Although motherese may facilitate language acquisition, recent findings indicate that not all asp... more Although motherese may facilitate language acquisition, recent findings indicate that not all aspects of motherese are necessary for word recognition and speech segmentation, the building blocks of language learning. Rather, exposure to input that has prosodic, phonological, and statistical consistencies is sufficient to jump-start the learning process. In light of this, the infant-directedness of the input might be considered superfluous, at least insofar as language acquisition is concerned.
The goal of this experiment is to determine the influence of non uniform vocal tract growth on th... more The goal of this experiment is to determine the influence of non uniform vocal tract growth on the ability to reach acoustic-perceptual targets for English vowels. An articulatory-to-acoustic model integrating non uniform vocal tract growth was used to synthesize 342 5-formant vowels, covering maximal vowel spaces for speakers at 5 growth stages: newborn, 4 years, 10 years, 16 years, and 21 years old (adult stage). 37 American English speakers participated in a perceptual categorization experiment. Results indicated that the three cardinal vowels /i u ae/ can be perceived by speakers based on a newborn-like vocal tract. Articulatory-to-acoustic relationships for a given vowel may differ across growth stages.
Universal phonetic patterns can be observed in babbling and early speech when infants produce rhy... more Universal phonetic patterns can be observed in babbling and early speech when infants produce rhythmic vocalizations that show structural similarities as well as differences from mature speakers. The Frame/Content perspective [1] illuminates underlying principles motivating intrasyllabic, consonant and vowel patterns observed in these early speech-like vocal sequences. According to this perspective, lack of articulator movements independent of the mandible in vocal sequences result in intrasyllabic co-occurrences of labial consonants with central vowels, coronal consonants with front vowels, and dorsal consonants with back vowels. As complexity emerges in consonant clusters, vocal sequences retain regularities of patterning predicted by the Frame/Content perspective. In addition, these patterns appear to be resilient in the face of auditory perceptual deficit. Although syllable use is low in infants with hearing impairment, when syllables are produced they follow the patterns found ...
The availability of cochlear implants in younger children has provided the opportunity to evaluat... more The availability of cochlear implants in younger children has provided the opportunity to evaluate the relative impact of the production system, or the sounds young children can say, and the auditory system, or the sounds children can hear, on early vocal communication. Limited access to the acoustic properties of speech results in differences in vocal dei^elopment related to emergence of lexical accuracy. Understanding this aspect of speech acquisition can form an important aspect of assessment and intervention protocols for the emerging population of young cochlear implant recipients. One child who received a cochlear implant at 24 months was follcnved longitudinally to explore the impact of the production system and audition on changes in phonetic inventory, lexical target characteristics and early word accuracy. Over time, she diversified lier phonetic inventory and improved accuracy, particularly for vowels. Segments and syllables produced most frequently were most accurate. Production Accuracy in aYoung Cochlear Implant Recipient Young children undergoing early cochlear implantation have been noted to exhibit differences in early vocal acquisition (e.g.
It has been proposed that patterns found in earliest infant vocal sequences can provide a window ... more It has been proposed that patterns found in earliest infant vocal sequences can provide a window on initial steps into vocal communication by ancestral speakers. These early infant patterns have been characterized as affording a view of the vocal system at the most basic level of operation in producing serial sequences (MacNeilage & Davis, 2000). Studies of the pre-linguistic babbling and early word periods have outlined this phonetic substrate for consonants and vowels as well as for inter-and intrasyllabic regularities (e.g. Davis & MacNeilage, 1995; Davis et al. 2002). Results indicate the strong presence of labial and nasal stop consonants and glides and vowel qualities in the lower left quadrant of the vowel space. Intrasyllabic regularities include labials with central vowels, coronals with front vowels and dorsals with back vowels in English and across languages, consistent with little independent movement within syllables. Intersyllabic patterns include coexistence of reduplication and variegation across syllables. In variegated syllables, a predominance of height over front-back variation for vowels and manner over place variation for consonants is found. These inter-and intrasyllabic serial patterns are predicted based on the Frame-Content Hypothesis (MacNeilage & Davis, 1990) where the jaw is seen as the principle articulator responsible for rhythmic alternations between consonants and vowels with little independent movement of other active articulators within sequences. Fewer studies have examined how this widely described set of phonetic patterns is manifest in emergence of accuracy at the onset of word use. Patterns of accuracy and errors are manifest in infants' first excursion into matching of their vocal production system capacities with meaning in the early word period. Analysis of these early accuracy and error patterns can also afford a preliminary look at how ancestral speakers may have began the diversification process from initial vocal communicative capacities into a message transmission system eventually constrained by the need to achieve optimal trade-offs between speed of transmission and perceptual distinctiveness. Not all aspects of ontogeny and phylogeny are consistent in this ontogeny-phylogeny comparison. Child learners have external models and acquire their language in a rich communicative environment. In contrast, early speakers may not have been afforded such models. However, pressure on the production system to attach to and begin to elaborate more diverse meanings is in common in the two groups. This consistency suggests that there can be a value to understanding the emergence of forms to support lexical diversification in child speakers for considerations of emergence of forms to support message diversification in early speakers.
