Babbling samples from 11 normally hearing infants and 14 hearing-impaired (HI) subjects, aged 4-39 months, were analyzed. Differences were observed between consonantal phone inventories of hearing-impaired subjects and hearing infants, between inventories of HI subjects with sensori-neural loss and those with conductive loss, and between younger…

Using standard classical conditioning and concept-formation paradigms, research showed that all phones of a phoneme were considered "the same" by linguistically naive speakers. Results also supported the notion of the phoneme as a unit that functions in speech perception. (RL)

This paper on physiologic correlates of speech production in children and youth with hearing impairments focuses specifically on the production of phonemes and includes data on respiration for speech production, phonation, speech aerodynamics, articulation, and acoustic analyses of speech by hearing-impaired persons. (Author/DB)

Purpose: This study investigated formant frequencies for their role as acoustic and perceptual correlates to the place of articulation of Cantonese final stops produced by profoundly hearing impaired speakers. Method: Speakers were 10 Cantonese adolescents (mean age = 13;5 [years;months]) who were profoundly hearing impaired (HI). Control speakers…

This collection of articles is one of a series of semiannual reports on the status of speech research at Haskins' Laboratories. The titles of the 18 articles and their authors are as follows: "The Alphabetic Principle and Learning to Read" (Isabelle Y. Liberman and others); "Language Development from an Evolutionary…

This report is one of a regular series about the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical applications. The 11 papers discuss the dissociation of spectral and temporal cues to the voicing distinction in initial stopped consonants; perceptual integration and selective attention in…

Forty normal children aged 3 and-one-half to 5 and-one-half were tested on the pronunciation of initial /-1/, /-r/, and /s-/ clusters in 120 words, occurring 36, 48, and 42 times, respectively; other phonemes in the cluster occurred from 6 to 18 times. Articulation errors of individual subjects were examined for evidence of (1) degree and type of…

Identification of correctly produced and misarticulated /w,r,l,j/ was examined in 12 children, aged 3:6-7:5. The children, their parents, and raters were more successful in identifying correctly produced semivowels than misarticulated ones. Both normal children with developmental substitutions and articulation-impaired children demonstrated…

This article discusses a study designed to obtain some information regarding the nature of the awareness children have of their own articulatory activity and the level of mental development at which this awareness appears. (Author/CFM)

This study examined whether toddlers build a repertoire of words as integral sequences of gestures and then differentiate these sequences into their gestural and segmental components. Results demonstrate clear differences in duration and coordination of gestures between children and adults and a shift toward the patterns of adult speakers during…

The inability to focus on the rhythmic pattern as a whole is one of the main deficiencies in the teaching of English rhythm, and it is partly responsible for syllabic rhythm in the speech of learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). A technique is proposed that isolates the segmental phones and sequences so that EFL learners recognize them.…

The notion of a universal pattern of phonological development, rooted in basic physiological constraints, is controversial, with some researchers arguing for a strong environmental (ambient language) influence on phonological development or an interaction of both physiological constraints and ambient language effects. This research examines the…

This study progressively examines fundamental principles of articulatory phonetics, French and English phonemics, and theoretical phonetics. The Parisian accent is examined at great length. Vowel charts and phonetically transcribed sample lexical items are included. For a companion document see FL 001 799. [Hard copy not available due to marginal…