Production Of Consonant Clusters Research Articles

Temporal Coordination of Articulatory Gestures in Nonnative Onset Clusters: Evidence From American English Speakers Using Electromagnetic Articulography.

Research in cross-language speech production indicates that, although the production of nonnative consonant clusters is often difficult, speakers of American English can produce some nonnative clusters (e.g., /fn/) with high accuracy. This ease of production for select nonnative clusters may occur due to similarity of phonetic structure with native clusters (e.g., nonnative /fn/ and native /sm/ are both fricative-nasal sequences). The current study tested this hypothesis by examining the extent of transfer of articulatory coordination from phonetically similar native onset clusters (i.e., /fl/, /sm/) to nonnative /fn/ clusters. Using electromagnetic articulography, lip, tongue, and jaw movements were recorded in nine participants during the production of 22 nonwords (eight tokens per nonword) containing the native and nonnative clusters in different carrier phrases. We examined the temporal lags between each consonantal gesture in a cluster and the flanking vowel gesture, which were compared to the matched singleton conditions. Analyses revealed that, as in native speech, when the syllable onset became more complex (i.e., CV ➔ CCV [C as consonant, V as vowel]), there was an increase in lag (less temporal overlap) between the leftmost consonantal gesture and the vocalic gesture, whereas there was a decrease in lag (more temporal overlap) between the rightmost consonant and the vocalic gesture (i.e., C-center timing). However, the segmental makeup of the cluster and type of carrier phrase used were also found to influence this change in temporal organization, raising new questions for future research. By and large, the findings are in agreement with the idea that the temporal coordination of articulator movements may be transferred from native clusters to phonetically similar nonnative clusters. However, kinematic measures of a broader range of nonnative clusters in different contexts are needed to fully explore this position.

Vowel Epenthesis in the Pronunciation of English Consonant Clusters by Kuwaiti EFL Learners

This study investigated pronunciation errors made by Kuwaiti Arabic (KA) learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in their production of English consonant clusters. The participants consisted of 25 Kuwaiti EFL learners who were asked to read English words embedded in short sentences. Target words constituted initial, medial, and final-consonant clusters. Data were transcribed by the researchers in addition to three phoneticians for reliability and were further verified through Praat software. Results indicated that pronunciation errors made by these learners of English were restricted to initial and medial consonant clusters that violated the syllable structure requirements of their native dialect. When a conflict occurred between the syllable structure of their first language (L1) and that of the English language, the participants adopted two phonological repair strategies to resolve the conflict: vowel epenthesis and re-syllabification. These phonological repair strategies appeared to be a process of phonological rule transfer from the L1 to the second language (L2) and served to bring the underlying forms of the English words into conformity with restrictions on possible surface syllable structures of the Kuwaiti dialect. These findings highlight the need to develop materials and reading exercises in the classroom to raise students’ awareness of the differences between the syllable structure of their L1 and that of English and its role in successful communication.

Speech and Music Therapy in the Treatment of Childhood Apraxia of Speech: An Introduction and a Case Study.

Speech-Music Therapy for Aphasia (SMTA), a method that combines speech therapy and music therapy, is introduced as a treatment method for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). SMTA will be evaluated in a proof-of-principle study. The first case study is presented herein. SMTA was evaluated in a study with a single-subject experimental design comparing 10 weeks of treatment with 2 months of no treatment. The research protocol included a pretest, baseline phase, treatment phase, posttest, no-treatment phase, and follow-up test. The participant was a boy with CAS aged 5;8 (years;months). Outcome measures were selected to reflect both intelligibility in daily communication as well as features of CAS and speech motor planning and programming. Results on the Intelligibility in Context Scale-Dutch (ICS-Dutch) and in the analysis of a spontaneous speech sample suggest generalization of treatment effects. Improvements were found in measures that reflect complex speech motor skills, that is, the production of consonant clusters and consistency. This case study showed that speech production of the participant improved after treatment with SMTA. Although intelligibility as measured with the ICS-Dutch improved over the study period, objectifying changes at the level of intelligibility in daily communication proved to be difficult. Additional measures may be necessary to gain more insight into treatment effects at this level. Overall, the results of this first case study provide sufficient support and important leads for further evaluation of SMTA in the treatment of CAS in a proof-of-principle study.

