Effects Of Syllable Structure Research Articles

On the role of syllable structure in atypical phonological development: Evidence from the acquisition of /l/ by Portuguese children

ABSTRACT The alveolar lateral is phonetically and phonologically complex. Previous studies have shown that /l/ is one of the last segments to be acquired by typically developing Portuguese children. However, little is known about how Portuguese children with atypical development acquire /l/. In this paper, we investigate the acquisition of /l/ by Portuguese children with protracted phonological development (DLD; SSD). We explore the effect of syllable structure and segmental properties in the acquisition of /l/ and describe mismatches used for target /l/, thus contributing empirical evidence to the ongoing discussion on differential diagnoses for children with primary phonological disorders. Our results show that the lateral is more problematic in SSD than in DLD, with the manner of articulation being more problematic than its place. A syllable-segment interface effect was attested. Mismatches showed a preference for [w, ɾ, ø]. The results are discussed considering their implications for clinical practice and the role of target phonetic and phonological properties in the /l/ acquisition path.

Acoustic Analyses of Tone Productions in Sequencing Contexts Among Cantonese-Speaking Preschool Children With and Without Childhood Apraxia of Speech.

Pitch variations (tone productions) have been reported as a measure to differentiate Cantonese-speaking children with and without childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). This study aims to examine fundamental frequency (F0) changes within syllables and the effects of syllable structure, lexical status, and syllable positions on F0 in Cantonese-speaking preschool children with and without CAS. Six children with CAS, six children with non-CAS speech sound disorder plus language disorder (S&LD), 22 children with speech sound disorder only (SSD), and 63 children with typical speech-language development (TD) performed the tone sequencing task (TST). Growth curve analysis was employed to analyze and compare the F0 values within syllables with three Cantonese tones (high level, high rising, and low falling). The analysis considered the effects of syllable structure (vowel and consonant-vowel), lexical status (word and nonword), and syllable position (initial, medial, and final) on F0, as well as comparisons within and between groups. Within each group, the effects of syllable structure and position on F0 values were found with different patterns. Between-group comparisons showed that the CAS group had reduced F0 contrasts. The CAS group could be differentiated from the control groups based on interactions of F0 with syllable structure and position, but not lexical status. The dissimilarity of F0 values detected between the CAS and SSD/TD groups was more prominent than that observed between the CAS and S&LD groups. This study demonstrated that Cantonese-speaking children with CAS had difficulty in varying F0 within syllables as compared to those without CAS, suggesting pitch variation difficulty and language-specific impairment profiles in CAS. Future investigations of objective measures for identifying Cantonese speakers with CAS and cross-linguistic investigations using growth curve analysis and the TST are suggested.

Acoustic and Kinematic Correlates of Heterosyllabicity in Different Phonological Contexts.

We investigate the temporal and kinematic properties of consonant gemination and heterosyllabic clusters as opposed to singletons and tautosyllabic clusters in Italian. The data show that the singleton versus geminate contrast is conveyed by specific kinematic properties in addition to systematic durational differences in both the consonantal and vocalic intervals; by contrast, tautosyllabic and heterosyllabic clusters differ significantly for the duration of the consonantal interval but do not vary systematically with respect to the vocalic interval and cannot be consistently differentiated at the kinematic level. We conclude that systematic variations in acoustic vowel duration and the kinematics of tongue tip gestures represent the phonetic correlates of the segmental phonological contrast between short and long consonants, rather than of syllable structure. Data are only partly consistent with the predictions of both moraic and gesture-based models of the syllable about the effects of syllable structure on speech production dynamics and call for a more gradient view of syllabification.

Syllable Structure Effects in Word Recognition by Spanish- and German-Speaking Second Language Learners of English

Previous findings in the literature point to the influence that speech perception has on word recognition. However, which specific aspects of the first (L1) and second language (L2) mapping play the most important role is still not fully understood. This study explores whether, and if so, how, L1-L2 syllable-structure differences affect word recognition. Spanish- and German-speaking English learners completed an AXB and a word-monitoring task in English that manipulated the presence of a vowel in words with /s/-initial consonant clusters—e.g., especially versus specially. The results show a clear effect of L1 on L2 learners’ perception and word recognition, with the German group outperforming the Spanish one. These results indicate that the similarity in the syllable structure between English and German fosters positive transfer in both perception and word recognition despite the inexact segmental mapping.

