Syllable Shapes Research Articles

Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing in Young Children With Childhood Apraxia of Speech: A Multiple Single-Case Design.

Childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) is a multivariate motor speech disorder that requires a motor-based intervention approach. There is limited treatment research on young children with CAS, reflecting a critical gap in the literature given that features of CAS are often in full expression early in development. Dynamic Temporal and Tactile Cueing (DTTC) is a treatment approach designed for children with severe CAS, yet the use of DTTC with children younger than 3 years of age has not been examined. A multiple single-case design was employed to examine the use of DTTC in seven children with CAS (aged 2.5-5 years) over the course of 6 weeks of intervention. Changes in word accuracy were measured in treated words from baseline to posttreatment and from baseline to maintenance (6 weeks posttreatment). Generalization of word accuracy changes to matched untreated words was also examined. A linear mixed-effects model was used to estimate the change in word accuracy for treated and untreated words across all children from baseline to posttreatment and to maintenance. A quasi-Poisson regression model was used to estimate mean change and calculate effect sizes for treated and untreated words. Group-level analyses revealed significant changes in word accuracy for treated and untreated words at posttreatment and maintenance. At the child level, six of seven children displayed medium-to-large effect sizes where word accuracy increased in an average of 3.4/5 words across all children. Each child displayed some degree of generalization to untreated targets, specifically for words with the same syllable shape as the treated words. These results demonstrate that DTTC can yield positive change in some young children with CAS. Key differences in each child's performance are highlighted.

Vowel quantity/quality redux: Revisiting vowel contrasts in Hakha Lai monophthongs

Previous scholars have documented a phonemic length distinction in the monophthongal vowels of Hakha Lai, a Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Chin State in western Myanmar (Melnik, 1997; Peterson, 2003; Maddieson, 2004). In a previous pilot study of data from two college-aged speakers (the first instrumental acoustic analysis of Hakha Chin vowel quality), our findings revealed stark individual differences: one speaker showed robust quantity and minor quality differences, while for the other, neither duration nor quality played key roles; rather, her system had merged. Maddieson (2004) proposed that the length associated with long vowels in Hakha Lai is mainly realized through lengthening of sonorant codas; we did not find this to be the case for either speaker. However, those pilot data were limited both in terms of sample size and age range. Therefore, to expand on our previous findings, we now present analysis of data from fourteen talkers, including both a group of nine college aged talkers (6 women) and five older talkers (2 women, ages 46 and 77; 3 men, ages 48, 60, and 62). Duration and quality measures are reported for all monophthongs in all possible syllable shapes.

Vocalic contrasts in Zotung

Though very few Maraic languages from the South Central branch of Tibeto-Burman are represented in the existing body of phonetics literature, they are of interest in that they appear to contain typologically unique dense high vowel systems. Zotung, spoken by approximately 100 000 people in Chin State in western Burma and in diaspora communities, is one such language (Eberhard et al., 2022). The only linguistic scholarship on Zotung (Shintani, 2015) is an extensive wordlist with brief preliminary comments on the syllable shape, tone, and vowel inventories; however, acoustic analyses are absent. To augment Shintani (2015) and further elucidate the vowel inventory of Zotung, we present data from an older male speaker deeply involved with Zotung translation, preservation, and literacy efforts, who hails originally from Tingsi on the far southern border of the Zotung speaking area. Based on analysis of 553 tokens collected via a wordlist, we substantiate some of the findings reported by Shintani (2015) and document several important differences. Shintani reported 8 monophthongal vowel qualities; we find 10: [i, y, e, ø, æ, ə, a, u, o, ɔ]. Shintani also reported an expansive diphthong inventory; our data support this claim, with 9 total vowels that can be categorized as diphthongs.

