Phonological Phonological DevelopmentDevelopment

Chapter 3Chapter 3

DefinitionsDefinitions• Articulation: speech sound

production; actually saying the sounds of speech; placement of the articulators

• Phonology: study of the sound system and how the sounds produced are specifically combined to create and signify meaning

English Speech Sounds And English Speech Sounds And Sound PatternsSound Patterns

• A “phone” is a sound made by the vocal tract, and may or may not be a sound for meaningful speech.

• A “phoneme” is a sound produced in order to accomplish meaningful speech.

• Each speech sound is represented by a symbol.

• The system of written speech symbols is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

English Speech Sounds And English Speech Sounds And Sound PatternsSound Patterns

• Distinctive Features

– Distinctive features are used to classify and to describe the speech sounds of a language.

Major Sound ClassesMajor Sound Classes• 1. Vowels • 2. Consonants

– Classified by 3 characteristics:1. The place of articulation 2. The manner of articulation3. The presence or absence of voicing

Classification of ConsonantsClassification of Consonants• Labiodental• Interdental• Alveolar• Palatal• Velar• Glottal

Phonotactic ConstraintsPhonotactic Constraints• Are the permissible sequences of

sounds in a language– English words do not begin with “ng”– Some clusters are not used at the

beginning of words- /lp/ in “help” and /rt/ as in “sport”

SuprasegmentalsSuprasegmentals• Are parts of the phonological system

that extend beyond individual sounds.– Examples- stress and intonation

patterns

Productions During The Prelinguistic Period

Productions During The Productions During The Prelinguistic PeriodPrelinguistic Period

• A. Stage 1- Reflexive Vocalizations(Birth – Two Months)– 1. Reflexive vocalizations

• Cries, coughs, grunts

– 2. Nonreflexive vocalizations• Cooing (vowel-like sounds)

• B. Stage 2-Cooing and Laughter(Two – Four Months)– 1. Cooing or gooing sounds– 2. Laughter & chuckles appear

Productions During The Productions During The Prelinguistic Period (Con’t)Prelinguistic Period (Con’t)

• C. Stage 3 Vocal Play (Four to Six Months)

• Vocal play • Discovery of articulators• Characterized by very loud, very soft sounds

and very high, very low sounds, and sustained vowels

Productions During The Productions During The Prelinguistic Period (con’t)Prelinguistic Period (con’t)

• D. Stage 4- Canonical Babbling (Six – Ten Months)– 1. Canonical babbling

• The child produces consonant-vowels syllables with adult-like intonation- “mama” “dada”

•Reduplicated babbles (strings of identical syllables, “dadada”)

•Variegated babbles (syllable strings with varying consonants and vowels, like “babegado”)

Productions During The Productions During The Prelinguistic Period (con’t)Prelinguistic Period (con’t)

• E. Stage 5- Jargon Stage (Ten Months And Older)– Jargon-form of babbling with

conversational intonation.

• Cross-cultural evidence suggest that all infants seem to pass through the same stages of vocal development.

Patterns of Development: Patterns of Development: GeneralGeneral

• General Characteristics– 1. Voiceless consonants typically

emerge first – 2. /a/ is typically the first vowel to

emerge (then /i/ and /u/)– 3. Sounds are easier to learn in the

initial position than the final position

Words/ProtowordsWords/Protowords• Protowords are consistent sound

patterns used in consistent situations to indicate a child’s want/need. The protowords are not always recognizable to the adult form; but then through reinforcement and continued practice a child will start forming real words.

Adult-Like PronunciationsAdult-Like Pronunciations• A child goes from protowords easily

to real words and how they do it is hard to explain. Researchers look at several things to try and explain it.

-regularity of protoword production (Children develop systematic

approaches to reproduction of words)

Regularity of Production Regularity of Production AttemptsAttempts

• Perception• Suprasegmental-segmental

interaction (stress)• Assimilation• Rule discovery

Phonological Error PatternsPhonological Error Patterns• Phonological Processes are:

– “The error patterns that result from children’s early attempts to produce words, while they are still learning to control their articulatory apparatus.”

Phonological Error PatternsPhonological Error Patterns• A. Feature Changes

– Voicing (devoicing) or place of articulation (fronting/backing)-

• Saying “gat” instead of “cat” or “tat” for “cat”

• B. Cluster Reductions– Consonant clusters are difficult sounds for

young speakers; thus many children leave out one of the sounds. “tore” for “store”

Phonological Error PatternsPhonological Error Patterns• C. Omitting Unstressed Syllable

(Syllable Reduction)– For example: “mato” for “ tomato”

• D. Assimilation Errors-– “Changing a sound in a word to make it

more similar to an adjacent or nearby sound in that word or neighboring word, e.g., pronouncing “greenbeans” as “greembeans.”

Phonological Error PatternsPhonological Error Patterns• Assimilation (continuation)• Assimilation may also involve

manner of production– A child may make initial consonants

nasal if the final consonant is nasal.• “means” for “beans”• “nance” for “dance”• “mump” for “bump”

Cross-cultural Differences in Cross-cultural Differences in Phonological DevelopmentPhonological Development

• Children who speak other languages such as Spanish, Japanese, and Finish may use different strategies and phonological patterns from children learning English.

Phonological DevelopmentPhonological Development• By three years of age, most children are

able to pronounce all vowel sounds and most consonants in their language, although they still make many errors.

• Consonants such as liquids and fricatives are likely to be in error even at 4or 5. Consonant clusters, especially in initial-word position, are not mastered until age 7 or 8.

Completion of Phonetic Completion of Phonetic InventoryInventory

• By 7 yrs of age, most children have acquired the entire phonetic inventory.

Completion of Phonetic Completion of Phonetic InventoryInventory

• Reasons why children’s speech does not sound like an adults even after acquisition of the phonetic inventory:– Children speak slower and with greater

variability in pronunciation and timing.– Children’s voices are higher– Children may adopt speech styles that

are used by their “group”

Development of English Development of English MorphophonologyMorphophonology

• Morphophonology- “The rules governing sound changes that accompany the combination of morphemes in a language.” e.g. native/nationality, divine/divinity (here there is a sound change in the pronunciation of the stem of the word)

Development of English Development of English MorphophonologyMorphophonology

• Between 7;0 and 12;0, the child learns more complex derivational structures and morphophonological rules.

Class ActivityClass Activity• Describe the phonological error.

What phonological patterns is the child using?

• 1. “gug” for ”bug”• 2. “doad” for ”toad”• 3. “pandate” for “pancake”• 4. “loon” for “balloon”• 5. “pill” for ”spill”