Input-based Phonological Acquisition

LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES Chapter 1: Accounts of acquisition: Universal Grammar and the input 1.1 Introduction 1.2 1.1.1 Focus of research 1.2 Universal Grammar 1.2.1 Establishing Universal Grammar 1.2.2 Universal Grammar and child language: The parallel between cross-linguistic markedness and child language 1.2.3 Universal Grammar Hypothesis of language acquisition 1.3 The Input 1.3.1 Child language reflects the language specific input 1.3.2 General Pattern Learning Hypothesis of language acquisition 1.4 The research question 1.4.1 Test case: The acquisition of coda consonants 1.4.1.1 Definition of coda consonants 1.4.1.2 Representation of final consonants 1.4.1.3 Restrictions on analyses 1.4.1.4 Place of articulation 1.4.1.5 Sonority 1.5 Goal and outline of dissertation Chapter 2: Cross-linguistic codas 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Data 2.2.1 Determining markedness 2.2.2 Types of data 2.3 Types of analyses 2.3.1 Expected Frequency Analyses (EFA) 2.3.2 Actual Frequency Analyses (AFA) 2.4 Place of articulation in coda position 2.4.1 Previous research on place of articulation in coda position 2.4.2 Place of articulation in coda position: EFA 2.4.3 Place of articulation in coda position: AFA 2.4.4 Summary of place of articulation in coda position TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued 2.5 Sonority in coda position . 2.5.1 Previous research on sonority in coda position . 2.5.2 Sonority in coda position: EFA 2.5.3 Sonority in coda Position: AFA 2.5.4 Summary of sonority in coda position . 2.6 Universal Grammar Hypothesis for coda acquisition Chapter 3: English Codas 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1 Previous studies of phoneme distributions in English . 3.2 English data 3.2.1 Random House Dictionary . 3.2.2 Webster's Dictionary 3.2.3 MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) . 3.2.4 Child Directed Speech Corpus (CDSC) 3.2.5 Summary of sources 3.3 Distribution of codas in English . 3.4 General Pattern Learning Hypothesis for coda acquisition . 3.5 Comparing the UGH and the GPLH . 3.5.1 Place of articulation and the distribution of codas in English . 3.5.2 Sonority and the distribution of codas in English . 3.5.3 Summary of place of articulation and sonority and the distribution of codas in English . 3.6 Summary . Chapter 4: Child Language Codas 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Data . 4.3 Independent and Relational Analyses . 4.3.1 Independent Analysis of coda consonant acquisition . 4.3.2 Relational Analysis of coda consonant acquisition . 4.4 Summary of child language coda preferences . 4.5 Limitations based on using data from previous studies . TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Chapter 5: Experiment 1: Two-year-olds' Production of Coda Consonants 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Method 5.2.1 Subjects 5.2.2 Stimuli 5.2.3 Procedure . 5.3 Results 5.3.1 Data coding 5.3.2 Results of spontaneous and imitated productions . 5.3.3 Results based on weighted responses of spontaneous productions . 5.4 Evaluation of the UGH and the GPLH . 5.4.1 Summary of UGH, GPLH and child language data . 5.4.1.1 Summary of the UGH . 5.4.1.2 Summary of the GPLH . 5.4.1.3 Summary of child language data . 5.4.2 UGH and child language data 5.4.2.1 UGH and place of articulation 5.4.2.2 UGH and sonority 5.4.2.3 Summary of UGH evaluation 5.4.3 GPLH and child language data 5.4.4 Summary of UGH and GPLH evaluations 5.5 Influences of methodology on results Chapter 6: Experiment 2: Two-year-olds' Production of Coda Consonants in Low and High Phonotactic Probability CVC Non-Words 6.1 Introduction . 6.1.1 Phonotactic probability . 6.1.2 Previous research on phonotactic probabilities in English . 6.1.3 Goal of experiment . 6.2 Method 6.2.1 Subjects 6.2.2 Stimuli 6.2.2.1 Calculating phonotactic probabilities . 6.2.2.2 Neighbourhood densities of stimuli 6.2.2.3 Word-likelihood ratings of stimuli . TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued 6.2.3 Procedure . 6.3 Results . 6.3.1 Data coding . 6.3.2 Analyses . 6.4 Discussion Chapter 7: Coda Acquisition: Discussion and Conclusion 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Review . 7.2.1 Review of the Universal Grammar Hypothesis (UGH) . 7.2.2 Review of the General Pattern Learning Hypothesis (GPLH) . 7.2.3 Review of child language data . 7.2.4 Results and discussion 7.2.4.1 Results and discussion: UGH 7.2.4.2 Results and discussion: GPLH 7.2.4.3 Accounting for frequency effects in acquisition . 7.2.4.4 Alternative account: Ease of perception and/or production . 7.3 Future directions . 7.3.1 Prosodic and segmental interactions, and word class 7.3.2 Optimality Theory 7.3.3 Clinical extensions 7.3.4 Logical possibilities for language acquisition 7.3.5 Phonological development and infant study 7.4 Conclusion . Appendix A Languages used in cross-linguistic analysis organised by language . Appendix B Languages used in cross-linguistic analysis organised by language family . Appendix C EFA results for cross-linguistic place of articulation in coda position Appendix D AFA results for cross-linguistic place of articulation in coda position Appendix E EFA results for cross-linguistic sonority in coda position . Appendix F AFA results for cross-linguistic sonority in coda position TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued Appendix G EFA for coronal place of articulation for different sources in English . Appendix H AFA for coronal place of articulation for different sources in English . Appendix I EFA for sonority for different sources in English . Appendix J AFA for sonority for different sources in English . Appendix K Mann-Whitney U-Test results for frequency in children's coda productions . Appendix L Mann-Whitney U-Test results for frequency in children's coda productions Appendix M Responses of correctly produced codas in low and high phonotactic probability (PP) non-words by subjects Appendix N Children's accuracy of coda productions in low and high PP non-words, real word responses excluded . Appendix O Children's accuracy of word productions in low and high PP non-words . Appendix P Children's accuracy of rhyme productions in low and high PP non-words References