PUBLICATIONS

Permanent link for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2022/20064

The PUBLICATIONS collection includes a bibliography of published work generated from the Learnability Project, with links to all manuscripts; this bibliography is also available in the BASICS collection. The PUBLICATIONS collection provides access to only those limited publications where permission was granted by the publisher for deposit in an institutional repository pursuant to copyright law.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 66

Some typological properties of functional misarticulation systems
(Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft, 1980) Dinnsen, Daniel A.; Elbert, Mary; Weismer, Gary
Experimental methods and insights from speech remediation
(Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft, 1981) Dinnsen, Daniel A.; Elbert, Mary; McReynolds, Leija
Some phonology problems from functional speech disorders
(IULC Publications, 1981) Dinnsen, Daniel A.; Maxwell, Edith M.
A problem of allophonic variation in a speech disordered child
(IULC Publications, 1987) Williams, A. Lynn; Dinnsen, Daniel A.
Statistical analysis of word-initial /k/ and /t/ produced by normal and phonologically disordered children
(Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, 1990) Forrest, Karen; Weismer, Gary; Hodge, Megan; Elbert, Mary; Dinnsen, Daniel A.
The acoustic characteristics of voiceless velar and alveolar stop consonants were investigated for normally articulating and phonologically disordered children using spectral moments. All the disordered children were perceived to produce It/ for /k/, with /k/ being absent from their phonetic inventories. Approximately 82% of the normally articulating children's consonants were classified correctly by discriminant function analysis, on the basis of the mean (first moment), skewness (third moment) and kurtosis (fourth moment) derived from the first 40 ms of the VOT interval. When the discriminant function developed for the normally articulating children was applied to the speech of the phonologically disordered group of children, no distinction was made between the velar and alveolar stops. Application of the model to the speech of individual children in the disordered group revealed that one child produced distinct markings to the velar-alveolar contrast. Variability measures of target /t/ and /k/ utterances indicated greater variability in this disordered child's productions compared with the normally articulating children. Phonological analysis of this child's speech after treatment, in which the velar-alveolar contrast was not treated, revealed target appropriate productions of both It/ and /k/. By contrast, the other three phonologically disordered children, for whom no acoustic distinction was found between target It/ and target /k/, did not evidence any knowledge of the contrast after treatment with other target phonemes.
Homonymy in phonological change
(Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, 1991) Gierut, Judith A.
This study examines the role of homonymy as a motivator of phonological change in treatment. The relative effectiveness of two treatment structures in improving the production of treated and untreated error sounds was evaluated. One treatment structure emphasized homonymous forms by comparing 1:1 a desired ambient target with its corresponding replacement error from the child's grammar, consistent with conventional minimal pair treatment (Weiner, 1981). The other treatment did not focus on homonymy, nor did it make explicit reference to a child's grammar. In line with treatment of the empty or unknown set (Gierut, 1989), two errored sounds were simply compared with each other. Differential learning was observed among the treatments such that the non-homonymous structure resulted in greater accuracies of treated sounds and in more new untreated sounds being added to the phonological system. The findings have potential implications for the status of homonymy in phonological change and in the structure of phonological treatment.
Feature geometry in disordered phonologies
(Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, 1991) Chin, Steven B.; Dinnsen, Daniel A.
Two types of systems are in general use for the description and classification of consonants in disordered phonological systems: conventional place-voice-manner and standard distinctive features. This paper proposes the use of a third model, feature geometry, which is an analysis framework recently developed in the linguistic study of primary languages. Feature geometry allows for relatively independent behaviour of individual distinctive features, but also organizes them into hierarchies in order to capture the fact that features very often act together in rules. Application of the feature geometry to the study of the phonologies of 40 misarticulating children, specifically to the phenomena of apparent cluster coalescence, fricative/affricate alternations, and alveolar stop/glottal stop alternations, reveals that feature geometry provides better explanations for representations and rules in disordered systems than either of the other two frameworks.
Teaching and learning /θ/: A non-confound
(Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, 1992) Gierut, Judith A.; Neumann, Heidi J.