Pitch Variation in Children With Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Preliminary Findings.

Introduction Pitch variation, which refers to one's ability to vary fundamental frequency (F0) within or between syllables when speaking, has not been investigated in children with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). However, pitch variation plays an important role in tone languages, as varying F0 patterns communicate different lexical meanings. This study investigated pitch variation abilities in individuals with CAS via the tone-sequencing tasks (TSTs), focusing on task performance and the effects of syllable structure, lexical status, and tones. Method Three Cantonese-speaking children with CAS (aged 3;7-5;8 [years;months]) and six children without CAS participated in the study. Children without CAS were divided into two control groups, comprising those with speech and/or language impairment or typical development. TSTs consisted of 56 sets of five repetitions of stimuli. The stimuli varied in syllable structure, lexical status, and tones. Percentage of tones correct (PTC), consistency scores, F0 values, and acoustic repetition duration were measured. Results The CAS group performed more poorly than the control groups on the TST with respect to tone accuracy, consistency, and repetition duration. No interaction effects between group and syllable structure or group and lexical status were found. No significant difference was found on F0 values across time between Tone 1 and Tone 2 syllables in the CAS group. However, interaction effects between group and time points of F0 values on Tone 2 syllables were found. Discussion The results suggest that children with CAS have difficulty with pitch variation, which was revealed on the TST with respect to tone accuracy, consistency, and repetition duration. Moreover, children with CAS have difficulty in varying F0 values to produce high-rising tones and tend to use high-level tones to substitute. Clinically, the TST may be useful to assist in the diagnosis of CAS. Isolated vowel stimuli may be useful to test young children or children with severe impairment. Future investigations and development of a normed tool for children with CAS are suggested.

Duration of syllable nuclei in Spanish

Abstract In many languages, vowel duration is modulated by syllable structure — a phenomenon known as vowel compression — so that vowels are shorter in syllables with more segments than in syllables with fewer segments. Most instrumental evidence to date has reported an effect, in many languages, of the presence (and complexity) of a coda, and some studies have also documented effects of the presence (and complexity) of an onset. However, no prior studies on Spanish vowel duration have captured any effects of syllable structure. Using data from nine speakers and controlled speech materials, the present study addresses the following research question: Does syllable structure modulate vowel duration? The findings are as follows: (a) Relative to simplex onsets (those with a singleton consonant), complex onsets (those with a consonant cluster) trigger vowel compression; and (b) neither simplex nor complex codas consistently drive vowel compression — i.e. codas do not systematically affect vowel duration. Together with the facts for other languages, our findings support a view according to which syllable structure — in particular, onset complexity — modulates acoustic vowel duration. The study discusses the theoretical implications of this finding, which are argued to be in line with some of the principles of the Articulatory Phonology framework or, alternatively, suggest that codas should not be considered part of the articulatory syllable.

Um polvo é igual a um pato? Sobre o impacto das variáveis fonológicas na avaliação do conhecimento metalinguístico

Most tools used to assess phonological awareness (PA) are not controlled from a phonological perspective. However, research available for different languages refers the impact of phonological variables in the assessment of this type of linguistic knowledge. In this paper, we will be focused on the impact of the prosodic variables word length, syllable constituency and word stress in the performance of tasks assessing Portuguese children’s PA. A sample of 49 monolingual and typically developing Portuguese children was gathered (22 first graders and 27 third graders). Three tasks were used to assess syllable awareness (1 segmentation task, 1 identification task, 1 omission task); one segmentation task assessed the children’s segmental awareness; another segmentation task assessed their awareness of syllable constituency. Although some studies report the effect of all prosodic variables mentioned above (see state of the art below), the results in this paper show a significant effect of syllable structure, lexical stimuli with branching onsets and branching rhymes being the most problematic, but no significant effects of word length or word stress. The results are an empirical contribution for the discussion of the aspects that need to be taken in to account to build PA assessment tools and to plan intervention in clinical and in educational contexts

An acoustic study on non-local anticipatory effects of Italian length contrast.

