TUGBA KAYASAMET TASCI

SELIN ATAKAYKENAN DEVRIM

2N3

Speech sounds are of two major types – vowels and consonants:

Vowels are sounds produced with no obstruction to the airflow coming from lungs.

Consonants are speech sounds that involve a momentary interruption or obstruction of the airflow. Consonants can be described and differentiated from each other by using three main classifications, voice, place of articulation, and manner of articulation.

VoiceVoice is defined as the presence or absence

of vocal cord vibration. If the vocal cords vibrate in the production of sounds, then these sounds are voiced. If the vocal cords do not vibrate, then these sounds are voiceless.

Voiced consonants in Turkish are [b], [d], [g], [z], [ʒ], [m], [n], [r], [v], [j], [l], [ʤ].

Voiceless consonants in Turkish are [p], [t], [k], [f], [s], [ʃ], [h], [ʧ].

Place of articulation: Consonants are described in terms of where in the vocal tract they are produced. Here are different places of articulation for Turkish consonants. Bilabial: two lips are together

/b/, /p/, /m/ are bilabials. bellek, pınar, masa.

Labiodentals: lower lip and upper front teeth /f/, /v/ are labiodentals, fare, vali

Alveolar: tip or blade and the alveolar ridge /d/, /t/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/, /r/ are alveolar, dayı, teyze, sen, zeki, lale, renk

Palato-alveolar: tongue blade and back of the alveolar ridge /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/ are palato-alveolar, şans, jeton, çiçek, cam

Palatal: front of the tongue and the hard palate /j/ is palatal, yıl, yüzük

Velar: back of the tongue and the velum(soft palate) /k/, /g/ are velars, kadın, gül

Glottal: articulation involving the glottis /h/ is glottal, hakim, han

Manner of articulation is described how sounds are produced in terms of airflow. Here are different manners of articulation for Turkish.

Stop (plosive): complete obstruction in the oral tract with a raised velum /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ are stops, peri, ben, takım, dede, kalın, gezi

Nasal: complete obstruction in the oral tract with a lowered velum /m/, /n/are nasals, mavi, nem

Fricative: partial obstruction so that there is friction/f/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/ are fricatives, fare, sen, zeki, şeker, jip, han

Approximants: some obstruction but not enough to cause friction. These consonants are divided into two types: liquids as in the /l/ of “lale” where the tongue touches the alveolar ridge but the air is allowed to flow past the sides of the tongue and the /r/ of “renk”, where the tongue approaches the palate. Glides as in /v/ of “vali” and /j/ of “yıl” which is a very slight closure, almost like a vowel.

Affricative: combination of a stop and a fricative /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ are affricative, çay, cam

The course of phonological development

Acquiring the sound system of their language is an on-going and complex task in the first five years of life. It works at two different levels;

First, they need to gain mastery over the myriad muscles and nerves that control their vocal tract in order to produce their words accurately – phonetic ability. However, children come into the world well equipped for the task.

Second, children need to learn what sounds and what combination of sounds are permissible in their language – phonological knowledge.

The Course of Phonetic Ability

1. At birth infantsa. discriminate their native language from a foreign language,b. discriminate between two foreign languages,c. can count syllables and thus vowels in a word,d. perceive accent.2. At 1 month infants discriminate between consonants.3. At 6-8 months infants start to babble (vocally or manually).4. At 8-10 monthsa. infants' vowel quality is influenced by the ambient language;b. infants' sensitivity to foreign consonantal contrasts starts to decline.5. At 10-12 months infantsa. cannot discriminate consonant contrasts belonging to a foreign language,b. use a repertoire of consonants during babbling that is influenced bytheir native language,c. produce their first words.

From birth to 4 months, the infant's oral tract resembles that of apes. Asfigures indicate, newborns have a higher larynx, a smaller throat, a shorter vocal tract, and a different tongue shape than adults do. At around 4 months the infant's vocal apparatus undergoes tremendous changes and starts to approximate the adult shape. As is apparent from the figure one major change is the descent of the larynx. The descent of the infant's larynx starts at 4-6 months and is not completed until 3 years of age.

Configuration of the vocal tract of an infant (a) and an adult (b), sectioned along the midsagittal plane

Patterns in phonological development

Given the complexity of enterprise, it is not surprising that at first children tend to make simplifications that allow them to reduce the number of sounds and contrasts between sounds that they have to deal with. These simplification processes fall into three main types.

Substitution processes

Assimilatory processes

Syllable structure processes

Substitution processes: These involve substituting one sound segment with another. These include:

Stopping: A fricative or affricative consonant is replaced by a stop consonant. The child will usually try to keep the place of articulation as similar to the target as possible, however. On the whole stops are easier for children to produce than fricatives. Examples:

“zeytin” → “deytin” “sakız” → “takız”

Fronting: Back consonants (velars and palatals) are replaced with ones that are articulated further forward in the mouth, usually alveolars. Examples: “köpek” → “döpek” “şeker” → “seker” 

Gliding: Liquid sounds /l/ or /r/ are replaced by glides /w/ or /j/. Examples:

“limon” → “yimon” “araba” → “ayaba”

Vocalization: A vowel replaces a syllabic consonant. Examples: in Turkish there is not an example for vocalization.

“apple” /æpl/→ æpo 

Assimilatory processes. In these processes one sound segment will made more similar to or sometimes exactly the same as another one. These include:

Consonant voicing: Voiceless consonants followed by vowels especially at the beginning of a word will tend to become voiced like vowels. Examples: “temiz” → “demis” “çay” → “cay” 

Consonant de-voicing: consonants at the ends of words tend to become voiceless, assimilating to silence. Examples: “temiz” → “demis” “top” → “bob”

Consonant harmony: A consonant will assimilate to another consonant in the word. More often, it is an early consonant that assimilates to a later one, although the reverse can also happen. Examples: “Samet” → “Mamet” “abla” → “abba”

Syllable structure processes: In this processes, the child adds or removes sounds or alters the structure of the syllable in some way. They reflect a preference by young children for CVCV (Consonant Vowel Consonant Vowel) patterns. These include:

Consonant cluster reduction: Where two or more consonants occur in a cluster the child will reduce this to a single consonant. Examples:

“spor” → “poy” “parka” →”paka”

Vowel epenthesis: Children sometimes break up consonant clusters not by deleting one of the consonants, but by adding a vowel to separate them. Examples: “tren” →”tiyen”

  Deletion of final consonants: Examples:

“kar “→ “ka” 

Syllable deletion: This usually involves deletion of the unstressed syllable (or syllables) in a word, but can occasionally involve the deletion of a stressed syllable. Example:

“oyuncak” → “oncak” 

Reduplication: In a multi-syllabic word, the child will repeat a CV syllable (usually the initial syllable). Examples:

“hala” → “lala”

There can be a considerable variation between children in their preferences for different processes. However, these simplification processes are quite systematic and can be observed in children all over the world, regardless of the language they are acquiring.