A Generative Phonology: Syllable Structure of Hajji Yemeni Arabic

This study deals with the syllable structure of Hajji Yemeni Arabic (HYA) in the light of Generative Phonology. Hajji Yemeni Arabic is a variation of Arabic spoken in the northwestern part of Yemen, which tries to elaborate and discuss the elements of syllable structure and possibilities of patterns of syllables in a term of consonants and vowels. The main aim of this study is to investigate the syllabification patterns of Hajji Yemeni Arabic, hereafter referred to as (HYA). Through qualitative phenomenology, this study analyzed the different syllabification patterns attested in Hajji Yemeni Arabic and a comprehensive analysis of the syllable shape within the framework of Generative Phonology. The findings of the study; Hajji Yemeni Arabic has five patterns of syllables: (monosyllabic, disyllabic, trisyllabic, tetrasyllabic and pentasyllabic). Hajji Yemeni Arabic prohibits initial consonant clusters, but consonant clusters are permitted in the coda position, and the maximum number of permitted consonants is two only. No vowel occurs word-initially, and every syllable must begin with one and only one consonant sound (simple onset). Hajji Yemeni Arabic has two kinds of syllables: open syllables, as in the syllable shapes /CV/ and /CV:/, while closed syllables, as in the syllable shapes /CVC/, /CV:CC/, /CV:C/ and /CVCC/.

Speech intelligibility of English spoken by Indonesian and Taiwanese speakers and judged by Taiwanese listeners: application of TOCS+ automatic software

Former investigations were about the familiarity advantage that people with the same language backgrounds are more intelligible. Besides, particular English was most intelligible to participants with high certain English familiarity. This study investigated how Taiwanese listeners judge the English speech intelligibility of Taiwanese and Indonesian speakers. Thirty Indonesian speakers and thirty Taiwanese speakers participated in this study. Ninety Taiwanese listeners were recruited to judge speech intelligibility. The recording and judging process used the TOCS+ software (Hodge et al., 2009). The software provided 124 contrast items of minimal pairs for the recognition task, including contrast of syllable shape, vowels, and consonants. The listeners' judgments were then analyzed by the TOCS+ software automatically. It was found that Taiwanese English speaker is more intelligible to Taiwanese listeners. The variables that predict intelligibility for Indonesian speakers are syllable shape contrast item correct (SSIC) and consonant item correct (CIC), while Taiwanese speakers’ SSIC and vowel item correct (VIC) did not predict intelligibility. Only CIC predicts intelligibility. Both groups made similar errors in consonant voicing. The study's findings contribute to the teaching materials for the English preparation of students who will study abroad.  Â

Phonology of Kafi Noonoo ideophones

This paper is the first and original work on the phonology of Kafi Noonoo ideophones. All of the data used in this study are collected through fieldwork. Ideophones are attested word classes with peculiar phonology in that they break some phonological rules of the prosaic language. Kafi Noonoo ideophones also undergo unique phonological features from the regular phonology of the language. Kafi Noonoo ideophones use all the phonemes of the regular language and additional five click-like sounds (ʘ, ǃ, ǁ, ʞ, and tchip). The click-like sounds do not found in the language and the regular phonology of Ethiopian Afro-Asiatic languages in general. Kafi Noonoo ideophones show different suprasegmental features from the regular phonology of the language. Another striking phonological feature in ideophones of the language is that ideophones break the phonotactics and suprasegmental features rules of the prosaic language. Moreover, Kafi Noonoo ideophones exhibit some syllable structures that are specific to ideophones. These are the (C1VC2C2), (CVVV…), (C1VVV…C2) and (C1VC2C2C2…). Furthermore, Kafi Noonoo is a tone language. The language has high and low tones. As the result of the study depicts ideophones of the language constitute both open and closed syllable shapes.

