Input-Based Phonological Acquisition

by Zamuner,Tania

• ISBN13: 9780415967891
• ISBN10: 0415967899
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-06-12
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book provides an analysis of two current theories of language acquisition: the theory that acquisition is primarily mediated by innate properties of language provided by universal grammar, and the opposing theory is that language is acquired based on the patterns in the ambient language. A problem not often considered is that these two theories are confounded because the structures that are frequent across languages are also typically the most frequent within a specific language. In addition, the innate theory of language acquisition is difficult to quantify and qualify. This book attempts to contrast these theories through an examination of the acquisition of word-final consonants in English. A unique aspect of this book is that it presents analyzes of data using cross-linguistic, corpus and experimental approaches.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	ix
Preface	xi
Abstract	xiii
1. Accounts of acquisition: Universal Grammar and the input	3	(18)
1.1. Focus of research	3	(1)
1.2. Universal Grammar	4	(6)
1.2.1. Establishing Universal Grammar	5	(2)
1.2.2. Universal Grammar and child language: The parallel between cross-linguistic markedness and child language	7	(3)
1.2.3. Universal Grammar Hypothesis of language acquisition	10	(1)
1.3. The input	10	(3)
1.3.1. Child language reflects the language specific input	11	(1)
1.3.2. Specific Language Grammar Hypothesis of language acquisition	12	(1)
1.4. The research question	13	(6)
1.4.1. Test case: The acquisition of coda consonants	14	(7)
1.4.1.1. Definition of coda consonants	15	(1)
1.4.1.2. Representation of final consonants	16
1.4.1.3. Restrictions of analyses	11	(7)
1.4.1.4. Place of articulation	18	(1)
1.4.1.5. Sonority	19	(1)
1.5. Goal and outline of dissertation	19	(2)
2. Cross-linguistic codas	21	(14)
2.1. Introduction	21	(1)
2.2. Data	21	(2)
2.2.1. Determining markedness	22	(1)
2.2.2. Types of data	23	(1)
2.3. Types of analyses	23	(3)
2.3.1. Expected Frequency Analyses (EFA)	24	(1)
2.3.2. Actual Frequency Analyses (AFA)	25	(1)
2.4. Place of articulation in coda position	26	(3)
2.4.1. Previous research on place of articulation in coda position	26	(1)
2.4.2. Place of articulation in coda position: EFA	27	(1)
2.4.3. Place of articulation in coda position: AFA	28	(1)
2.4.4. Summary of place of articulation in coda position	28	(1)
2.5. Sonority in coda position	29	(3)
2.5.1. Previous research on sonority in coda position	29	(1)
2.5.2. Sonority in coda position: EFA	30	(1)
2.5.3. Sonority in coda position: AFA	31	(1)
2.5.4. Summary of sonority in coda position	32	(1)
2.6. Universal Grammar Hypothesis for coda acquisition	32	(3)
3. English codas	35	(14)
3.1. Introduction	35	(1)
3.1.1. Previous studies of phoneme distributions in English	35	(1)
3.2. English data	36	(3)
3.2.1. Random House Dictionary	36
3.2.2. Webster's Dictionary	31	(6)
3.2.3. MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (CDI)	37	(1)
3.2.4. Child Directed Speech Corpus (CDSC)	37	(1)
3.2.5. Summary of sources	38	(1)
3.3. Distribution of codas in English	39	(3)
3.4. Specific Language Grammar Hypothesis for coda acquisition	42	(1)
3.5. Comparing the UGH and the SLGH	42	(5)
3.5.1. Place of articulation and the distribution of codas in English	43	(2)
3.5.2. Sonority and the distribution of codas in English	45	(2)
3.5.3. Summary of place of articulation and sonority and the distribution of codas in English	47	(1)
3.6. Summary	47	(2)
4. Child language codas	49	(12)
4.1. Introduction	49	(1)
4.2. Data	49	(2)
4.3. Independent and Relational Analyses	51	(5)
4.3.1. Independent Analysis of coda consonant acquisition	52	(2)
4.3.2. Relational Analyses of coda consonant acquisition	54	(2)
4.4. Summary of child language coda preferences	56	(1)
4.5. Limitations based on using data from previous studies	57	(4)
5. Experiment 1: Two-year-olds' production of coda consonants	61	(20)
5.1. Introduction	61	(1)
5.2. Method	61	(4)
5.2.1. Subjects	61	(1)
5.2.2. Stimuli	62	(1)
5.2.3. Procedure	63	(2)
5.3. Results	65	(4)
5.3.1. Data coding	65	(1)
5.3.2. Results of spontaneous and imitated productions	65	(2)
5.3.3. Results based on weighted responses of spontaneous productions	67	(2)
5.4. Evaluation of the UGH and the SLGH	69	(9)
5.4.1. Summary of UGH, SLGH and child language data	69
5.4.1.1. Summary of the UGH	69	(1)
5.4.1.2. Summary of the SLGH	69
5.4.1.3. Summary of child language data	10	(1)
5.4.2. UGH and child language data	11	(63)
5.4.2.1. UGH and place of articulation	11	(1)
5.4.2.2. UGH and sonority	12	(1)
5.4.2.3. Summary of UGH evaluation	13	(61)
5.4.3. SLGH and child language data	74	(1)
5.4.4. Summary of the UGH and SLGH evaluations	75	(3)
5.5. Influences of methodology on results	78	(3)
6. Experiment 2: Two-year-olds' production of coda consonants and phonotactic probability	81
6.1. Introduction	81	(3)
6.1.1. Phonotactic probability	81	(1)
6.1.2. Previous research on phonotactic probabilities in English	82	(1)
6.1.3. Goal of experiment	83	(1)
6.2. Method	84	(5)
6.2.1. Subjects	84	(1)
6.2.2. Stimuli	84	(4)
6.2.2.1. Calculating phonotactic probabilities	85	(2)
6.2.2.2. Neighbourhood densities of stimuli	87	(1)
6.2.2.3. Word-likelihood ratings of stimuli	87	(1)
6.2.3. Procedure	88	(1)
6.3. Results	89	(2)
6.3.1. Data coding	89	(1)
6.3.2. Analyses	90	(1)
6.4. Discussion	91