Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:43:14.662Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The acquisition of the voicing contrast in Spanish: a phonetic and phonological study of word-initial stop consonants*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Marlys A. Macken  and
David Barton
Marlys A. Macken
Affiliation:
Stanford University
David Barton
Affiliation:
Stanford University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper reports on the acquisition of the voicing contrast in Mexican–Spanish word-initial stops. In Study 1, three monolingual children were recorded every two weeks for seven months, beginning when the children were about 1; 7. In Study 2, four monolingual children about 3; 10 were recorded once or twice. Two analyses were done. Instrumental analysis of the stop productions revealed that not even by age 3; 10 were the children consistently distinguishing between voiced–voiceless stop cognate pairs on the basis of adult-like voice-onset time characteristics. The spirantization analysis, however, more clearly revealed the children's phonological knowledge. Discussion focuses on the implications of the data for phonological development in general and for the phonological description of voicing in Spanish.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , October 1980 , pp. 433 - 458
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abramson, A. & Lisker, L. (1973). Voice-timing perception in Spanish word-initial stops. JPhon 1. 1–8.Google Scholar
Barton, D. & Macken, M. A. (in press). An instrumental analysis of the English voicing contrast in four-year-olds. LES 23.Google Scholar
Bush, C. N., Edwards, M. L., Luckau, J. M., Stoel, C. M., Macken, M. A. & Petersen, J. D. (1973). On specifying a system for transcribing consonants in child language: a working paper with examples from American English and Mexican Spanish. Stanford University: Department of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. A. (1978). Phonological processes. In Greenberg, J. H., Ferguson, C. A. & Moravcsik, E. A. (eds), Universals of human language, Vol. 2. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Gilbert, J. H. V. (1977). A voice onset time analysis of apical stop production in three-year-olds. JChLang 4. 103–10.Google Scholar
Gleason, H. A. Jr (1955). An introduction to descriptive linguistics. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Hammond, R. M. (1976). Phonemic restructuring in Miami-Cuban Spanish. In Aid, F. M., Resnich, M. C. & Saciuk, B. (eds), 1975 Colloquium on Hispanic linguistics. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Harris, J. W. (1969). Spanish phonology. Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T.Google Scholar
Hooper, J. B. (1976). An introduction to natural generative phonology. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Huntington, D. A., Clumeck, H., Macken, M. & Ohsiek, D. (1978). Some methodological considerations on the study of VOT in children. Unpublishe MS. Stanford University: Hearing and Speech Sciences.Google Scholar
Hyman, L. H. (1975). Phonology: theory and analysis. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Jakobson, R. (1941/1968). Child language, aphasia and phonological universals. The Hague: Mouton.Google Scholar
Kewley-Port, D. & Preston, M. S. (1974). Early apical stop production: a voice onset time analysis. JPhon 2. 195–210.Google Scholar
Lisker, L. & Abramson, A. S. (1964). A cross-language study of voicing in initial stops: acoustical measurements. Word 20. 384–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lozano, M. C. (1979). Stop and spirant alternation: fortition and spirantization processes in Spanish phonology. Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Macken, M. A. (1978). Permitted complexity in phonological development: one child's acquisition of Spanish consonants. Lingua 44. 219–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macken, M. A. & Barton, D. (1980). The acquisition of the voicing contrast in English: a study of voice onset time in word-initial stop consonants. JChLang 7. 41–74.Google Scholar
Malmberg, B. (1963). Phonetics. New York: Dover Publications.Google Scholar
Moskowitz, A. I. (1970). The two-year-old stage in the acquisition of English phonology. Lg 46. 426–41.Google Scholar
Tomas, T. Navarro (1968). Studies in Spanish phonology. Coral Gables: University of Miami Press.Google Scholar
Pike, K. L. (1947). Phonemics. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Srivastava, G. P. (1974). A child's acquisition of Hindi consonants. Indian Linguistics 35. 112–18.Google Scholar
Timm, L. A. (1976). Three consonants in Chicano Spanish: |x|, |b| and |d|. Bilingual Review 3. 153–62.Google Scholar
Williams, L. (1977). The voicing contrast in Spanish. JPhon 5. 169–84.Google Scholar
Zlatin, M. & Koenigsknecht, R. A. (1976). Development of the voicing contrast: a comparison of voice onset time in stop perception and production. JSHR 19. 93–111.Google Scholar