Cross-linguistic influences on the production of third language consonant clusters by L1 Cantonese–L2 English–L3 German trilinguals

ABSTRACT This study examines the production of third language (L3) German consonant clusters by 26 L1 Cantonese–L2 English bilinguals, with the aim of uncovering the possible cross-linguistic influences on L3 pronunciation. Learners’ production of 17 onset and 21 coda German consonant clusters were auditorily analysed with respect to accuracy and error type. Findings showed that L3 pronunciation accuracy was affected by the similarities between each individual L3 consonant cluster and its possible correspondences in L1 Cantonese and L2 English. An L3 German consonant cluster that contained more Cantonese and English consonants would be produced more accurately, whereas an L3 consonant cluster that looked similar to English but mismatched with English orthography would generate production errors (e.g. kn [kn] → kn [n]). Individual variation between different L3 consonant clusters suggests that cross-linguistic influences on the L3 can occur from both the L1 and the L2 at the feature level and can be both positive and negative. At the same time, the study also shows that L3 speech is significantly influenced by markedness and language experience factors.

Production and perception of novel consonant clusters

The present study details a visual world paradigm eye tracking experiment on perception and production of novel consonant clusters. The clusters varied in difficulty based on sonority or perceptual salience scales. During the familiarization phase, listeners heard and watched a story on-screen and produced the names of novel creatures and objects. Each story focused on one cluster. Four creatures/objects were introduced corresponding to the (1) target cluster (e.g., [dlɑpɹ]), (2) epenthesized cluster competitor (e.g., [dəlɑkn]), (3) first cluster consonant (e.g., donkey), and (4) second cluster consonant (e.g., lollipop). During each trial, participants verbally identified one of the four creatures/objects, and their gaze was tracked. We analyzed the productions and gazes to investigate the relative difficulty of producing and perceiving the consonant clusters. We predicted participants would (1) correctly produce/perceive a cluster, (2) epenthesize a vowel/perceive vowel epenethesis, or (3) perceive/produce only one of the cluster sounds. We statistically analyzed the participants’ propensity toward each behavior in both production and perception. As part of the analysis, we examined whether participant behavior was better predicted by analyzing the clusters with the sonority sequencing principle or in terms of acoustic salience and cue recoverability.

Speech Errors in the Production of Initial Consonant Clusters: The Roles of Frequency and Sonority.

One of the central questions in speech production research is to what degree certain structures have an inherent difficulty and to what degree repeated encounter and practice make them easier to process. The goal of this article was to determine the extent to which frequency and sonority distance of consonant clusters predict production difficulties. We used a tongue twister paradigm to elicit speech errors on syllable-initial German consonant clusters and investigated the relative influences of cluster frequency and sonority distance between the consonants of a cluster on production accuracy. Native speakers of German produced pairs of monosyllabic pseudowords beginning with consonant clusters at a high speech rate. Error rates decreased with increasing frequency of the consonant clusters. A high sonority distance, on the other hand, did not facilitate a cluster's production, but speech errors led to optimized sonority structure for a subgroup of clusters. In addition, the combination of consonant clusters in a stimulus pair has a great impact on production accuracy. These results suggest that both frequency of use and sonority distance codetermine production ease, as well as syntagmatic competition between adjacent sound sequences.

Consonant articulation acoustics and intelligibility in Swedish speakers with Parkinson’s disease: a pilot study

ABSTRACT Imprecise consonant articulation is common in speakers with Parkinson’s disease and can affect intelligibility. The research on the relationship between acoustic speech measures and intelligibility in Parkinson’s disease is limited, and most of the research has been conducted on English. This pilot study investigated aspects of consonant articulation acoustics in eleven Swedish speakers with Parkinson’s disease and six neurologically healthy persons. The focus of the study was on consonant cluster production, articulatory motion rate and variation, and voice onset time, and how these acoustic features correlate with speech intelligibility. Among the measures in the present study, typicality ratings of heterorganic consonant clusters /spr/ and /skr/ had the strongest correlations with intelligibility. Measures based on syllable repetition, such as repetition rate and voice onset time, showed varying results with weak to moderate correlations with intelligibility. One conclusion is that some acoustic measures may be more sensitive than others to the impact of the underlying sensory-motor impairment and dysarthria on speech production and intelligibility in speakers with Parkinson’s disease. Some aspects of articulation appear to be equally demanding in terms of acoustic realisation for elderly healthy speakers and for speakers with Parkinson’s disease, such as sequential motion rate measures. Clinically, this would imply that for the purpose of detecting signs of disordered speech motor control, choosing measures with less variation among older speakers without articulation impairment would lead to more robust results.

