which she had no analysis, she produced no segment.

Summary

� Joana showed no stages of deletion on an equivalent scale, and no evidence of sweeping changes in production, which indicates a relative lack of awareness of the target conditioning environments: she generally attempted each target sound, irrespective of its structural position.

Conclusion

� Across-the-board segmental issues, with slow improvement, can be attributed to statistical learners (e.g. Joana).

� However, some learners may display stages of development quite clearly in their productions (e.g. Ines), and in these cases it is important to understand where and why those stages occur, as they may be indicators of developments in understanding of a grammatical system.

References Burkinshaw, Kelly. 2014. Segmental and Prosodic Conditioning in the First Language Acquisition of Phonology. Memorial University of Newfoundland M.A. Thesis. Correia, Susana, Teresa da Costa & Maria João Freitas. 2010. Portuguese-CCF. University of Lisbon/ CLUL/PhonBank. Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena. 1999. Portuguese (European). Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, 126–130. Demuth, Katherine. 2007. The Role of Frequency in Language Acquisition. In Insa Gülzow & Natalia Gagarina (eds.), Frequency Effects in Language Acquisition, 528–538. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Kern, Sophie & Barbara Davis. 2009. Emergent Complexity in Early Vocal Acquisition: Cross-linguistic Comparisons of Canonical Babbling. In Ioana Chitoran, François Pellegrino & Egidio Marsico (eds.), Approaches to Phonological Complexity, 353–375. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. MacNeilage, Peter F. & Barbara L. Davis. 1990. Acquisition of Speech Production: The Achievement of Segmental Independence. In William J. Hardcastle & Alain Marchal (eds.), Speech Production and Modeling, 55–68. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Mateus, Maria Helena & Ernesto d’Andrade. 2000. The Phonology of Portuguese. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Rose, Yvan. 2014. The Emergence of First Language Phonology: Perception, Articulation and Representation. In João Costa, Alexandra Fiéis, Maria João Freitas, Maria Lobo & Ana Lúcia Santos (eds.), New Directions in the Acquisition of Romance Languages: Selected Proceedings of Romance Turn V, 35–61. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Vihman, Marilyn M. 1996. Phonological Development: The Origins of Language in the Child. Oxford: Blackwell.

Thank you!

� This work was funded in part by SSHRC grant 766-2011-4111.