ERIC Number: EJ938342
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Sep
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0023-8309
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Acquisition of Initial /s/-Stop and Stop-/s/ Sequences in Greek
Syrika, Asimina; Nicolaidis, Katerina; Edwards, Jan; Beckman, Mary E.
Language and Speech, v54 n3 p361-386 Sep 2011
Previous work on children's acquisition of complex sequences points to a tendency for affricates to be acquired before clusters, but there is no clear evidence of a difference in order of acquisition between clusters with /s/ that violate the Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP), such as /s/ followed by stop in onset position, and other clusters that obey the SSP. One problem with studies that have compared the acquisition of SSP-obeying and SSP-violating clusters is that the component sounds in the two types of sequences were different. This paper examines the acquisition of initial /s/-stop and stop-/s/ sequences by sixty Greek children aged 2 through 5 years. Results showed greater accuracy for the /s/-stop relative to the stop-/s/ sequences, but no difference in accuracy between /ts/, which is usually analyzed as an affricate in Greek, and the other stop-/s/ sequences. Moreover, errors for the /s/-stop sequences and /ts/ primarily involved stop substitutions, whereas errors for /ps/ and /ks/ were more variable and often involved fricative substitutions, a pattern which may have a perceptual explanation. Finally, /ts/ showed a distinct temporal pattern relative to the stop-/s/ clusters /ps/ and /ks/, similar to what has been reported for productions of Greek adults. (Contains 5 figures and 6 tables.)
Descriptors: Greek, Language Acquisition, Young Children, Phonemes, Error Patterns, Acoustics, Error Analysis (Language), Time, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Greece
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A