Redeploying appendices in L2 phonology

In this paper, we explore aspects of the production and perception of certain consonant clusters (in particular s + C clusters) in second language learners. We administered perception tasks (ABX and non-word transcription) and production tasks (reading, picture-based discussion, and elicited imitation) to native speakers of Persian and Arabic, and compare their results to those in previously published studies of other L1s. We will arrive at two broad conclusions. The first is that many subjects who demonstrate non-targetlike production of consonantal sequences by producing epenthetic vowels between the consonants are not hearing an illusory vowel in perception tasks. Thus, non-nativelike production is not always reflective of non-nativelike perception; non-nativelike production is not always caused by non-nativelike perception. Our second conclusion is that the locus of explanation for the accurate perception in subjects whose L1s lack s + C clusters is the presence or absence in the L1 of right-edge syllabic appendices. L1s which do not license appendices (Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese) will have difficulty perceiving L2 English s + C sequences, while L1s which do license appendices (Persian, Arabic) will not have difficulty perceiving L2 English s + C strings.

Consonant Cluster Productions in Preschool Children Who Speak African American English.

The aim of this study was to compare word-initial and word-final consonant cluster productions in young children who speak African American English (AAE) and compare their productions to what we know about cluster productions in children who speak Mainstream American English (MAE), in order to minimize misdiagnosis of speech sound disorders. Twenty-two children (ages 2;10-5;4 [years;months]) labeled pictures whose names contained at least one consonant cluster in word-initial and/or word-final position. Most two-element clusters of English were sampled, the majority in two or more words. The participants' responses were transcribed using a consensus transcription procedure. Each cluster attempt was analyzed for its similarity with MAE. Percentage matching scores were significantly higher for word-initial than word-final clusters. Word-final clusters produced as singletons were significantly more common than word-final cluster substitutions. However, word-initial cluster substitutions were significantly more common than word-initial clusters produced as singletons. Word-initial cluster mismatches were consistent with markedness theory and the sonority sequencing principle (SSP). By contrast, word-final cluster mismatches were not consistent with the SSP, while the voicing generalization seen in adult speakers of AAE was evident. Culturally and linguistically appropriate assessment of phonological development in children who speak AAE requires an understanding of the contrastive and noncontrastive features exemplified in their consonant cluster productions.

Korean Learners' Production of English Consonant Clusters with an Onset Liquid

This study examined Korean learners’ production of intervocalic English biconsonantal clusters consisting of /p/, /t/, /k/, /m/, /n/, or /□/ followed by /l/ or /□/. The results of the production experiment showed several factors influencing Korean learners’ production. First, Korean learners’ production was influenced by their L1 sound inventory. The mispronunciation of a liquid (i.e., /l/ as [□] and /□/ as [l]) was observed and this will be due to the fact that [l] and [□] are not contrastive in Korean. Second, L1 phonological rules affecting a post-consonantal onset liquid influenced Korean learners’ production of English consonant clusters containing a liquid. The cluster /tl/ was mostly pronounced as [ll] and /nl/ as [ll] or [nn]. In addition, the nasalization of a stop consonant before a liquid was attested. Next, Korean learners’ production also exhibited the influence of phonetic similarity between the two members of a cluster by illustrating relatively lower production accuracy for /tl/, /t□/, and /nl/ consisting of two alveolar consonants. Finally, familiarity with the test words seemed to be a factor influencing Korean learners’ production. Korean learners illustrated relatively lower production accuracy for the words outlet and online which are frequently used as loanwords in Korea.

Adult English Language Learners’ Reading Habits and Attitudes Regarding Picturebooks as an Educational Resource

The primary purpose of this study is to verify the validity in identifying the characteristics of the production of consonant clusters of Korean L2 learners through an analysis of vowel insertion occurrences. This is of significance as vowel insertion is regarded as the most frequent form of error in the production of English consonant clusters among Korean learners. For this specific purpose, the pronunciation of Korean L2 learner children and adults was analyzed using a set of six English words which contained consonant clusters in their onsets and fourteen English words which contained consonant clusters in their codas. The results of this study suggest the possibility of further investigation to clarify the characteristics with regard to the production of consonant clusters according to the age of Korean EFL learners. In addition, the phonological analysis process presented in this study is expected to assist researchers in this field in the future.