The present study investigates non-local temporal adjustments before an upcoming length contrast in Italian minimal pairs that differ only in the length of the medial consonant (e.g., geminate word palla "ball" vs singleton word pala "shovel"). This contrast is reportedly signaled by the duration of the singleton/geminate consonant and of the preceding vowel. Here, it is shown that the duration adjustment extends further to the word-initial consonant, e.g., the [p] in palla is significantly longer than that in pala (experiment 1). In experiment 2, an effect of syllable structure is ruled out, an unavoidable confound when comparing singleton and geminate words. The comparison of geminate words with cluster words (e.g., as palco "stage"), both of which have a closed first syllable, shows a similar lengthening. Implications for models of speech production are discussed.

Universal Restrictions on Syllable Structure: Evidence From Mandarin Chinese.

Across languages, certain onset clusters are systematically preferred (e.g., [Formula: see text], "[Formula: see text]" indicates preference), and speakers extend these preferences even to onsets that are unattested in their language. All such demonstrations, however, come from cluster-rich languages, so the observed preferences could reflect not universal linguistic restrictions but lexical analogy. To address this possibility, here, we turn to Mandarin Chinese-a cluster-poor language. We reasoned that, if people are sensitive to the onset hierarchy, then they should repair ill-formed onsets as better-formed ones [Formula: see text]-the worse formed the onset, the more likely its repair, hence, its misidentification. Results were consistent with this hypothesis, and they obtained irrespective of participants' experience with their second language (English). Nonetheless, the effect of syllable structure was strongly modulated by phonetic cues and task demands. These findings suggest that speakers might share broad phonological restrictions, but phonetic factors play a major role in their detection.

The Effect of Syllable Structure on the Frequency of Disfluencies in Adults With Stuttering

Background: Stuttering is one of the most prevalent speech and language disorders. Symptomatology of stuttering has been surveyed from biological, developmental, environmental, emotional, learning and linguistic viewpoints. Literature shows that syllable structure as a linguistic feature, may influence the frequency of disfluencies. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the effect of syllable structure on the frequency of disfluencies in adults with stuttering. Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study was performed on 16 adults (14 males and 2 females) who stutter with the mean age of 24.56 years. The frequency of disfluencies was evaluated by asking the subjects to read two lists, one list contained 60 words and another one consisted of 60 nonwords. The words and nonwords were selected based on simple and difficult syllable structures. The data were statistically analyzed through paired t-test using the SPSS software. Results: The results of this study showed a significant difference between the frequency of disfluencies between the simple syllable structures and difficult syllable structures in nonword reading tasks (P 0.05). Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that the frequency of disfluencies was increased in difficult syllable structures in comparison to simple syllable structures. According to the results, it seems that certain linguistic features, such as syllable structure can affect speech-motor output in people who stutter through affecting phonological encoding.

Effects of consonant cluster syllabification on vowel-to-vowel coarticulation in English

This paper investigates how different syllable affiliations of intervocalic /st/ cluster affect vowel-to-vowel coarticulation in English. Very few studies have examined the effect of syllable structure on vowel-to-vowel coarticulation. Previous studies show that onset and coda consonants differ acoustically, articulatorily, perceptually and typologically. Onsets are stronger, more stable, more common and more distinguishable than codas. Since codas are less constrained, it was hypothesized that coda /st./ would allow more vowel-to-vowel coarticulation than onset /.st/. Three vowels (/i ɑ u/) were used to form the target sequences with the /st/ cluster in English: onset /CV.stVC/, heterosyllabic /CVs.tVC/, coda /CVst.VC/. F1 and F2 frequencies at vowel edges and the durations of the first vowel and the intervocalic consonants were measured from six speakers of Standard Southern British English. Factors included in the experiment are: Direction, Syllable Form, Target, Context. Results show that coda /st./ allows more vowel-to-vowel coarticulation than onset /.st/, and heterosyllabic /s.t/ is the most resistant among the Syllable Forms. Vowels in heterosyllabic /s.t/ are more extreme than in the other two Syllable Forms in the carryover direction. These findings suggest that vowel-to-vowel coarticulation is sensitive to different syllable structure with the same segmental composition. Possible factors contributing to the observed patterns are discussed.

