Studies the sounds of the Parisian French /R/ consonant by examining sound spectrograms and X-ray photographs of speakers' pharynxes. Illustrates the phonetic distinctions and compares the Parisian consonantal usage to usage in other languages, including American English. (AM)

In this study we use a computational model of language learning called model of syntax acquisition in children (MOSAIC) to investigate the extent to which the optional infinitive (OI) phenomenon in Dutch and English can be explained in terms of a resource-limited distributional analysis of Dutch and English child-directed speech. The results show…

A core area of phonology is the study of phonotactics, or how sounds are linearly combined. Recent cross-linguistic analyses have shown that the phonology determines not only phonotactics but also the articulatory coordination or timing of adjacent sounds. In this article, I explore how the relation between coordination and phonotactics affects…

There is a long-standing debate in the area of speech production on the question of whether only words selected for articulation are phonologically activated (as maintained by serial-discrete models) or whether this is also true for their semantic competitors (as maintained by forward-cascading and interactive models). Past research has addressed…

In a series of 5 experiments, we investigated whether the processing of phonologically assimilated utterances is influenced by language learning. Previous experiments had shown that phonological assimilations, such as /lean#bacon/ [right arrow] [leam bacon], are compensated for in perception. In this article, we investigated whether compensation…

A study investigated the acquisition of the phonemic feature/voice/ and, more specifically, voice onset time (VOT), in Hindi and English. Subjects were 20 monolingual children aged 2 to 6 from each of the 2 language groups, divided into 5 age groups, and 10 adults from each language group. Flash cards depicting minimally contrasting sets of words,…

One of a series of semiannual reports, this publication contains 13 articles which report the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical applications. Articles and their authors are as follows: "The Role of Contrast in Limiting Vowel-to-Vowel Coarticulation in Different…

Results are reported of a study of voice onset time characteristics of stops in initial clusters in American English words produced by children and adults. (Author/RM)

A study investigated the range of articulatory patterns in French in which occlusive consonants are followed by anterior vowels, and the resulting acoustic phenomena. Articulatory factors examined include the place of articulation of the occlusive consonant; the nature of contact during the occlusion; articulatory movements at the consonants'…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS RESEARCH WAS TO EXPLORE SOME OF THE VARIABLES THAT INFLUENCE INTRAINDIVIDUAL PHONETIC VARIATION IN CERTAIN ASPECTS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH SPEECH. FORTY COLLEGE STUDENTS PARTICIPATED IN THE EXPERIMENT. EACH PERFORMED TWO TASKS--(1) READING ALOUD WORDS (16 IN EACH OF FIVE CATEGORIES) FROM FLASHCARDS AS PART OF AN OSTENSIBLE LEARNING…

Variability is a term used to cover several types of phenomena in language sound patterns and in phonetic realization of those patterns. Variability refers to the fact that every repetition of an utterance is different, in amplitude, rate of delivery, formant frequencies, fundamental frequency or minor phase relationship changes across the sound…

The characteristics of French nasal vowels in the case of various CVCV combinations are studied. A set of CVCV utterances was read by speakers (5 males and 5 females) and analyzed using predictive coding techniques. The consonant consisted of voiced stops, unvoiced stops, nasal consonants... while the vowel V was one of 4 nasal French vowels.…

Designed to introduce the reader to the main works in normal (nondeviant) child phonology available in English, this annotated bibliography includes 2 general readers on child language and 27 books and articles with primary emphasis on phonology. The annotations, intended to be primarily descriptive, summarize: the design of each study; its…

The development of differential vowel duration was observed in six children who were tape recorded at 1-month intervals from 26 to 36 months of age and in three children from 21 to 24 months of age. By differential vowel duration is meant the relatively different durations of vowels according to whether the following consonant is voiced or…