Sponsor
This work was supported in part by a Summer Research Award from The University of Oregon.
Published In
Journal of Child Language
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2007
Subjects
Language acquisition, Oral communication
Abstract
The study evaluated whether durational and allophonic cues to word boundaries are intrinsic to syllable production, and so acquired with syllable structure, or whether they are suprasyllabic, and so acquired in phrasal contexts. Twenty preschool children (aged 3 ; 6 and 4 ; 6) produced: (1) single words with simple and complex onsets (e.g. "nail" vs. "snail"); and (2) two-word phrases with intervocalic consonant sequences and varying boundary locations (e.g. "this nail" vs. "bitty snail"). Comparisons between child and adult control productions showed that the durational juncture cue was emergent in the four-year-olds' productions of two-word phrases, but absent elsewhere. In contrast, the allophonic cue was evident even in the three-year-olds' productions of single words. Perceptual judgments showed that age- and type-dependent acoustic differences translated into differences in listener behavior. The differential acquisition of the two juncture cues is discussed with reference to the acquisition of articulatory timing control.
DOI
10.1017/S0305000907008203
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/10962
Citation Details
Redford, M. A., & Gildersleeve-Neumann, C. E. (2007). The Acquisition of Two Phonetic Cues to Word Boundaries. Journal Of Child Language, 34(4), 815-843.
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Speech and Hearing Science Commons
Description
This is the publisher's final PDF. Article appears in Journal of Child Language. The original publication is available at: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=JCL and is Copyright 2007 Cambridge University Press.