ABSTRACTTo understand the interactions between production patterns common to children regardless ... more ABSTRACTTo understand the interactions between production patterns common to children regardless of language environment and the early appearance of production effects based on perceptual learning from the ambient language requires the study of languages with diverse phonological properties. Few studies have evaluated early phonological acquisition patterns of children in non-Indo-European language environments. In the current study, across- and within-syllable consonant–vowel co-occurrence patterns in babbling were analyzed for a 6-month period for seven Ecuadorean Quichua learning children who were between 9 and 17 months of age at study onset. Their babbling utterances were compared to the babbling of six English-learning children between 9 and 22 months of age. Child patterns for both languages were compared with Quichua and English ambient language patterns. Babbling output was highly similar for the child groups: Quichua and English children's babbling demonstrated similar...
At the earliest onset of word use, the growing number of recognizable and consistent attachments ... more At the earliest onset of word use, the growing number of recognizable and consistent attachments of vocalizations to particular word targets requires increasing precision in interactions of the systems supporting speech and language development (e.g. Davis & Bedore, 2013; Meltzoff, Kuhl, Movellan & Sejnowski, 2009). A major issue in fully understanding children’s formative stages of wordbased speech and language acquisition relates to potential interactions between their available phonological and/or articulatory capacities (how they produce sound patterns) and their early lexical choices (what words they want to say) (e.g Stoel-Gammon, 2011). To consider the factors motivating observable speech output patterns, the question arises of whether children at the onset of word use mainly attempt to produce words consisting of sounds they can already produce, or whether young children pick word targets without much regard for the sounds in those words. Another relevant factor that we will...
Very few studies to date have tested whether young children prefer to listen to words that they c... more Very few studies to date have tested whether young children prefer to listen to words that they can produce, or whether young children might recognize word forms faster if they are better at producing them (see Majorano, Vihman & DePaolis, 2013). In this study, we set out to explore potential links between patterns found in early speech production and early word recognition. Based on prevalent patterns found in children’s early word productions, we will investigate the perception of place of articulation within the word-initial CV unit in children’s early words. By testing whether there may be a perceptual advantage for words containing CV combinations that are prevalent in production, we also explore whether early recognition of familiar words may be influenced at a higher phonotactic level other than the segmental level alone. When children produce their first words, these are predominantly monosyllabic, and often consist of a CV syllable. It has been argued that children’s early ...
Consonant repetition ("reduplication") predominates in #CVC sequences in babbling and e... more Consonant repetition ("reduplication") predominates in #CVC sequences in babbling and early words, gradually giving way to consonant variation ("variegation") with a "Fronting" pattern whereby the first consonant has a more anterior place of articulation than the second. The various reduplicative patterns are primarily attributed to a "Frame" consisting of rhythmic mandibular oscillation. Evidence, including new evidence from a case study, suggests a labial-coronal-dorsal hierarchy of consonant production difficulty. Fronting may therefore result from a tendency to begin variegated sequences with an easier consonant and continue with a more difficult one. Easier initiation may be a self organizing response to the functional load involved in interfacing the lexicon with the motor system. The heavy favoring of one particular variegated sequence, the labial-coronal sequence, in both infants and languages, suggests that it may have been a first di...
... occurrence trends have been reported (de Boysson-Bardies, 1993; Chen & Kent, 2005... more ... occurrence trends have been reported (de Boysson-Bardies, 1993; Chen & Kent, 2005; Oller & Steffans, 1993; Tyler & Langsdale ... influences in production repertoires has been examined for utterance and syllable structures (de Boysson-Bardies, 1993; Kopkalli-Yavuz & Topbaç ...
