Chapter 4: Phonological Development, Learning the Sounds of Language

Question 1

Phonology

Answer 1

-sounds system and knowledge of meanings of sounds

Question 2

Articulation

Answer 2

-actually producing the sounds of language

Question 3

Speech Sounds

Answer 3

-the acoustic signals languages use to express meaning
-approx 200 sounds used in language ( no single language uses them all)
-English = 45 different sounds

Question 4

How do Speech Sounds Represent Meaning

Answer 4

-Distinctive Feature: signifies a difference in sound and changes meaning (place, manner, voicing)
-phones are the different sounds a language uses
-phonemes are the meaningfully different sounds in a language
-allophones are phones that do not differentiate meaning

Question 5

When Adults Know Language they Know…

Answer 5

-what sounds their language uses
-what sound distinctions signal meaning distinctions
-what sound sequences are possible
-the structure of the sound system underlying these surface properties of language
-children need to acquire this knowledge in development expressively and receptively

Question 6

Phonological Structure of Words

Answer 6

-words are made up of smaller units
-can count syllables
-recognize rhymes
-mental representation that a word is composed of separable phonemes

Question 7

Phonotactic Knowledge

Answer 7

-the knowledge of constraints on the sequencing of sounds

Question 8

Phonological Rules

Answer 8

-voicing: feature of vocal fold vibration for a sound
-voicing assimilation: when two consonants are together in a word, they match in terms of voicing (BlooMSBurg)
-plural: bugs and bikes (v vs vl sounds but perceive same meaning)

Question 9

Phonetics

Answer 9

-target productions
-IPA
-[]

Question 10

Phonemics

Answer 10

-what child can actually say
-describing how words sound
-//

Question 11

Phonetic Features

Answer 11

-Articulatory phonetics: how the sounds are produced
-phonetic features: describe sounds using a combination of smaller number of features of the articulatory mechanism that produces those sounds: place, manner, voicing

Question 12

Place

Answer 12

-where the vocal tract is closed (bilabial, alveolar, palatal, etc.)

Question 13

Manner

Answer 13

-how the vocal tract is close (stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, etc.)

Question 14

Voicing

Answer 14

-whether or not the vocal folds are vibrating or not

Question 15

Stops

Answer 15

-airflow is completely stopped for a moment /t/, /b/

Question 16

Fricatives

Answer 16

-airflow is not completely stopped
-/f/, /v/

Question 17

Languages Have

Answer 17

-there is more to describing the sound of language than simply describing the properties of individual sound segments and how these segments are sequenced in words
-Languages also have stress patterns and prosodic qualities that can change meaning

Question 18

Reflexive Crying and Vegetative Sounds

Answer 18

-newborns cry and it is not meaningless
-caregivers provide feedback/meaning to cries which reinforces their communication
-establishing meaning and reciprocal give and take very early on
-burping, coughing, breathing, sucking

Question 19

Cooing and Laughter

Answer 19

-6 to 8 wks
-sounds made when they appear happy and content
-series of vowel like sounds strung together, but separated by intakes of breath
-necessary precursor to language

Question 20

Vocal Play or Expansion Stage

Answer 20

-16 to 30 wks
-variety of different consonant and vowel sounds
-gain increasing control over production of sounds
-combine their sounds into increasingly long and complex series
-marginal babbling
-squeals, growls, “friction noises”

Question 21

Marginal Babbling

Answer 21

-long series of sounds that infants produce by the end of expansion stage

Question 22

Reduplicated/Canonical Babbling

Answer 22

-6 to 9 mo
-some consent and vowels combination reduplicated
-mamama
-dadada

Question 23

Nonreduplicated/Variegated Babbling

Answer 23

-range of consonants and vowels produced expands further
-adding in additional sounds
-gain prosody (rise and fall) adult intonation patterns
-jargon: wordless sentences

Question 24

Influence of the Target Language on Babbling

Answer 24

-course of pre-speech vocal development appears universal
-beginning as early as 6 months, sounds babies produce are influenced by the language they hear: babbling drift
-brain is starting to tune in to native language

Question 25

Speech Sounds at the End of the Babbling Stage

Answer 25

-12 mo: approx 90% of their consonants are 11 phonemes (/h, w, j, p, b, m, t, d, n, k, g/) -mostly single syllables and some two syllables -vowels, more likely to be /ae/, stressed and unstressed schwa -expressive, no receptive component

Question 26

Transition from Babbling to Words

Answer 26

-produce protowords (phonetically consistent forms) -also called quasi words or sensorimotor morphemes -gestures might be apart of these words -baba, memaw, etc

Question 27

Biological Processes Underlying Development of Speech Sounds

Answer 27

-physical growth: creates more room for tongue/articulators to move -increase in control over sound production: oral motor coordination -maturation of CNS: limbic system and motor cortex -helps wire brain areas to work together

Question 28

Experience Underlying Development of Speech Sounds

Answer 28

-hearing the speech of other adults: influences speech segments and prosodic pattern of late babbling -hearing their own vocal output -social feedback: maternal feedback increases the rate of vocalizations and helps build on meanings

Question 29

Process of Recognizing Words

Answer 29

-listener must identify a match between the acoustic signal and internal representation of the sound of the word -acoustic signal varies depending on age, gender, adjacent words, etc.

Question 30

Word Recognition and Children

Answer 30

-widely held view: children have only rough or ballpark estimates of the representations of words they know: lacking phonetic detail and segments -other evidence: children do represent words they know in phonetic detail, same word in different accent may not be recognized to be the same -consonants more important for word identification than vowels

Question 31

Word Learning

Answer 31

-infants can perceive and represent details on the difference between speech sounds they do not use in word recognition and word learning -maybe bc cognitive demands o the task require more information -maybe bc infants do not always know which details are important and which aren't

Question 32

Word Recognition and Word Learning

Answer 32

-depend on ability to detect critical phonetic differences among similar sounding words and be able to recognize the same word across different speakers = the complementary skills of phonological distinctiveness and phonological constancy -developing these skills certainly up to age of 19+ months

Question 33

First Words

Answer 33

-simple syllable structure -single syllables or reduplicated -small inventory of vowels and consonants -sounds in first word are found in babble -/m/ /b/ /d/ consistently present -th sounds /l/ /r/ absent

Question 34

Phonological Idioms

Answer 34

-words the child produces in a very adult like way, while still incorrectly producing other words that use the very same sound

Question 35

The Development of Phonological Processes

Answer 35

-at 18 months, more consistent producing different sounds but still not adultlike -phonological processes: systematic ways to alter sounds so they are able to produce words -need for processes declines as children can produce more sounds

Question 36

Other Strategies Children Adopt when Confronted with a New Word

Answer 36

-avoid words that have sounds not in their repertoire -assimilate a new word to another similar sounding word in their lexicon or pre-existing sound patterns -some children appear to modify all new words to fit a small set of sounds they can produce