(1) Acquisition of consonants by type

1
Sonorants acquisition and positional
neutralization typological, prosodic and
articulatory considerations Yvan Rose1 and
Christophe dos Santos2 1Department of
Linguistics, Memorial University, Canada
2Laboratoire Dynamique Du Langage (UMR CNRS 5596)
Université Lumière Lyon 2, France This research
is financed by the National Institute of Mental
Health Grant IR0 IMH60922-01A2, project author
K. Demuth (Brown University, Providence).
Introduction

• The prosodic category to which belongs the
  consonant at the right edge of the word is
  subject to controversy
• This debate is due to the different behaviors
  that this consonant can display across natural
  languages
• Several propositions has been made to categorize
  this consonant coda (Tranel 1987), extrasyllabic
  consonant (Itô 1986), onset of an empty-headed
  syllable (Kaye, Lowenstamm et Vergnaud 1990)
• Piggott (1999) proposes to categorize each
  consonant on a language-specific basis, depending
  on its behavior relative to other consonants
• Zec (1988) noted that sonorants tend to behave
  more like codas than non-sonorants

(1) Acquisition of consonants by type 
  Onset of stressed syllable Deletion () Word-final Deletion ()
Stops YES 3,30 YES 8,96
Coronal fricatives YES 12,47 YES 18,78
Labial Fricatives NO 60,19 YES 36,00
Nasals YES 1,82 NO 78,46
/l/ YES 2,20 NO 92,43
/?/ NO 71,83 NO 95,80
We excluded the /n/ substitution caused by only one word representing 54 of the data. We excluded the /n/ substitution caused by only one word representing 54 of the data. We excluded the /n/ substitution caused by only one word representing 54 of the data. We excluded the /n/ substitution caused by only one word representing 54 of the data. We excluded the /n/ substitution caused by only one word representing 54 of the data.
Methodology
Data

• Word-final consonants
• Obstruents acquired
• Sonorants ? acquired
• Word-initial consonants
• Obstruents acquired (except labial fricatives)
• Sonorant acquired (except /?/)
• Generalization in comparison with typological
  trends
• Obstruents behave like onsets of empty-headed
  syllables (2)
• Sonorants behave like codas (2)

Prosodic analysis

• Onset of empty-headed syllable
• No branching structure
• Acquired early in word-final position (Goad and
  Brannen 2003)
• Prime prosodic position for obstruents
• Coda
• Branching rhyme projection
• Acquired late in word-final position (Rose 2000)
• Sonorant acquisition

Discussion on external factor
(3) Coronal fricatives substituted through CH
(4) Coronal fricatives substituted by /l/
 Gloss Word Target Production
shoe chaussure ?osy? lyly
it's c'est s? l?
paintbrush pinceau p?so lo
thing chose ?oz los
cat chat ?a la
eyes yeux zjø lø
house maison m?s? lõ
to arrange ranger ???e le?
 Gloss Word Target Production
thanks merci m??si m??ni
to pass passer pase pete
damn! zut zyt dyt
house maison m?s? m?d??
scarf écharpe e?a?p tap
to cheat tricher t?i?e te
yellow jaune ?on no
major majeur ma?œ? m?m?
(6) Deletion of /?/
(5) Deletion of labial fricatives
 Gloss Word Target Production
strong fort f?? ?
fairy fée fe e
soccer foot fut ut
sheet feuille fœj œ?
green vert v?? ??
seen vu vy y
wave vague vag ak
washed lavé lave e
 Gloss Word Target Production
stop arrête a??t ?t
rinse rince ??s a?s
rose rose ?oz os
syrup sirop si?o o
dress robe ?ob ?pp
rail rail ?aj aj
godfather parrain pa?? paa?
square carré ka?e kae?
Conclusion
A full analysis of the general development of
final consonant requires a combination of
different grammatical and non-grammatical
factors. This study provides evidence for a
significant interaction between grammatical and
articulatory (physiological, motoric) factors.
These types of interactions help to explain
phenomena observed in childrens productions. In
order to provide full story of the development of
child phonology, we need a model in which we can
combine and weigh each of the different factors
involved and predict their interactions. The
relationship between acquisition and typology
provides insight into the general condition of
the acquisition process by the human language
faculty
Bibliography
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