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ERIC Number: EJ1062110
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2015-May
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-0009
EISSN: N/A
The Syllabic Status of Final Consonants in Early Speech: A Case Study
Yuen, Ivan; Miles, Kelly; Cox, Felicity; Demuth, Katherine
Journal of Child Language, v42 n3 p682-694 May 2015
Young children's first attempts at CVC words are often realized with the final consonant being heavily aspirated or followed by an epenthetic vowel (e.g. "cat"/kaet/ realized as [kaet[superscript h]] or [kaet[superscript ?]]). This has led some to propose that young children represent word-final (coda) consonants as an onset-nucleus sequence (CV.C[superscript v]) (e.g. Goad & Brannen, 2003), raising questions about the syllabic status of the final consonant. To address this issue, we conducted an acoustic analysis of a child's early production of CVC, CVC[superscript h], and CVCV words between the ages of 1;3 and 1;5. Aside from aspiration, the results showed that there were no significant acoustic differences between the CVC and CVC[superscript h] forms. In contrast, there were systematic acoustic differences in C[subscript 2] closure duration between the CVC/CVC[superscript h] and CVCV target words, suggesting that at least some children learning English have early coda representations for monosyllabic CVC words, whether heavily aspirated or not.
Cambridge University Press. 100 Brook Hill Drive, West Nyack, NY 10994-2133. Tel: 800-872-7423; Tel: 845-353-7500; Fax: 845-353-4141; e-mail: subscriptions_newyork@cambridge.org; Web site: http://journals.cambridge.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (DHHS)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: R01HD057606