Developmental aspects of the production of velar stop consonants

Abstract

This experiment examines vowel context effects. In adults, the general spectral characteristics of velar stop consonants vary as a function of vowel context. A velar stop preceding a front vowel has a predominant spectral peak in the mid‐frequency region whereas a velar stop preceding a back or central vowel has a spectral peak in the low‐frequency region and a secondary spectral peak in the high‐frequency region. In the present experiment, CV syllables ([ki], [ka]) were produced by adults and children. Short time spectra were computed for each stimulus. The results indicate that the adult stimuli, as expected, show significant vowel context effects. In the child data, however, the differences for the velar stops preceding front and back vowels are not always present. A perceptual analysis was then conducted using the aperiodic portion of the [ki] and [ka] syllables. These data show that the vowel context effects for adults are perceptually salient but that these cues are often not perceptible in the child stimuli. The results arc discussed in terms of their implications for language learning.