Moraic mismatches in Somali phonology

This paper reconsiders the moraic status of coda consonants in Somali. It is argued that Somali joins a growing list of languages presenting a challenge to the Moraic Uniqueness Hypothesis. Several phenomena are explored that suggest that Somali exhibits moraic mismatches whereby moras associated with segments of different types contribute to, or “count” differently for particular phonological processes. Evidence in support of this proposal is drawn from the literature on tonology and poetic metrics, but also from word shape and minimality requirements, and from the distribution of syllable shapes of different types in Somali words. It is argued that an approach to Somali phonology that permits reference to moras associated with different segment types offers a unified and more transparent account of the language’s segmental and tonal phenomena. Notably, such an approach precludes the assumption of “early” coda consonant moraicity followed by a global dissociation of consonantal moras by rule before high tone assignment, as argued for in earlier work. The findings presented here illustrate that standing points of view on the role of the mora in Somali phonology must be reconfigured.

Reassessing gender in Ogbe-Oloma

Abstract We re-assess the gender system of Ogbe-Oloma, an Edoid village variety of Nigeria. System exponents are prefixes that define form class and reflect grammatical number. We find that eight agreement classes undergird fourteen genders, while seventeen nominal form classes frame twenty-five number inflections. Prefix mapping from inflection to gender is non-isomorphic. Mapping is however constrained by syllable shape, CV- versus V-, and alliterative sound quality of prefix consonant, not vowel. In addition, several number inflections trigger agreement in multiple genders leading to one gender that exclusively refers to nouns with human reference.

Syllable shape effects on temporal aspects of the Danish stød

Danish phonologically contrasts modal phonation with “stød,” a type of nonmodal phonation related to creaky voice (Fischer-Jørgensen, 1989). Stød (?) is licensed in a syllable by either a long vowel or a vowel + sonorant sequence (CV:?(Obstruent/Sonorant), CVS?). Previous research noting high inter- and intra-speaker variability in stød realization has led researchers to claim that temporal aspects of stød production are random and not under speakers' control (Grønnum & Basbøll, 2007). In contrast, this study provides novel evidence that, overall, stød onset is timed with respect to syllables' rime midpoint and stød offset with respect to sonorant rime offset in monosyllabic words, though differences based on rime content persist across word types. 10 native Danish speakers were recorded reading sentences with embedded monosyllabic, stød-bearing words (CV:?(O/S), CVS?), and stød durations were marked. Comparison of different measures of stød onset (lag from either rime onset, rime midpoint, or vowel midpoint) revealed that lag from rime midpoint minimized variance in stød onset timing across word types. Furthermore, CV:?O/S words had earlier onset/offset times than CVS? words, which had earlier onset times than CV:? words. Together, these results indicate that stød production across different word types is not random but in fact modulated by syllable shape.

Polysyllabic shortening in Spanish-English bilingual children

Aims and objectives:Polysyllabic shortening is thought to contribute to the perception of stress-timed rhythm in some languages. Little is known about its use in the speech of children exposed to a language that incorporates it more frequently (e.g. English) and one that incorporates it less frequently (e.g. Spanish). The purpose of the current investigation was to explore polysyllabic shortening in bilingual children’s two languages compared to monolingual Spanish and English comparison groups.Method/Design:We performed a group-level, cross-sectional study comparing the magnitude of polysyllabic shortening for monolingual English- and Spanish-speaking children and Spanish-English bilingual children.Data/Analysis:Sixteen monolingual English speakers, 23 monolingual Spanish speakers, and 16 Spanish-English bilingual speakers produced two- and four-syllable words in English only, Spanish only, or both English and Spanish, respectively. Ages ranged from 4;5 to 7;7 ( M = 5;10, SD = 7 months). English and Spanish words had the same syllable shapes and primary stress locations. Articulation rate was measured by syllables per second. A language history questionnaire and standardized vocabulary test were also administered. Comparisons were made both between and within groups.Results:Both monolingual English and Spanish speakers utilized polysyllabic shortening to similar degrees. Bilingual children produced polysyllabic shortening in English and Spanish to the same degree as their monolingual peers, but they produced it to a greater degree in their own Spanish than in their own English.Conclusion:Polysyllabic shortening might be a universal feature of speech that results from universal phonetic constraints. For the bilingual children, greater use of polysyllabic shortening in Spanish than English may be related to better Spanish than English articulatory control.