The purpose of this study was to replicate and extend the findings on the effectiveness of homonymous versus non-homonymous treatment approaches for children with phonological disorders, following Gierut (1991b). The present study was motivated by a potential confound noted in the previous report; namely, the specific sounds /θ, ð/ treated in the presumably less effective homonymous condition may have inhibited degree of phonological change. It was thus necessary to teach these more difficult, late-acquired interdental fricatives in the more effective non-homonymous treatment condition using identical methods and procedures. Results indicated that a non-homonymous teaching approach again motivated greater phonological change than a homonymous approach, regardless of sounds that were taught. These findings have implications for the independence of linguistic structures of treatment in inducing sound change, and bear upon assumptions about ease of sound learning based on normative developmental sequences.
Geometric accounts of consonant-vowel interactions in developing systems
(Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, 1993) Gierut, Judith A.; Cho, Mi-Hui; Dinnsen, Daniel A.
Phenomena associated with consonant-vowel interactions are examined relative to three general models of feature geometry which differ in the planar relationship of consonants and vowels. The data come from reports of developing phonological systems, both normal and disordered. Geometric analyses reveal that consonants and vowels are fully integrated in the earliest stages of development such that the place specification of consonants is primarily derived from the vowel. However, change through development requires modifications either in the principles of place association, the degree of feature specification, or the planar representation of consonants and vowels.
Spectral analysis of target-appropriate /t/ and /k/ produced by phonologically disordered and normally articulating children
(Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, 1994) Forrest, Karen; Weismer, Gary; Elbert, Mary; Dinnsen, Daniel A.
Previous research (Forrest, Weismer, Hodge, Dinnsen and Elbert, 1990) has shown that some phonologically disordered children differentially mark seemingly homophonous phonemes; however, the resulting contrast may be spectrally distinct from that produced by normally articulating children of the same age. In the present investigation possible sources for these differences between normally articulating and phonologically disordered children's productions of target-appropriate phonemes were pursued. Spectral characteristics of seemingly correct productions of /t/ and /k/ in word-initial position were analysed for four normally articulating and seven phonologically disordered children to assess the effect of recency of acquisition, depth of knowledge of the contrast and/or the effect of a phonological disorder on accuracy and variability of production. Results revealed that children who had acquired the velar-alveolar contrast more recently, and who had incomplete knowledge of that contrast, produced target-appropriate /t/ and /k/ differently from their normally articulating peers and other phonologically disordered children with greater knowledge of the contrast. Further, the phonologically disordered children with incomplete knowledge of the velar-alveolar contrast were less variable than the other phonologically disordered or normally articulating children in the spectral characteristics across repeated productions. Analysis of the spectral characteristics of word-initial /t/ and /k/ at a later point in time indicated similarities between all speaker groups in the spectral parameters that distinguished the velar from the alveolar stop. However, the stability of these parameters across repeated productions decreased for the phonologically disordered children with greater knowledge of the contrast. These effects are related to motor skill development and found to be consistent with previously demonstrated patterns of skill acquisition.
Triggering a principle of phonemic acquisition
(Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, 1996) Gierut, Judith A.; Morrisette, Michele L.
This experimental clinical study evaluated different treatment manipulations of the principle of Laryngeal-Supralaryngeal Cyclicity as a follow-up to Gierut (1994b). Laryngeal-Supralaryngeal Cyclicity states that the acquisition of phonemic distinctions will occur as a bivalent cycle with laryngeal and supralaryngeal distinctions emerging in turn. In this study, children with seemingly static phonemic systems participated in a treatment programme that introduced sequentially new distinctions to the inventory. One child was presented with alternating laryngeal and supralaryngeal properties consistent with the principle, whereas the other child was exposed only to consecutive supralaryngeal distinctions. Results indicated that the latter treatment condition triggered greater phonemic expansion, as based on the longitudinal course of emergent phonemic distinctions for each child. These findings were comparable to those of the earlier investigation, and have implications for treatment efficacy and theories of language acquisition.
Context effects in acquisition of fricatives
(Cascadilla Press, 1996) Dinnsen, Daniel A.
Featural categories in English phonemic acquisition
(Cascadilla Press, 1996) Gierut, Judith A.
Long-distance place assimilation with an interacting error pattern in phonological acquisition
(Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, 1997) Dinnsen, Daniel A.; Barlow, Jessica A.; Morrisette, Michele L.
