Discusses the vowel contrast of the vowel systems of English and Spanish, and concentrates on the difficulties posed by the interference of the English Schwa sound. (GLR)

This article evaluates the "Frames, then Content" hypothesis for speech acquisition, which sees babbling as a direct result of producing syllabic "frames" by rhythmic mandibular oscillation with little of the "content" seen under mandible-independent control. Analysis of 6,659 utterances of 6 normally developing…

Examined two phenomena in the acquisition of second-language syllable structure among Japanese students of English as a foreign language: (1) a preference for open syllables, as manifest in paragoge; and (2) a developmental process of final segment apocopation. Results suggest that paragogic epenthesis is conditioned by a syllable structure…

Phonological models of feature geometry suggest that the internal structure of segments is highly articulated. Distinctive features are organized hierarchically within the segment, and this hierarchical organization is relatively stable across and within languages. In this study, the distinctive feature (lateral) is the focus of investigation. (84…

List repetitions in lists with phonologically similar and dissimilar items were used to examine improvement in preschool children's recall. Cumulative repetition caused a moderate increase in memory span and the phonological similarity effect. Repeated serial order information was helpful for children's recall, but articulatory coding was not. (BC)

Five profoundly hearing-impaired children were taught to speak seven consonant sounds using palatometry which allows learners to see tongue-to-palate contact patterns used in sound production. Results demonstrated that visual articulatory modeling and feedback of linguapalatal contact patterns is an effective means of teaching consonants and…

Comprehensive data are presented about the typical and atypical errors made when children produce consonant singletons, emphasizing error sounds actually used (including distortions and phonological process errors), frequency of errors at various ages, and scope of phonological process application. Clinical criteria are presented for determining…

This case study of a seven-year-old Portuguese-speaking child examined hypotheses concerning systematic sound preference (where a group of sounds with the same manner of articulation is represented by one or two sounds in production). Word position and stress patterns were found to be important in the systematicity of sound preference. (Author/DB)

This study investigated the effectiveness of articulation training (daily sessions for 8 weeks) on the production of phonemes by 12 hearing impaired children (ages 5-10). Results suggest that phonemes with an intermediate error rate (trained at a phonological level) are easier to train than phonemes with a high error rate (trained at a phonetic…

Focuses on aspects of spoken language skill that may contribute to the development of phonological awareness, as manifested in rhyme awareness and phoneme awareness. Examined rhyme awareness, articulation, speech perception, vocabulary, and letter and word knowledge in 40 preschool children. (Author/VWL)

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive meta-analysis of the relevant imaging literature on word production (82 experiments). In addition to the spatial overlap of activated regions, we also analyzed the available data on the time course of activations. The analysis specified regions and time windows of activation for the core processes…

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…

Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin, and Romance vowel sounds and their production are discussed. (RM)

This article examines the notion of sign on various levels, concluding that which pertains to the linguistic level is pertinent; that which pertains to the expressive level is redundant. The notions of connotation and denotation are discussed. (Text is in French.) (AM)

Examines the difficulties encountered by native speakers of American English with initial consonant clusters in Russian. The phonotactic patterns and articulatory and auditory properties of individual consonants in both languages are compared. Testing explores the relationship of native articulatory habits, the reception of aural stimuli and…