1. The Problem. 2. The Enabling Mechanisms. 3. The Model. 4. Vocalization and Pattern Detection t... more 1. The Problem. 2. The Enabling Mechanisms. 3. The Model. 4. Vocalization and Pattern Detection through Moving and Sensing. 5. Refining Patterns of Complexity. 6. Contemporary Theories and Paradigms. 7. The Present State and a Future for Emergence.
International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2012
Chris Code, University of Exeter, UK Kate Crowe, Australian Hearing, Australia Linda Cupples, Mac... more Chris Code, University of Exeter, UK Kate Crowe, Australian Hearing, Australia Linda Cupples, Macquarie University, Australia Bronwyn Davidson, The University of Melbourne, Australia Barbara L. Davis, The University of Texas, Austin, USA Tania De Bortoli, The University of Newcastle, Australia Joshua Diehl, Yale School of Medicine, USA Maria Dietrich, University of Kentucky, USA Barbara Dodd, City University, UK Christine Dollaghan, University of Texas at Dallas, USA Alice Eriks-Brophy, University of Toronto, Canada David Ertmer, Purdue University, USA Leah Fabiano-Smith, The University of Arizona, USA Alison Ferguson, University of Newcastle, Australia Peter Flipsen Jnr, Idaho State University, USA Joanne Folker, The University of Queensland, Australia Silke Fricke, University of York, UK Joan Furey, The College of Wooster, USA Hilary Gardner, Sheffi eld University, UK Sandra Gillam, Utah State University, USA Judith Gould, University of South Australia, Australia Elizabeth Grillo, West Chester University, USA Celia Harding, City University, UK Lena Hartelius, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Chyrisse Heine, La Trobe University, Australia Neville Hennessey, Curtin University of Technology, Australia Deborah Hersh, Edith Cowan University, Australia Anne Hesketh, Manchester, UK Louise Hickson, The University of Queensland, Australia Anne Hill, The University of Queensland, Australia The editor and executive board wish to thank each of the following people for reviewing manuscripts for the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology over the past year. The standard of the journal is enhanced by the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of these reviewers. We particularly would like to thank Mark Jones from The University of Queensland and Neville Hennessey from Curtin University of Technology who have provided sound statistical advice regarding many of the submitted manuscripts. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2012; 14(1): 91–93
Although motherese may facilitate language acquisition, recent findings indicate that not all asp... more Although motherese may facilitate language acquisition, recent findings indicate that not all aspects of motherese are necessary for word recognition and speech segmentation, the building blocks of language learning. Rather, exposure to input that has prosodic, phonological, and statistical consistencies is sufficient to jump-start the learning process. In light of this, the infant-directedness of the input might be considered superfluous, at least insofar as language acquisition is concerned.
The goal of this experiment is to determine the influence of non uniform vocal tract growth on th... more The goal of this experiment is to determine the influence of non uniform vocal tract growth on the ability to reach acoustic-perceptual targets for English vowels. An articulatory-to-acoustic model integrating non uniform vocal tract growth was used to synthesize 342 5-formant vowels, covering maximal vowel spaces for speakers at 5 growth stages: newborn, 4 years, 10 years, 16 years, and 21 years old (adult stage). 37 American English speakers participated in a perceptual categorization experiment. Results indicated that the three cardinal vowels /i u ae/ can be perceived by speakers based on a newborn-like vocal tract. Articulatory-to-acoustic relationships for a given vowel may differ across growth stages.
Universal phonetic patterns can be observed in babbling and early speech when infants produce rhy... more Universal phonetic patterns can be observed in babbling and early speech when infants produce rhythmic vocalizations that show structural similarities as well as differences from mature speakers. The Frame/Content perspective [1] illuminates underlying principles motivating intrasyllabic, consonant and vowel patterns observed in these early speech-like vocal sequences. According to this perspective, lack of articulator movements independent of the mandible in vocal sequences result in intrasyllabic co-occurrences of labial consonants with central vowels, coronal consonants with front vowels, and dorsal consonants with back vowels. As complexity emerges in consonant clusters, vocal sequences retain regularities of patterning predicted by the Frame/Content perspective. In addition, these patterns appear to be resilient in the face of auditory perceptual deficit. Although syllable use is low in infants with hearing impairment, when syllables are produced they follow the patterns found ...
