2>phonological development

Question 1

what do children need to learn (to learn human speech)? (3)

Answer 1

• phones (sound inventories)
• phonemes & minimal pairs (distinctive features that vary across langs)
• phonotactics (what sounds can be combined within words, within a specific lang)

Question 2

phonemes & minimal pairs can be distinguihsed via>

Answer 2

-aspiration (e.g. in eng allophonic ‘pin’ vs not in ‘spin; sometimes phonemic)
-tone (i.e. mandarin)

Question 3

phonotatics=

Answer 3

what sounds can be combined within words, within a specific lang
(e.g. in eng cant start with “nt”)

Question 4

Production before the first word involves> (4)>

Answer 4

-vegetative sounds
-cooing and laughter
-vocal play
-babbling

Question 5

2 types of vegetative sounds>

Answer 5

-crying
-burping

Question 6

what are vegetative sounds>

Answer 6

vocal folds vibrate, airflow is started and stopped
^more of a reflex

Question 7

features of cooing and laughter> (3)

Answer 7

-as a sign of happiness and content in social interaction
-long vowels develop into a variety of vowels
- as more voluntary, with attempt of positive response of carefivers

Question 8

what is vocal play?>

Answer 8

when children play around with more sounds (experimenting with VT & tongue)

Question 9

features of vocal play> (2)

Answer 9

• mostly vowels, velars (k,g), bilabial (p,b) & alveolars (m,d)
• produce all sounds of worlds lang?

Question 10

Problems with idea (16-30 weeks) infants produce ‘all sounds of world’s lang’?> (3)

Answer 10

• mostly vowels at their stage
• cannot transcribe infants easily
  infant VTs are not fully developed yet (big tongue, small VTs> more like chimp)

Question 11

babbling=

Answer 11

first syllables produced & combined

Question 12

2 main types of babbling>

Answer 12

1>reduplicated/repetitive (dada)
2>variegated/non-repetitive (dadi)

Question 13

reduplicated/repetive babbling=

Answer 13

e.g. ‘dada’

Question 14

variegated/non-repetitive babbling=

Answer 14

e.g. [dadi]

Question 15

features of babbling> (3)

Answer 15

• no communicative intentions, also produced without an addresse
• reproduce prosody of lang but not words (will sound english even if no words)
  -deaf child manually babble (sign)

Question 16

cross-ling differences in babbling> (3)

Answer 16

-french speaking adults can distinguish french & chinese babies babbling mainly based on prosody
- frecnh babies produce more nasal sounds than eng babies
- more commonalities than differences across langs (vowels as easier for all children)

Question 17

protowords=

Answer 17

specific sounds consistently used for specific meanings & in specific contexts

Question 18

production of first words involve: (2)

Answer 18

-sound inventoy at end of babling phase (11 consonants, no clusters, no /l/ or /r/)
- phonological processes: deletion (kul for school) and reduplication (baba for bottle)

Question 19

what is the phonological process of deletion?

Answer 19

when some sounds are deleted from a word in infants use of it (/kul/ for “school”)

Question 20

what is the phonological process of reduplication?

Answer 20

when babies repeat sounds for words (e.g. /baba/ for bottle)

Question 21

Phonological development> word position>

Answer 21

/d/ & /p/ in word initial vs word-final makes a difference (for some easier in either)

Question 22

Main factors affecting production> (3)

Answer 22

1. development of VT
2. nervous system (cooinng & limbic system< both related to emotion)
   3> experience with native lang (children try to match what they hear)

Question 23

Methods of testing comprehension> (2)

Answer 23

• 1. high amplitude sucking technique
• 2. head turn technique

Question 24

comprehension: high amplitude sucking technique> (4)

Answer 24

• babies like to hear sounds
• babies need to suck to hear a sound
• they lose interest in sounds when they are presented repeatedly
  -thus, they show interest by sucking

Question 25

comprehension: head turn technique> (2)

Answer 25

• conditioned association of sounds changing with a mechanical toy moving
• babies show anticipatory looks toward location of moving toy as soon as they hear a new soun & before it starts moving

Question 26

What can newborns hear & disitnguish? (3)

Answer 26

• mothers voice
• own langs prosody
• can remember what heard before birth

Question 27

what is categorical perception?>

Answer 27

a universal skill of distinguishing via voice onset time (i.e. difference between /p/ & /b/)

Question 28

evidence for categorical perception as an innate skill>

Answer 28

-chinchillas also hear a difference between /ba/ & /pa/

Question 28

study: VOT, newborns & sucking rate> (3)

Answer 28

1-4 months are already sensitive to the VOT boundary between /b/ & /b/
- sucking rate increases when changes from /p/ /b/ in VOT; no change when crossed boundary; when no sound change sucking rate decreases

Question 29

lang-specific perception> (3)

Answer 29

• until 6-12 months, japanese infants can distinguish between /l/ & /r/
• sensitivity to native (& not non-native) sound contrasts is improtant to better learning of lang
• children can relearn to make some distinction when exposed to non-native lang in ‘natural settings’

Question 30

Speech segmentation> Cues to word boundaries> (6)

Answer 30

1>pauses
2>words that tend to occur in isolation
3> frequent words
4> prosody
5>stress
6> transitional probabilities