Variables affecting Korean word recognition: focusing on syllable shape

Variables affecting Korean word recognition: focusing on syllable shape

Ka-boom!

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderGlimpses1 Oct 2018Ka-boom! Sarah McDonnellMA, CCC-SLP Sarah McDonnell Google Scholar More articles by this author , MA, CCC-SLP https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.GL.23102018.10 SectionsAbout ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In True learning occurs when the activity and environment are meaningful and motivating. Motivation is central to learning: It helps determine how engaged children are in their “work” (play!), how hard they work, and how well they persevere in the face of a challenge. In this child-led play routine—in which the child builds with blocks and then knocks them down with the truck—we embedded lots of repetitive practice of functional targets, moving from simple syllable shapes to more complex ones. Sometimes the best part of building is smashing it down and, oh boy, did we have fun practicing and smashing! About me: I am the owner of Play Works Children’s Therapies, a multidisciplinary pediatric therapy clinic in Hood River, Oregon. I specialize in evaluating and treating childhood apraxia of speech and related speech sound disorders, using evidence-based practice in the context of play. Author Notes —Sarah McDonnell, MA, CCC-SLPinstagram.com/play.works Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Additional Resources FiguresSourcesRelatedDetails Volume 23Issue 10October 2018 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in print: Oct 1, 2018 Metrics Current downloads: 221 Topicsasha-topicsleader_do_tagasha-article-typesleader-topicsCopyright & Permissions© 2018 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationLoading ...

Possessive Tone in Tswefap (Bamileke): Paradigmatic or Derivational?

In this paper I consider two analyses of the possessive pronoun tonal paradigm in Tswefap, a Bamileke language spoken in Batoufam, Cameroon. As in the case of related languages that have been previously described, Tswefap has a rather complex tone system that involves multiple tone heights, tonal contours, and tone alternations. Although simplified, it also maintains several of the inherited noun class distinctions. In this study attention is on the tones of possessive pronouns and their effects on a preceding modified noun. I first present a paradigmatic account as one might find in a descriptive or pedagogical grammar indicating which possessive pronouns receive which tones. I then turn to a more traditional Bamileke and Grassfields Bantu analysis in terms of underlying representations and floating tones. It is argued that all possessive pronouns are preceded by a floating L tone which affects a preceding mid tone noun in one of two ways, depending on the syllable shape of the pronoun: (i) if the pronoun begins with a consonant, the mid of the noun becomes a mid to low contour tone; (ii) if the pronoun has consists solely of a vowel, the mid is raised to a high tone. Although I argue for the latter analysis, I conclude by demonstrating that alternate tonal variations indicate on-going change which may ultimately undermine the more abstract phonological analysis in favor of a considerably simplified paradigmatic tone assignment.

Lexical and nonlexical approaches to intelligibility in speech: An intermediate approach

Intelligibility is a continuum with a floor and a ceiling. In this session, we are concerned with different ways of defining and quantifying intelligibility for different acoustic applications. A major break point in the continuum is defined by lexical transcription. For most applications, such as evaluating clinical and non-native speaker populations, the focus is on whether a reasonably adept listener would come up with a correct transcription under ideal conditions. For other applications, as in telecommunications or clear speaking style, we consider the effects of less-than-ideal conditions, cognitive fatigue, or listener pleasure. In general, however, the quantification of intelligibility is either defined by listener estimates, listener transcription or by broad statistical trends. In this paper, we consider an intermediate method of measuring the likely intelligibility of speech using acoustic characteristics specific to syllable shape, but not tied to transcription. Examples from measuring speaker fatigue, clear speaking style, and disordered source characteristics will be provided.

