ERIC Number: EJ1188335
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Sep
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-0009
EISSN: N/A
Development of Stop Consonants in Three- to Six-Year-Old Mandarin-Speaking Children
Yang, Jing
Journal of Child Language, v45 n5 p1091-1115 Sep 2018
This study compared the temporal measurements of stop consonants in 29 three- to six-year-old Mandarin-speaking children and 12 Mandarin-speaking adults. Each participant produced 18 Mandarin disyllabic words which contained six stop consonants /p, p?, t, t?, k, k?/ each followed by three vowels /a, i, u/ at the word-initial position in the first syllable. The temporal measurements of VOT, overall burst duration, average duration per burst, number of bursts, and VOT-lag duration were obtained. Although adult-like short-lag VOTs were achieved in all children, the long-lag VOTs were widespread in the younger group and gradually developed to a concentrated distribution in the older children. Further analysis of the burst and VOT-lag revealed that these children tended to produce shorter average duration per burst and longer VOT-lag than the adults. These results indicate that children in this age range may not have developed adult-like laryngeal--oral timing pattern and airflow control for stop production.
Descriptors: Phonemes, Mandarin Chinese, Language Acquisition, Child Language, Oral Language, Toddlers, Young Children, Comparative Analysis, Age Differences, Adults, Vowels
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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