SPLH 566 Exam 2 Questions With Correct Answers

Phonological Development - Answer Has a strong influence on the first words a child produces. Finding phonemes=building block for language. Earliest Acquired Sounds - Answer (a) Stops b, d, k, g (b) Nasals ng—later, m, n (c) Glides w, j Latest Acquired Sounds - Answer (a) Affricates ch, j (b) Some fricatives v, s, sh, th (c) Liquids l, r What factors account for order of acquisition of phonemes? - Answer 1. Production constraints PPF Production constraints of early sounds Early Require: BS Rapid, ballistic articulatory movement b, d, m, n Slow ramp movement movement (constant velocity over a relatively long duration) ("w, y") easier—basically just opening mouth, little tongue and lip movement. Not as much articulatory control. Production constraints of later sounds Later require: TF Tongue bending, tongue is bigger than oral cavity--l, r. Fine force regulation, force air out of tiny air holes--z, sh, v, th. Complex articulation--ch, j. 2. Perception constraints: Contrasts that are harder to perceive are later to be acquired, sibilant fricatives in English. 3. Phoneme frequency: Phonemes that occur more frequently in a language the earlier a sound is acquired l earlier in French than English, use sound more often. Phonological processes - Answer Also apparent in early production of words, systematic procedures used by children to make adult words pronounceable. Phonological processes are word specific and exhibit tremendous individual variation because: - Answer CVP (1) First, the entire system of each child is constantly changing. (2) Second, some words are produced consistently, while others vary greatly. (3) Third, phonological variation may be the result of toddlers' use of differing phonological production processes, such as reduplication, diminutives, assimilation, CVCV Early Phonological Processes - Answer (1) Reduplication = child attempts a polysyllabic word—multiple syllables, but is unable to produce one of the syllables correctly. Nana for banana, dada for daddy—see in babbling. (2) Open syllables = syllables end in a vowel. Cuppa for cup. Phonemes at the ends of words need more precise articulation, leave mouth open, don't have to control as much. (3) Consonant cluster reduction = two consonants are together but only one is produced. Tar for start, tuck for truck, bankie for blanket. Producing two consonants together requires better motor coordination. Earlier acquired ones are produced first. (4) Assimilation = one phoneme in a word influences another phoneme and the two assimilate. Goggy instead of doggy, doddy for doggy. Not consistent within same child. (5) Diminutive = similar to open syllable. CVC altered by adding the vowel /i/ at the end. Fishy=fish. Bankie=blanket. End in consonant, either lose and open syllable or add /i/ to the end of it. Why is the development of phonology important? - Answer In general, the greater number of consonants produced at 15 months, the larger the lexicon and the more words the child knows a month later at 16 months. Production influences comprehension. What must a child do to learn a word? - Answer (1) Identify the sound sequence c u p as a separate word. (2) What the word refers to. (3) Word can refer to other objects besides this particular cup. Word segmentation—How do you find words within the speech stream? - Answer Cues in the speech stream: CRAL (a) Child-directed speech, alter to make it easier. (b) Rely on the stress pattern of the language, strong weak stress pattern in English. DEsert is easier than deSSERT. (c) Allophonic variation, doesn't change meaning. More aspiration on word initial Ps compared to medial. Marks the beginning of a word. (d) Lexical properties: NWP (i) Phonotactic/Statistical probability—patterns = infants can figure out which sequences of sounds are likely to occur medially and those at word boundaries. The likelihood of a sound pattern occurring. How does this affect word segmentation? Pretty baby, tyba isn't. Pre only occurs before a small number of syllables. prI + ti =80% statistical probability than ti + bae = 0.03% Suggests a word boundary. (ii) Word frequency = how often a word occurs in a language. Bottle vs. canoe. Bottle occurs a lot more frequently. How does this affect word segmentation? Frequently occurring words are recognized by the child mo Protoword/Phonetically Consistent Form (PCF) - Answer Words that have consistent relationship between sound and meaning, not yet the adult form of the word. Muk for milk. First Word - Answer Relatively consistent phonetic shape. Not always perfect, more consistent to the adult form. Characteristics of First Words - Answer (1) Phonological characteristics: (a) CV or CVCV. Harder to produce CCV. (b) Majority of words contain three or fewer sounds. (c) Front and back consonants are predominant. (2) Noun Predominance (a) The most frequent words among a child's first 10 words generally name animals, foods, and toys. (b) Explanations for noun predominance: naming more nouns, learn more nouns (i) A child may already have a concept of objects from time spent in social interaction around objects and in object exploration. (ii) Nouns are perceptually and conceptually distinct. Verbs more difficult for tense marking. Verbs aren't things, doesn't jump out as much, conceptually vague, perceptually stress on dog. (iii) The linguistic predictability, not as much variation of what comes before of nouns makes them easier to use and accounts for their early predominance. (iv) The frequency of adult use, adult word order, the limited morphological adaptations of nouns, and adult teaching patterns seem to affect Protoword vs. first real word - Answer Protoword: kind of resembles the adult form, consistent referent. Produced with meaning, not adult like. Real first word: more adult like. Comprehension - Answer (a) By 5 months: infant responds to name (b) By 8 months: understanding common phrases (c) By 16 months: receptive vocabulary is 90-320 words Production - Answer (a) 12-15 months: produce their first words or protoword (i) First words are learned slowly. (ii) With first words, there is a strong association between word and object/word and EVENT and bound to the non-linguistic context. Duck at a certain pond only. Down only from high chair. (iii) Words then begin to become associated with more generalized concepts of objects and events (iv) Finally, words become associated with each other. (b) By 16 months: producing less than 50 words. (c) 18-20 months: vocabulary spurt The Vocabulary Spurt - Answer (1) Vocabulary spurt = the word spurt, explosion. 18 months, learns so many words. Sudden kick, upward trend in word productions. (2) Occurs when a child has around __50__ words (around 18 months What explains this discontinuity in development, and why do children suddenly start learning words more quickly? - Answer (a) The cognitive explanation: developments in cognition around this time, object permanence, means-end, categorization.