Alveolar Bias in the Final Consonant Deletion Patterns of African American Children

Autor/in	Stockman, Ida J.
Titel	Alveolar Bias in the Final Consonant Deletion Patterns of African American Children
Quelle	In: Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 37 (2006) 2, S.85-95 (11 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0161-1461
Schlagwörter	Phonetics; African American Children; Phonemes; Articulation (Speech); Toddlers; Grammar; Speech Evaluation; Language Patterns; Psycholinguistics; Discriminant Analysis; Speech Tests; Speech Impairments + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Phonetik; Fonetik; African Americans; Child; Children; Afroamerikaner; Kind; Kinder; Fonem; Infant; Infants; Toddler; Kleinkind; Grammatik; Sprachmodell; Sprachstruktur; Psycholinguistik; Diskriminanzanalyse; Sprechtest; Speech impairment; Speech handicap; Speech handicaps; Language handicps; Language impairments; Sprachbehinderung
Abstract	Purpose: The variable deletion of word-final consonants is a well-known feature of African American English (AAE). This study aimed to show whether African American children exhibit an alveolar bias in their deletion of final voiceless stops as has been observed for their production of final nasals. Method: The data were extracted from more than 5,000 spontaneous utterances in the speech samples of 7 African American children at 32 to 36 months of age. Results: The final alveolar voiceless stop /-t/ was deleted significantly more often in word-final position than were /-p/ and /-k/ in both singleton and clustered contexts. The deletion of /-t/ in final clusters preceding other consonants at word boundaries contributed significantly to this bias. No significant differences were observed among the stops in their relative frequencies of deletion when a vowel sound followed or when the final stop was prepausal at word boundaries. Conclusion: African American children's deletion of final consonants is patterned even at an early age. It varies with whether the voiceless stop consonant is an alveolar sound or not and with the type of phonetic context in which the alveolar stop is embedded. This alveolar stop bias was attributed to phonetic and grammatic constraints on articulating final /-t/ relative to final /-p/ and /-k/. Clinical Implication: All final consonant deletion patterns should not be regarded as typical of African American children when assessing their speech even as early as age 3;0 (years;months). (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10