Two commonly occurring and independent error patterns in children's early speech are examined to determine how and to what extent they might interact. One error pattern replaces velar consonants with coronals, and the other replaces a coronal with a consonant that agrees in place of articulation with some other consonant elsewhere in the word. A range of interactions is observed within and across children with regard to whether the product of one error pattern can serve as the target of the other. The different interactions motivate different claims about the nature and substance of children's underlying representations, which in some cases may differ from those of the ambient system. An extension to underspecification theory is advanced which allows underlying representations to be radically underspecified and in certain cases also to be specified for a default feature.
Impact of substitution patterns on phonological learning by misarticulating children
(Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, 1997) Forrest, Karen; Elbert, Mary; Dinnsen, Daniel A.
Learning and generalization of treated sounds to different word positions is a desired outcome of intervention in the phonologically disordered child's system. Unfortunately, children do not always learn the sounds that is treated; nor do they always demonstrate across-word generalization. One possible explanation for differences in treatment outcome may relate to the pretreatment substitution patterns used by different disordered children. This post-hos analysis of treatment data examines the effects of sound learning and generalization of consistent versus inconsistent substitutes. With a consistent substitute across-word position (CS), the same phone was used in initial, medial and final position for a phoneme that was not in the child's inventory. An inconsistent substitute was evidenced by a different phone for a target sound in each position of a world (InAP), or even within word position (InWP) for an error sound. Fourteen children with severe phonological disorders were treated on an obstruent in initial or final word position. Seven of these children had a consistent substitute for the treated obstruent, two children had variable substitutes across word position, and five children had variable substitutes within and across word position. The analysis revealed a tight relationship between pretreatment substitution patterns and learning. The seven children with a consistent substitute for an error sound learned the sound targeted in treatment and generalized this knowledge to other word positions. Children who had variable substitutes across word position learned the treated sound, but only in the treated word position. Four of the five children in the InWP group did not learn to produce the sound targeted in treatment in any word position. These results suggest the pretreatment substitution patterns may be a predictor of learning and generalization in phonologically disordered children.
Lexical properties in implementation of sound change
(Cascadilla Press, 1998) Gierut, Judith A.; Morrisette, Michele L.
Root and manner feature faithfulness in acquisition
(Cascadilla Press, 1998) Dinnsen, Daniel A.; Barlow, Jessica A.
Natural domains of cyclicity in phonological acquisition
(Taylor & Francis Health Sciences, 1998) Gierut, Judith A.
This study expands and further validates cyclicity in the course of phonological development by exploring a potential relationship between the acquisition of singletons and clusters. The hypothesis is that children will acquire singletons followed by clusters in an alternating and recursive pattern, in complement to observed subsegmental cyclicity involving larnygeal and supralaryngeal distinctions. Six children with functional phonological disorders participated in one of three experimental conditions administered as a staggered multiple-baseline, multiple-probe design: treatment of singletons only, clusters only, or the singleton-cluster cycle. Results indicated that a singleton-cluster cycle could be induced experimentally, but it was not generally sustained by a child in expansion of the phonological repertoire. In comparison, laryngeal-supralaryngeal cyclicity was consistently maintained by all children, independent of experimental condition. A theoretical implication of these findings is that cyclicity functions as a governing principle of phonological development, but only if it is inherent to the natural domain of language. The clinical application of cyclicity in structuring treatment is considered.
Variation and emerging faithfulness in phonological acquisition
(Cascadilla Press, 1999) Dinnsen, Daniel A.; McGarrity, Laura W.
Sublexical influences on lexical development in children
(Speech Research Laboratory, IU, 1999) Storkel, Holly L.
Previous experimental research has found that adults and infants are sensitive to the likelihood of occurrence of sequences of segments, or probabilistic phonotactics, in the ambient language. One hypothesis that emerges from this finding is that probabilistic phonotactics, a sublexical factor, may influence rate of lexical acquisition. Preliminary results are reported from a study involving 21 typically developing preschool children. Children participated in a multi-trial word learning task involving eight nonwords of varying phonotactic probability. Each nonword was paired with a picture of an unusual object having no apparent corresponding label in English. Referent and item identification tasks were used to monitor lexical acquisition during learning and retention trials. Results indicated that high probability nonwords were learned with fewer exposures than low probability nonwords across both test measures. This finding suggests that sublexical representations influence lexical development in children.

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