Phonetic and Phonological Transfer from Northern Vietnamese to English in Consonant Clusters and Voiceless Final Obstruents

This article studies phonetic and phonological transfer from Northern Vietnamese to English observed in the production of consonant clusters and voiceless final obstruents. The pronunciation of a corpus of words in English produced by eight Northern Vietnamese participants has been obtained by means of two reading tasks and compared to the productions of two English speakers. The material has been auditorily and acoustically analysed following a descriptive approach and using a mixed methodology. The features that conform to phonetic and phonological transfer from Northern Vietnamese to English have been identified and analysed. Finally, some applications of this study have been proposed to help intelligibility in international contexts and to enhance the teaching of English to Northern Vietnamese students.

The Impact of Using Cell Phones on the Pronunciation of English Consonant Clusters among Saudi Female Secondary School Students

<p class="0abstract">This research attempts to find out the impact of using cellphones on the students’ pronunciation with an emphasis on consonant clusters. The sample of the study was 40 female secondary school students divided into two groups control and experimental. The study attempted to answer one question: <span lang="EN-IE">Will the use of pronunciation videos on cell phones help to improve Saudi female secondary students' pronunciation of English consonant clusters occurring in the onset position? To achieve this, the researcher conducted a pre-test and a post-test to test students’ pronunciation of selected vocabulary from the English Inventory of consonant clusters. After the pre-test, the experimental group used video to practice these sounds while the control group practiced that in traditional classes. The findings showed that both groups improved. However, the excremental group, having utilised cell phone videos, made significant improvement by 7.05% in the correct production of consonant clusters.</span></p>

Comparison of Consonant Cluster Production between Korean EFL Children and Adults and Phonological Analysis: Preliminary Study

The primary purpose of this study is to verify the validity in identifying the characteristics of the production of consonant clusters of Korean L2 learners through an analysis of vowel insertion occurrences. This is of significance as vowel insertion is regarded as the most frequent form of error in the production of English consonant clusters among Korean learners. For this specific purpose, the pronunciation of Korean L2 learner children and adults was analyzed using a set of six English words which contained consonant clusters in their onsets and fourteen English words which contained consonant clusters in their codas. The results of this study suggest the possibility of further investigation to clarify the characteristics with regard to the production of consonant clusters according to the age of Korean EFL learners. In addition, the phonological analysis process presented in this study is expected to assist researchers in this field in the future.

The Acquisition of Russian Word-Initial Consonant Clusters in a Russian-American English Bilingual Child: An Overview of One Child’s Exceptional Production

abstract: The majority of approaches to the acquisition of phonology attempt to model discrepancies between child and adult speech, with less attention given to children whose pronunciation is accurate. This is especially true in the acquisition of consonant clusters, where models attempt to explain children’s “errors” or non-adult-like production in terms of articulatory difficulty or phonological markedness effects. In this study, dense longitudinal data from one child’s third year show exceptional production of Russian word-initial consonant clusters. Though other studies suggest that sonority sequencing plays a central role in consonant cluster acquisition, no support for sonority-based generalizations are found in the naturalistic speech data of a two-year-old bilingual Russian-American English girl, Ulijana. On the contrary, sonority reversals were acquired early, while ideal sonority clines were acquired late. Alternative explanations for observed patterns include frequency effects and the articulatory difficulty of segments.

Production Pattern of English C+liquid Clusters by L2 Proficiency of Korean Speakers

The present study investigates the production of English consonant+liquid onset clusters by Korean learners, with a specific focus on vowel insertion. Specifically, this study analyzes whether the production varies according to the type of consonants in onset clusters, i.e., voiceless stop or voiced stop or fricative+/r or l/. Furthermore, the influence of L2 proficiency on the pattern of production of consonant clusters is also examined. The results are as follows: 1) the error rate is higher in C+/l/ than C+/r/; 2) the error rate is higher in voiced stop or fricative+liquid than voiceless stop+liquid; 3) the error rate is significantly higher in fricative+/r/ than voiced stop or voiceless stop+/r/; and 4) the higher a learner’s L2 proficiency, the lower the error frequencies in C+/l/ clusters. In addition, the lower the proficiency, the stronger the [l]-gemination effect on the production of onset clusters. The first result may be due to the L1 transfer, while the second and the third results may be the effect of markedness of the segment itself. Taken together, these findings provide evidence for either the L1 transfer or the markedness effect and patterns in production according to L2 proficiency in consonant+liquid clusters.