Effects of syllable structure in aphasic errors: Implications for a new model of speech production

Current models of word production assume that words are stored as linear sequences of phonemes which are structured into syllables only at the moment of production. This is because syllable structure is always recoverable from the sequence of phonemes. In contrast, we present theoretical and empirical evidence that syllable structure is lexically represented. Storing syllable structure would have the advantage of making representations more stable and resistant to damage. On the other hand, re-syllabifications affect only a minimal part of phonological representations and occur only in some languages and depending on speech register. Evidence for these claims comes from analyses of aphasic errors which not only respect phonotactic constraints, but also avoid transformations which move the syllabic structure of the word further away from the original structure, even when equating for segmental complexity. This is true across tasks, types of errors, and, crucially, types of patients. The same syllabic effects are shown by apraxic patients and by phonological patients who have more central difficulties in retrieving phonological representations. If syllable structure was only computed after phoneme retrieval, it would have no way to influence the errors of phonological patients. Our results have implications for psycholinguistic and computational models of language as well as for clinical and educational practices.

The Influences of Syllable Structure and Reading Ability on the Development of Phoneme Awareness: A Longitudinal, Cross-Linguistic Study

Effects of syllable structure and of alphabetic reading skills on the development of phoneme awareness were investigated in a longitudinal study. Awareness of phonemes in syllable onsets and codas was examined in first graders speaking Czech (n = 45) and German (n = 33). Czech children showed higher awareness of phonemes in onsets than in codas, whereas the reverse was true for German children. The patterns of behavioral data largely reflected distributional differences in corpus data between these languages. The effects were present among prereaders and persisted to the end of Grade 1. In sum, children's experience with the syllable structure of their native language plays an important role in shaping phoneme awareness from early in development and predates influences of alphabetic reading skills.

Language-specific realizations of syllable structure and vowel-to-vowel coarticulation

This paper investigates the effects of syllable structure on vowel-to-vowel (V-to-V) coarticulation using Thai and English data. Languages differ in syllable complexity and their realizations of syllable structure. It was hypothesized that languages with complex syllable structure (English) would allow more V-to-V coarticulation than languages with simple syllable structure (Thai). Onset and coda consonants are different acoustically, articulatorily, typologically and perceptually. Onsets are generally 'stronger' and more stable than codas because they are longer, louder, and involve tighter articulatory constrictions. It was hypothesized that closed syllables (that end in a consonant C, i.e., VC#V) would allow more V-to-V coarticulation than open syllables (V#CV). /C(1)V(1)#C(2)V(2)/ and /C(1)V(1)C(2)#V(2)t/ sequences were recorded from six native speakers in Thai and six in English. First and second formant frequencies were measured. Results show that English allows more V-to-V coarticulation than Thai regardless of the intervocalic duration and vowel quality difference, but open and closed syllables only affect V-to-V coarticulation minimally. In addition to syllable structure, other possible factors contributing to the language difference in V-to-V coarticulation are discussed.

Sources of variation in tonal alignment: Evidence from acoustic and kinematic data

This study is concerned with the alignment of f0 peaks in rising LH pitch accents in German, both in relation to acoustically defined segments, referred to as segmental anchors, as well as to dynamically defined speech gestures, referred to as articulatory anchors. The effects investigated were the effects of syllable structure (test words ˈ CV:CV and ˈ CVCV, where the test syllable is open or closed, respectively), dialectal background (the varieties of German spoken in Düsseldorf and Vienna), and accent status in the intonational hierarchy (prenuclear and nuclear accents). As reported for related languages, peaks in closed syllables tended to be later than those in open syllables. However, it was only in nuclear accents that those differences were systematic for all four speakers. Thus only limited support can be provided for an alignment with the syllable edge. Although there was a tendency for Southern varieties to have later peaks than Northern ones, as also found in previous studies, alignment latencies of individual speakers in the two dialectal groups overlapped. These results support a gradient view of dialectal variation in tonal alignment. In this view, dialectal differences are not represented symbolically. Rather, the rising accents used by speakers of both varieties can be adequately captured with one symbolic representation. When comparing prenuclear and nuclear accents, by contrast, differences were found which could be interpreted as discrete. Whereas nuclear accent peaks were anchored to the intervocalic consonant, prenuclear accent peaks were anchored to the following unstressed vowel. This anchor shift could clearly be observed both in the acoustic and articulatory records, reflecting a difference at the symbolic level, possibly in terms of an additional tone following the LH complex.