The availability of cochlear implants in younger children has provided the opportunity to evaluat... more The availability of cochlear implants in younger children has provided the opportunity to evaluate the relative impact of the production system, or the sounds young children can say, and the auditory system, or the sounds children can hear, on early vocal communication. Limited access to the acoustic properties of speech results in differences in vocal dei^elopment related to emergence of lexical accuracy. Understanding this aspect of speech acquisition can form an important aspect of assessment and intervention protocols for the emerging population of young cochlear implant recipients. One child who received a cochlear implant at 24 months was follcnved longitudinally to explore the impact of the production system and audition on changes in phonetic inventory, lexical target characteristics and early word accuracy. Over time, she diversified lier phonetic inventory and improved accuracy, particularly for vowels. Segments and syllables produced most frequently were most accurate. Production Accuracy in aYoung Cochlear Implant Recipient Young children undergoing early cochlear implantation have been noted to exhibit differences in early vocal acquisition (e.g.
It has been proposed that patterns found in earliest infant vocal sequences can provide a window ... more It has been proposed that patterns found in earliest infant vocal sequences can provide a window on initial steps into vocal communication by ancestral speakers. These early infant patterns have been characterized as affording a view of the vocal system at the most basic level of operation in producing serial sequences (MacNeilage & Davis, 2000). Studies of the pre-linguistic babbling and early word periods have outlined this phonetic substrate for consonants and vowels as well as for inter-and intrasyllabic regularities (e.g. Davis & MacNeilage, 1995; Davis et al. 2002). Results indicate the strong presence of labial and nasal stop consonants and glides and vowel qualities in the lower left quadrant of the vowel space. Intrasyllabic regularities include labials with central vowels, coronals with front vowels and dorsals with back vowels in English and across languages, consistent with little independent movement within syllables. Intersyllabic patterns include coexistence of reduplication and variegation across syllables. In variegated syllables, a predominance of height over front-back variation for vowels and manner over place variation for consonants is found. These inter-and intrasyllabic serial patterns are predicted based on the Frame-Content Hypothesis (MacNeilage & Davis, 1990) where the jaw is seen as the principle articulator responsible for rhythmic alternations between consonants and vowels with little independent movement of other active articulators within sequences. Fewer studies have examined how this widely described set of phonetic patterns is manifest in emergence of accuracy at the onset of word use. Patterns of accuracy and errors are manifest in infants' first excursion into matching of their vocal production system capacities with meaning in the early word period. Analysis of these early accuracy and error patterns can also afford a preliminary look at how ancestral speakers may have began the diversification process from initial vocal communicative capacities into a message transmission system eventually constrained by the need to achieve optimal trade-offs between speed of transmission and perceptual distinctiveness. Not all aspects of ontogeny and phylogeny are consistent in this ontogeny-phylogeny comparison. Child learners have external models and acquire their language in a rich communicative environment. In contrast, early speakers may not have been afforded such models. However, pressure on the production system to attach to and begin to elaborate more diverse meanings is in common in the two groups. This consistency suggests that there can be a value to understanding the emergence of forms to support lexical diversification in child speakers for considerations of emergence of forms to support message diversification in early speakers.
ABSTRACTTo understand the interactions between production patterns common to children regardless ... more ABSTRACTTo understand the interactions between production patterns common to children regardless of language environment and the early appearance of production effects based on perceptual learning from the ambient language requires the study of languages with diverse phonological properties. Few studies have evaluated early phonological acquisition patterns of children in non-Indo-European language environments. In the current study, across- and within-syllable consonant–vowel co-occurrence patterns in babbling were analyzed for a 6-month period for seven Ecuadorean Quichua learning children who were between 9 and 17 months of age at study onset. Their babbling utterances were compared to the babbling of six English-learning children between 9 and 22 months of age. Child patterns for both languages were compared with Quichua and English ambient language patterns. Babbling output was highly similar for the child groups: Quichua and English children's babbling demonstrated similar...
At the earliest onset of word use, the growing number of recognizable and consistent attachments ... more At the earliest onset of word use, the growing number of recognizable and consistent attachments of vocalizations to particular word targets requires increasing precision in interactions of the systems supporting speech and language development (e.g. Davis & Bedore, 2013; Meltzoff, Kuhl, Movellan & Sejnowski, 2009). A major issue in fully understanding children’s formative stages of wordbased speech and language acquisition relates to potential interactions between their available phonological and/or articulatory capacities (how they produce sound patterns) and their early lexical choices (what words they want to say) (e.g Stoel-Gammon, 2011). To consider the factors motivating observable speech output patterns, the question arises of whether children at the onset of word use mainly attempt to produce words consisting of sounds they can already produce, or whether young children pick word targets without much regard for the sounds in those words. Another relevant factor that we will...
