COARTICULATION AND EARLY CONSONANT-VOWEL PRODUCTIONS

Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

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Abstract

Consonant and vowel interdependencies in babbling and early words are well documented. A comparison of coarticulation in concurrent babbling and words may reveal information on the child's emergent language skills. The three specific aims of this project are to compare variability of coarticulation in concurrent babbling and words; correlate variability of coarticulation to first words; and describe coarticulation of concurrent babbling and words. Ten toddlers, producing 15-25 words, will be audio-taped during free play with a primary caregiver. Speech productions, containing initial /b/, /d/, and /g/, will be classified as babble or word and analyzed acoustically. The locus equation metric will be used to obtain standard error of estimate scores as a variability index for coarticulation and to obtain slopes to describe coarticulation patterns. Consonant and vowel inventories will be presented. Appropriate statistical analyses will be conducted for comparisons and correlations.