The acquisition of timing patterns in children’s productions

Abstract

The current study examined differences in the segmental duration of adults’ and school-aged children’s speech. The purpose of the study was to understand the durational patterns and rhythmic characteristics of school-aged children’s speech production. The effects of vowel identity, final coda voicing and number of syllables on absolute and relative duration were explored. Similar to previous studies, segmental duration in absolute terms was found to be significantly longer for children than for adults. However, no significant differences were found between adults and children in terms of the relative timing patterns of inherent vowels, vowels before voiced and voiceless consonants or stressed vowels in multisyllabic words. An adult-like timing control found in children’s production is interpreted to indicate a high level of phonological knowledge about the relative timing of sequential segments, despite some evidence of oral-motor constraints.