Acquisition of Variability in Akan Phonology: Labio-Palatalized Consonants and Front Rounded Vowels

Autor/inn/en	Amoako, Wendy Kwakye; Stemberger, Joseph Paul
Titel	Acquisition of Variability in Akan Phonology: Labio-Palatalized Consonants and Front Rounded Vowels
Quelle	In: Journal of Child Language, 49 (2021) 5, S.979-1007 (29 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Stemberger, Joseph Paul)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0305-0009
DOI	10.1017/S0305000921000489
Schlagwörter	African Languages; Foreign Countries; Adults; Phonology; Young Children; Phonemes; Vowels; Age Differences; Articulation (Speech); Ghana + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Africa; Language; Languages; Afrika; Sprachen; Afrikanische Sprache; Ausland; Fonologie; Frühe Kindheit; Fonem; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied
Abstract	This paper addresses how input variability in the adult phonological system is mastered in the output of young children in Akan, a Kwa language spoken in Ghana, involving variability between labio-palatalized consonants and front rounded vowels. The high-frequency variant involves a complex consonant which is expected to be mastered late, while the low-frequency variant involves a front rounded vowel which is expected to be mastered relatively early. Late mastery of complex consonants was confirmed. The high-frequency labiopalatalized-consonant variant was absent at age 3 and not yet mastered even at age 5. All children produced the easier-to-produce low-frequency front-rounded-vowel variant, most at far greater frequency than in adult speech, implying that a child's output limitations can affect which variant the child targets for production. Modular theories, in which phonological plans reflect only the characteristics of adult input, fail to account for our results. Non-modular theories are implicated. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01