Title: First steps in the acquisition of German phonology : a case study
Abstract: This paper examines the acquisition of prosodic words by one German child, Naomi, between age 1;2.06 and 1;7.27. In the literature on the early acquisition of English and Dutch (e.g., Ingram 1978, Smith 1973, and Fikkert 1994a,b, respectively), it is usually assumed that the first words in child speech consist of a plosive followed by a vowel, i.e., the first words that children produce supposedly have a CV-structure. In this paper, we will challenge this assumption. We will show that the first words in German child speech consist of at least one consonant and one vowel and the consonant may either precede or follow the vowel at the earliest word-stage. Also, initial fricatives are avoided at this stage and they are not replaced by any other consonant. We conclude from our findings that there is no stage in the development of German child speech where a CV-structure is preferred. Rather, German children respect the linear order of segments of the adult target from the onset of speech. A further aim of this paper is to provide an account of the observed stages in the acquisition of place of articulation and manner of articulation, respectively. With respect to place of articulation, we will account for the fact that even at the stage where labials are realised as such in words in which only labial consonants occur, there is a bias in child speech for alveolars in words which have a labial and an alveolar consonant in the adult form. We will also elaborate on a proposal made by Rice & Avery (1995) to explain the fact that velars are acquired relatively late. With respect to manner of articulation, we will show how an optimality-based account can explain the fact that word-initial fricatives are first omitted by Naomi, then realised as stops, subsequently as stops or approximants, and finally as fricatives. The paper is structured as follows. Section 2 describes the method used to elicit and store the child data. Section 3 introduces the German consonant inventory and briefly discusses German syllable structure. Section 4 discusses the acquisition of syllable structure of Naomi. Sections 5 and 6 consider the development of consonantal places of articulation and manner of articulation, respectively, of the same child. Section 7 concludes.
Publication Year: 1998
Publication Date: 1998-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 29
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