Role Of Onsets Research Articles

Phonological weight

AbstractGrammars frequently categorize syllables for prosodic purposes, treating one class as heavier (e.g., more stress‐attracting) than another. While such categorization is usually dichotomous, complex and gradient scales are also attested, with various organizational criteria. This article reviews the range of phenomena that invoke weight distinctions and introduces some current debates concerning weight, touching on topics such as the syllable versus interval as the domain of weight, rich scalarity, process and position specificities, the role of onsets, the phonetic basis of categorization, and the mora.

The role of onsets and envelope fluctuations in binaural cue use

Effective localization of real sound sources requires neural mechanisms to accurately extract and represent binaural cues, including interaural time and level differences (ITD and ILD) in the sound arriving at the ears. Many studies have explored the relative effectiveness of these cues, and how that effectiveness varies with the acoustical features of a sound such as spectral frequency and modulation characteristics. In particular, several classic and recent studies have demonstrated relatively greater sensitivity to ITD and ILD present at sound onsets and other positive-going fluctuations of the sound envelope. The results of those studies have clear implications for how spatial cues are extracted from naturally fluctuating sounds such as human speech, and how that process is altered by echoes, reverberation, and competing sources in real auditory scenes. Here, we review the results of several recent studies to summarize and critique the evidence for envelope-triggered extraction of ITD and ILD across a wide range of spectral frequencies. A number of competing models for cue extraction in fluctuating envelopes are also considered in light of this evidence. [Work supported by NIH R01-DC011548.]

Learning about Spelling Sequences: The Role of Onsets and Rimes in Analogies in Reading

Learning about Spelling Sequences: The Role of Onsets and Rimes in Analogies in Reading

Learning about Spelling Sequences: The Role of Onsets and Rimes in Analogies in Reading

Children's phonological awareness, especially their awareness of rhyme, is known to be importnat for later reading development. However, the exact nature of the connection between phonological skills and reading is not yet known. One possibility is that when children analyze written words in reading, they find it relatively easy to learn about spelling sequences within these words that reflect phonological categorizations such as rhyme. This hypothesis implies that learning to read words is not a purely visual process. For example, spelling sequences that reflect the intrasyllabic linguistic units of onset (initial consonants) and rime (vowel and final consonants), and thus are connected to rhyme, may be easier to learn about than other spelling sequences. In Experiment 1, children learned more about shared consonant blends at the beginnings of words (trim-trap), which constituted the onset, than at the ends of words (wink-tank), which broke up the rime. In contrast, Experiment 2 showed that when words shared a vowel as well as a consonant blend, more was learned about spelling sequences at the ends of words (wink-pink), which now reflected the rime, than at the beginnings of words (trim-trip), where the vowel extended the onset. So intrasyllabic phonological knowledge does seem to play a role in learning about spelling sequences in reading.