Assessing children’s speech using picture-naming: The influence of differing phonological variables on some speech outcomes

Purpose: Sometimes, children’s speech is judged as typical on picture-naming tests and not on other speech tests, even other picture-naming tests. This study attempts to explain this observation by examining the impact of increasing the numbers of polysyllabic words in a picture-naming test on the outcomes of percentages of consonants and vowels correct and phonological processes.Method: The participants were 283 randomly sampled, typically-developing children, aged 3–7-years. These Australian English speakers named pictures, yielding ∼166 selected words, varied for syllable number, stress and shape, which repeatedly sampled all consonants and vowels of Australian English.Result: Most mismatches occurred in di- and polysyllabic words, with few in monosyllabic words: the usual words in picture-naming speech tests. Significant age effects existed for percentages of consonants and vowels correct and for 12 of the 16 phonological processes investigated. Many age effects were present at 7 years; later than often reported.Conclusion: These findings imply that additional di- and polysyllabic words add value to routine speech testing. Further, children, especially school children, who “pass” speech tests dominated by monosyllabic words may benefit from further examination of their productions of di- and polysyllabic words before finalizing clinical judgements about their speech status.

Volubility, consonant, and syllable characteristics in infants and toddlers later diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech: A pilot study

PurposeThis pilot study explored the volubility, consonant singleton acquisition, and syllable structure development between infants and toddlers (birth–24 months) with typical speech sound production (TYP) and those later diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech (CAS). MethodA retrospective longitudinal between- and within-subjects research design was utilized (TYP N=2; CAS N=4). Vocalizations from participants were analyzed between birth–24 months from home videotapes, volunteered by the children's parents, according to type (nonresonant vs. resonant), volubility, place and manner of consonant singletons, and syllable shape (V, CV, VC, CVC, VCV, CVCV, VCVC, and “Other”). ResultsVolubility between groups was not significant but statistically significant differences were found in the number of: resonant and non-resonant productions; different consonant singletons; different place features; different manner classes; and proportional use of fricative, glottal, and voiceless phones. Infants and toddlers in the CAS group also demonstrated difficulty with CVCs, had limited syllable shapes, and possible regression of vowel syllable structure. ConclusionsData corroborate parent reports that infants and toddlers later diagnosed with CAS present differently than do those with typical speech sound skills. Additional study with infants and toddlers later diagnosed with non-CAS speech sound disorder is needed.Learning outcomes: Readers will: (1) describe current perspectives on volubility of infants and toddlers later diagnosed with CAS; (2) describe current perspectives of the consonant singleton and syllable shape inventories of infants and toddlers later diagnosed with CAS; and (3) discuss the potential differences between the speech sound development of infants and toddlers later diagnosed with CAS and those with typical speech sound skill.

A Phonetic Basis for the Sonority of [χ

UC Berkeley Phonology Lab Annual Report (2014) A Phonetic Basis for the Sonority of [X] Sarah Bakst and Jonah Katz Background: French rhotics and sonority Sonority is a property of segments that relates to phonotactics and syllable shape but whose nature remains in dispute. Clements (1990) uses this property to define the order that segments may occur in a syllable in what he calls the sonority sequencing principle (SSP), which says that “between any member of a syllable and the syllable peak, only sounds of higher sonority rank are permitted.” His principle relies on a sonority scale, which ranks segments by their natural class, with obstruents registering low on the scale, followed by nasals, liquids, glides, and finally vowels. The classes are defined by the features vocoid, approximant, sonorant, and what Clements calls “syllabic” (only vowels are [+syllabic]). The sum of the positive values of features for a given class yields the sonority value. Syllables are usually arranged with the sonority peak at the nucleus with falling sonority to- wards either syllable edge, so that low-sonority segments tend to precede higher-sonority segments in onsets but the opposite is usually true in codas. Some languages allow sonority plateaux, or mul- tiple consecutive segments of the same sonority, such as a sequence of two stops or a stop plus a fricative. The implication is that languages that allow plateaux, which violate the SSP, also allow sequences that do not violate the SSP, but the reverse does not hold: there should not be languages that only allow SSP violations. Most accounts agree on the segment ranking above (or a close variant), though the basis for the hierarchy varies. Some definitions are based in phonological features, as in Clements, but others make more reference to phonetics. Parker (2002) creates a hierarchy that is mainly based on acoustics and aerodynamics and defines sonority as a function of intensity. This is later extended to create a universal phonological scale. Wright (2004) maintains that a sonority scale is not a phonological entity but rather a natural organization of sound patterns that falls out from how well place, manner, and voicing cues can be recovered by the listener from the acoustic signal. In contrast to the other definitions mentioned here, Wright does not relate sonority to phonology at all. French rhotics present a problem for the sonority hierarchy. The rhotic is usually realized as a voiced uvular approximant or occasionally a trill, both of which are considered liquids, but after a voiceless obstruent, the rhotic surfaces as a voiceless uvular fricative. The rhotic patterns like the other liquid in French [l]; both are permitted to be the second member of a complex onset. In theory, French does not allow sonority plateaux in onsets, yet the fricative realization of the rhotic, to the exclusion of all other fricatives, occurs as the second member of a complex onset, such as in /kKem/ [kXEm] ‘cream’. The sonority scale for French is thus internally inconsistent: other fricatives are not allowed in French complex onsets, but there seems to be an exception for this realization of the rhotic.