Phonotactics in L2 and Pidgin/Creole Languages

This study investigates the production of English initial consonant clusters by Arabic L1 learners of English and speakers of the Broad Jamaican Creole. The clusters Stop + /r/, /S/ + nasal, /S/ + stop, in addition to the production of vowel-initial words are focused on. It was found out that whereas Arab learners produced initial Stop + /r/ and /S/ + nasal words with epenthesis and /S/ + stop words with prosthesis as well as epenthesis, speakers of the Broad Jamaican Creole produced Stop + /r/ and /S/ + stop clusters according to the RP norm and /S/ + nasal with epenthesis. As for vowel-initial words, both groups resorted to the strategy of onset filling (Itô, 1989). Specifically, Arab learners produced these words with glottal stop /ʔ/ before the initial vowel, whereas the Jamaican informants inserted glottal fricative /h/ in the same position. Furthermore, the performance of the two groups was additionally analyzed in light of Optimality Theory.

Epenthetic vowel production of unfamiliar medial consonant clusters by Japanese speakers

Existing nativized loanword studies have traditionally suggested that there are three epenthetic vowels in Japanese, which reflect both phonotactic restrictions and articulatory properties of certain consonant-vowel sequences in the language. Recent findings, however, call this tri-partite epenthesis pattern into question: First, several studies suggest that this epenthesis pattern is not true in the realm of perception and is not completely regular in production, and second, the relevant phonotactic restrictions seem to be weakening even outside of epenthesis contexts. This paper therefore investigates the extent to which the spontaneous choice of epenthetic vowels in the production of Japanese conforms to the traditional tri-partite pattern. Epenthesis was induced by presenting pseudo-word stimuli of the form of [aCCa] (C = a voiced consonant) to subjects orthographically. The findings suggest that indeed, the production pattern does not fully conform to what is generally reported for nativized loanwords; in particular, the traditionally “default” vowel [ɯ] is used by our participants frequently in all contexts, including the two where [o] or [i] is usually reported. That said, we also show that there is considerable variability across speakers as to which vowel is epenthesized, especially in the palatal context, and this variability includes tokens of vowels similar to all possible lexical vowels of Japanese.

Produção de vogais nasais e de encontros consonantais do francês por aprendizes brasileiros e falantes nativos de francês

Nesta pesquisa, são analisadas acusticamente as produções de vogais nasais e de encontros consonantais em francês emitidos por seis brasileiros aprendizes do francês como língua estrangeira (FLE) (de diferentes regiões do Brasil e com experiência no ensino de francês) e de quatro franceses nativos (parisienses e não parisienses). Todos os informantes têm curso superior completo. Esta pesquisa desenvolveu-se sob os critérios do Projeto Interphonologie du Français Contemporain (IPFC), que visa sensibilizar a comunidade de educadores e aprendizes no que diz respeito às variações de pronúncia em francês. A partir de uma análise acústica detalhada, foram investigadas: (a) a qualidade das vogais nasais e (b) a presença de elementos vocálicos e de fenômenos de assimilação do francês nos encontros consonantais. Os resultados mostraram que a qualidade das vogais nasais vem mudando para o francês de Paris e essa produção é observada na pronúncia de brasileiros. Os elementos vocálicos em encontros consonantais tautossilábicos (consoante+róticos) foram observados somente quando a primeira consoante do encontro é vozeada (25% na produção de brasileiros e 33% na de franceses). Em encontros heterossilábicos, foram produzidas vogais epentéticas (15% na produção de brasileiros e 19% na produção de franceses). Foi observado ainda que as vogais epentéticas produzidas por brasileiros parecem ser mais longas do que as produzidas por franceses. Finalmente, é importante destacar a aplicação pedagógica desses resultados na identificação das dificuldades de aquisição do francês por aprendizes brasileiros.

Epenthesis in the production of English consonant clusters by Tunisian EFL learners

Epenthesis in the production of English consonant clusters by Tunisian EFL learners