Very few studies to date have tested whether young children prefer to listen to words that they c... more Very few studies to date have tested whether young children prefer to listen to words that they can produce, or whether young children might recognize word forms faster if they are better at producing them (see Majorano, Vihman & DePaolis, 2013). In this study, we set out to explore potential links between patterns found in early speech production and early word recognition. Based on prevalent patterns found in children’s early word productions, we will investigate the perception of place of articulation within the word-initial CV unit in children’s early words. By testing whether there may be a perceptual advantage for words containing CV combinations that are prevalent in production, we also explore whether early recognition of familiar words may be influenced at a higher phonotactic level other than the segmental level alone. When children produce their first words, these are predominantly monosyllabic, and often consist of a CV syllable. It has been argued that children’s early ...
Consonant repetition ("reduplication") predominates in #CVC sequences in babbling and e... more Consonant repetition ("reduplication") predominates in #CVC sequences in babbling and early words, gradually giving way to consonant variation ("variegation") with a "Fronting" pattern whereby the first consonant has a more anterior place of articulation than the second. The various reduplicative patterns are primarily attributed to a "Frame" consisting of rhythmic mandibular oscillation. Evidence, including new evidence from a case study, suggests a labial-coronal-dorsal hierarchy of consonant production difficulty. Fronting may therefore result from a tendency to begin variegated sequences with an easier consonant and continue with a more difficult one. Easier initiation may be a self organizing response to the functional load involved in interfacing the lexicon with the motor system. The heavy favoring of one particular variegated sequence, the labial-coronal sequence, in both infants and languages, suggests that it may have been a first di...
... occurrence trends have been reported (de Boysson-Bardies, 1993; Chen & Kent, 2005... more ... occurrence trends have been reported (de Boysson-Bardies, 1993; Chen & Kent, 2005; Oller & Steffans, 1993; Tyler & Langsdale ... influences in production repertoires has been examined for utterance and syllable structures (de Boysson-Bardies, 1993; Kopkalli-Yavuz & Topbaç ...
1. The Problem. 2. The Enabling Mechanisms. 3. The Model. 4. Vocalization and Pattern Detection t... more 1. The Problem. 2. The Enabling Mechanisms. 3. The Model. 4. Vocalization and Pattern Detection through Moving and Sensing. 5. Refining Patterns of Complexity. 6. Contemporary Theories and Paradigms. 7. The Present State and a Future for Emergence.
International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2012
Chris Code, University of Exeter, UK Kate Crowe, Australian Hearing, Australia Linda Cupples, Mac... more Chris Code, University of Exeter, UK Kate Crowe, Australian Hearing, Australia Linda Cupples, Macquarie University, Australia Bronwyn Davidson, The University of Melbourne, Australia Barbara L. Davis, The University of Texas, Austin, USA Tania De Bortoli, The University of Newcastle, Australia Joshua Diehl, Yale School of Medicine, USA Maria Dietrich, University of Kentucky, USA Barbara Dodd, City University, UK Christine Dollaghan, University of Texas at Dallas, USA Alice Eriks-Brophy, University of Toronto, Canada David Ertmer, Purdue University, USA Leah Fabiano-Smith, The University of Arizona, USA Alison Ferguson, University of Newcastle, Australia Peter Flipsen Jnr, Idaho State University, USA Joanne Folker, The University of Queensland, Australia Silke Fricke, University of York, UK Joan Furey, The College of Wooster, USA Hilary Gardner, Sheffi eld University, UK Sandra Gillam, Utah State University, USA Judith Gould, University of South Australia, Australia Elizabeth Grillo, West Chester University, USA Celia Harding, City University, UK Lena Hartelius, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Chyrisse Heine, La Trobe University, Australia Neville Hennessey, Curtin University of Technology, Australia Deborah Hersh, Edith Cowan University, Australia Anne Hesketh, Manchester, UK Louise Hickson, The University of Queensland, Australia Anne Hill, The University of Queensland, Australia The editor and executive board wish to thank each of the following people for reviewing manuscripts for the International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology over the past year. The standard of the journal is enhanced by the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of these reviewers. We particularly would like to thank Mark Jones from The University of Queensland and Neville Hennessey from Curtin University of Technology who have provided sound statistical advice regarding many of the submitted manuscripts. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 2012; 14(1): 91–93
Uploads
Papers by Barbara Davis