On the role of margin phonotactics in Colloquial Bamana complex syllables

Data from two closely related varieties of Bamana (Bambara), a Mande language spoken in West Africa, reveal that these varieties differ significantly from one another in terms of the syllable shapes they permit in their inventories. A comparison of normative ‘standard’ Bamana and that spoken by a young cohort of individuals in the Malian capital, Bamako, reveals that the latter colloquial variety has synchronically developed complex CCV and CVC syllable shapes, while the normative variety permits only maximal CV syllables. We posit that this development of complex syllable shapes in Colloquial Bamana is a result of an overall drive towards word minimization in the language and that the language’s chosen trajectory of minimization is predicted and best analyzed in reference to the Split Margin Approach to the syllable (e.g., Baertsch 2002). This paper formalizes Colloquial Bamana in an optimality-theoretic framework and details preferential vowel and consonant deletion patterns that create complex syllable shapes, the role of syllable margin phonotactics in driving these patterns, and other important phonological characteristics of the language that interact with and/or prevent minimization from occurring.

Speech articulation performance of francophone children in the early school years: Norming of the Test de Dépistage Francophone de Phonologie

Good quality normative data are essential for clinical practice in speech-language pathology but are largely lacking for French-speaking children. We investigated speech production accuracy by French-speaking children attending kindergarten (maternelle) and first grade (première année). The study aimed to provide normative data for a new screening test – the Test de Dépistage Francophone de Phonologie. Sixty-one children named 30 pictures depicting words selected to be representative of the distribution of phonemes, syllable shapes and word lengths characteristic of Québec French. Percent consonants’ correct was approximately 90% and did not change significantly with age although younger children produced significantly more syllable structure errors than older children. Given that the word set reflects the segmental and prosodic characteristics of spoken Québec French, and that ceiling effects were not observed, these results further indicate that phonological development is not complete by the age of seven years in French-speaking children.

Consonant and syllable complexity of toddlers with Down syndrome and mixed-aetiology developmental delays

This study examines whether speech sound production of toddlers with Down syndrome (DS) is on par with or more severely impaired than that of mental age (MA) peers with developmental delay due to aetiologies other than Down syndrome at two points within an 18-month period near the onset of spoken word production. The utterances of 26 children with DS, aged 24–33 months, with a mean MA of 14.3 months, originally studied by Fey et al. and Warren et al. were compared to those of a group of 22 children with similar intellectual and communication delay but no DS (NDS). Phonological measures included the size of the consonant inventory, syllable shape complexity, and number of communication acts with canonical vocalizations. At Time 1, the DS group performed as well as or better than the NDS group on these measures of speech production. At Time 2, 18 months later, the DS group was behind the NDS group on the same measures. Results extended the pattern of more severe impairment in children with DS than NDS peers commonly noted in expressive language to measures of phonological development.