Structural and dialectal effects on pitch peak alignment in two varieties of British English

We report three experiments, based on test sentences read aloud, on the influence of sentence position and phonological vowel length on the alignment of accent-related f 0 peaks in Scottish Standard English (SSE) and Southern British English (RP). One experiment deals with prenuclear accent peaks and the other two with nuclear accent peaks. Three findings confirm reports in the recent literature on several other European languages. First, as has been reported for Dutch [Ladd, D.R., Mennen, I., & Schepman, A. (2000). Phonological conditioning of peak alignment in rising pitch accents in Dutch. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 107, 2685–2696], the alignment of prenuclear peaks is later with phonologically short vowels than with long ones, and the effect cannot be explained by actual vowel duration but appears to reflect syllable structure. Second, nuclear peaks are aligned much earlier (relative to the accented vowel) than prenuclear peaks, and, as in Dutch [Schepman, A., Lickley, R., & Ladd, D.R. (2006). Effects of vowel length and ‘right context’ on the alignment of Dutch nuclear accents. Journal of Phonetics, 34, 1–28], the effect of syllable structure appears to be absent in nuclear accents; instead, their alignment is strongly influenced by whether the accented syllable is in utterance-final position. Third, as in a number of other studies, we find evidence for differences of phonetic detail between languages or language varieties: both nuclear and prenuclear peaks are aligned later in SSE than in RP, and nuclear peaks appear to be aligned earlier in English than in Dutch.

Syllable frequency and syllable structure in the spontaneous speech production of patients with apraxia of speech

Background: The sublexical factors syllable frequency and syllable structure are known to influence error rates in patients with apraxia of speech (e.g., Aichert & Ziegler, 2004; Romani & Galluzzi, 2005). To our knowledge, these factors have almost exclusively been examined by single‐word production paradigms. However, performance on single‐word tasks is not necessarily a good predictor of spontaneous speech production, since the generation of conversational speech involves specific conditions and additional demands. This might influence the weights of syllable frequency and syllable structure in explanations of the accuracy of speech production in apraxic speakers. Aims: Our aim was to determine if the spontaneous speech production of patients with apraxia of speech (AOS) is influenced by the factors syllable frequency and syllable structure. The two research questions that guided our investigation were: (1) Are the distribution properties of syllables in spontaneous speech different in patients with AOS compared to unimpaired speakers? (2) Do the factors syllable frequency and syllable structure affect articulatory accuracy in the spontaneous speech of patients with AOS? Methods & Procedures: Three patients with AOS and 15 neurologically unimpaired control persons produced samples of spontaneous speech with a minimum of 1000 syllables each. Structure and frequency counts were made on the basis of the German CELEX database. Outcomes & Results: The distribution properties of the spontaneous speech samples were similar in the apraxic speakers and the unimpaired controls. In all three patients the proportion of errors was significantly higher on low‐ than on high‐frequency syllables. In two patients a significant effect even persisted when any confound with syllable structure was ruled out. Syllable structure effects were only found within the low‐frequency syllables. Conclusions: Syllable frequency and syllable structure play a decisive role with respect to articulatory accuracy in the spontaneous speech production of patients with AOS. The first author of this study was supported by a grant from the DFG ‐ German research council (ZI 469/10‐2). We would also like to thank the ReHa‐Hilfe e.V. for their support. We are grateful to our colleagues from the Neuropsychological Clinic, Munich‐Bogenhausen Hospital, Munich, and to the staff from the speech therapy departments at the Rehabilitation Hospitals Bad Heilbrunn and Bad Aibling for their collaboration on clinical issues. We would also like to express our gratitude to all participants.

