Phonological Universals in Early Childhood: Evidence from Sonority Restrictions

Autor/inn/en	Berent, Iris; Harder, Katherine; Lennertz, Tracy
Titel	Phonological Universals in Early Childhood: Evidence from Sonority Restrictions
Quelle	In: Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 18 (2011) 4, S.281-293 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1048-9223
DOI	10.1080/10489223.2011.580676
Schlagwörter	Language Universals; Phonology; Preschool Children; Language Research; Linguistic Theory; Grammar; Task Analysis; Phonetics; Language Acquisition; Hypothesis Testing; Auditory Stimuli; Regression (Statistics); Florida; Massachusetts + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Fonologie; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Sprachforschung; Linguistische Theorie; Grammatik; Aufgabenanalyse; Phonetik; Fonetik; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Hypothesenprüfung; Hypothesentest; Auditive Stimulation; Regression; Regressionsanalyse; Master-Studiengang
Abstract	Across languages, onsets with large sonority distances are preferred to those with smaller distances (e.g., "bw greater than bd greater than lb"; Greenberg 1978). Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 2004) attributes such facts to grammatical restrictions that are universally active in all grammars. To test this hypothesis, here we examine whether children extend putatively universal sonority restrictions to onsets unattested in their language. Participants (M = 4;03) were presented with pairs of auditory words--either identical (e.g., "lbif [right arrow] lbif") or epenthetically related (e.g., lbif [right arrow] lebif)--and asked to judge their identity. Results showed that, like adults, children's ability to detect epenthetic distortions was monotonically related to sonority distance (bw greater than bd greater than lb), and their performance was inexplicable by several statistical and phonetic factors. These findings suggest that sonority restrictions are active in early childhood, and their scope is broad. (Contains 5 footnotes and 5 tables.) (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Psychology Press. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10