Timing effects of syllable structure and stress on nasals: A real-time MRI examination

The coordination of velum and oral gestures for English [n] is studied using real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) movies to reconstruct vocal tract aperture functions. This technique allows for the examination of parts of the vocal tract otherwise inaccessible to dynamic imaging or movement tracking. The present experiment considers syllable onset, coda, and juncture geminate nasals and also addresses the effects of a variety of word stress patterns on segment internal coordination. We find a bimodal timing pattern in which near-synchrony of velum lowering and tongue tip raising characterizes the timing for onsets and temporal lag between the gestures is characteristic for codas, supporting and extending the findings for [m] of Krakow [(1989). The articulatory organization of syllables: A kinematic analysis of labial and velar gestures. Doctoral Dissertation, Yale University, New Haven, CT; (1993). Nonsegmental influences on velum movement patterns: Syllables, sentences, stress, and speaking rate. In M. A. Huffman, R. A. Krakow (Eds.), Nasals, nasalization and the velum (phonetics and phonology V) (pp. 87–116). New York: Academic Press]. Intervocalic word-internal nasals are found to have timing patterns that are sensitive to the local stress context, which suggests the presence of an underlying timing specification that can yield flexibly. We consider these findings in light of the gestural coupling structures described by Goldstein and colleagues [Goldstein, L., Byrd, D., & Saltzman, E. (2006). The role of vocal tract gestural action in units understanding the evolution of phonology. In M. Arbib (Ed.), Action to language via the mirror neuron system (pp. 215–249). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Goldstein, L., Nam, H., Saltzman, E., & Chitoran, I. (2008). Coupled oscillator planning model of speech timing and syllable structure. In Proceedings of the 8th phonetics conference of China and the international symposium on phonetic frontiers; Nam, H., Goldstein, L., & Saltzman, E. (in press). Self-organization of syllable structure: A coupled oscillator model. In Chitoran, Coupe, Marsico, & Pellegrino (Eds.), Approaches to phonological complexity].

Tonal alignment patterns in Catalan nuclear falls

This paper investigates the coordination relations between f0 turning points and segmental landmarks in falling pitch accents in Catalan. Ten Central Catalan speakers participated in the production experiment, for a total of 500 target pitch accents. Results indicate that while the beginning of the falling accent gesture (H) is tightly synchronized with the onset of the accented syllable, the end of the falling gesture (L) is more variable. This contrast has also been reported in rising accents between the alignment behavior of f0 valleys and peaks. It has been suggested that the asymmetry between alignment patterns in syllable-initial vs. syllable-final position might be attributable to general properties of intergestural coordination (Gao, 2006; Prieto and Torreira, 2007). Second, the data reveal a clear effect of syllable structure: while in open syllables the end of the fall is aligned roughly with the end of the accented syllable, in closed syllables it is aligned somewhat later but well before the coda consonant. Thus the L turning point is not aligned with the offset of the accented syllable, and coda consonants seem to have a ‘transparent’ behavior. This same effect of coda consonants on alignment has been reported in crosslinguistic studies of rising accents. A potential perceptual explanation for these effects is House's (1990) idea that in order to produce a perceptually acceptable rising (or falling) tone in a syllable with a final nasal, speakers would have to implement the most dynamic portion of the contour during the production of the vowel.

Effects of syllable structure on reaction times in a delayed naming task

Syllable complexity has been found to affect the time the speaker needs for planning and initiating utterance production. Shorter latencies for complex onsets (CCV) as compared to simple onsets (CV) have been explained by effects of segment‐specific biomechanical constraints at the level of motor execution, and by neighborhood density at the planning level. Within the framework of Articulatory Phonology, shorter planning latencies for CV syllables (compared to VC) have been attributed to quicker stabilization for tighter gestural coupling hypothesized for in‐phase coupling of the onset consonant and release with the vowel. We attempted to test both onset complexity (C vs CC) and coda complexity (open vs. closed syllables) within a single experiment, so that we could evaluate the relative magnitudes of these effects and uncover potential interactions. To do so, American English monosyllabic words varying in syllable structure were presented using a delayed naming paradigm. The results replicated both effects, showing additive effects of roughly comparable magnitudes. Whether these effects are due to planning or motor execution will be tested by further simple naming and picture naming experiments.