Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T22:23:50.190Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Phonetic variation in multisyllable babbling*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Pamela R. Mitchell  and
Raymond D. Kent
Pamela R. Mitchell*
Affiliation:
Summit Center for Human Development
Raymond D. Kent
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
*
P.O. Box 4332, Star City, West Virginia 26504, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This investigation examined phonetic variation in multisyllable babbling of infants from 0;7 to 0;11. The basis of this investigation was to examine assumptions present in major models of infant vocal development which suggest systematic developmental increases in phonetic variation of these babbles, and posit separate stages of repetitive (multisyllables with non-varied phonetic elements) and non-repetitive (phonetically varied multisyllables) babbling. Eight infants were audiotaperecorded in their homes at ages 0;7, 0;9 and 0;11. The multisyllable vocalizations were categorized based on the presence or absence of phonetic variation, and the source of that variation (place change, manner change or both). Multisyllables were produced with phonetic variation at or near the beginning of multisyllable babbling, which failed to support the existence of distinct stages of repetitive and nonrepetitive babbling.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , June 1990 , pp. 247 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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.)

Footnotes

*

This investigation was completed as a portion of the first author's dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, under the direction of the second author. Robin Chapman, Jon Miller, Charles Reed, and Dee Vetter provided helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this manuscript.

References

REFERENCES

Carson, L. & Wiegand, R. (1979). Motor schema formation and retention in young children: a test of Schmidt's schema theory. Journal of Motor Behaviour 11. 247–51.Google Scholar
Eibers, L. (1982). Operating principles in repetitive babbling: a cognitive continuity approach. Cognition 12. 45–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fentress, J. (1983). Hierarchical motor control. In Studdert-Kennedy, M. (ed.), Psychobiology of language. Cambridge: M.I.T. Press.Google Scholar
Holmgren, K., Lindblom, B., Aurelius, G., Jailing, B. & Zetterstrom, R. (1986). On the phonetics of infant vocalization. In Lindblom, B. & Zetterstrom, R. (eds), Precursors of early speech. New York: Stockton Press.Google Scholar
Ingram, D. V. (1981). Some characteristics of delayed phonological systems. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 379. 138–43.Google Scholar
Johnson, P. (1984). The acquisition of skill. In Smyth, M. & Wing, A. (eds), The psychology of human movement. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Kent, R. & Hodge, M. (1989). Oral-verbal morphogenesis: continuity and process in early speech behaviors. Paper presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Kent, R. & Murray, A. (1982). Acoustic features of infant vocalic utterances at three, six and nine months. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 72. 353–65.Google Scholar
Koopmans-van Beinum, F. & van der Stelt, J. (1986). Early stages in the development of speech movements. In Lindblom, B. & Zetterstrom, R. (eds), Precursors of early speech. New York: Stockton Press.Google Scholar
Locke, J. (1983). Phonological acquisition and change. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Oiler, D. (1980). The emergence of the sounds of speech in infancy. In Yeni-Komshian, G., Kavanagh, J. & Ferguson, C. A. (eds), Child phonology: production. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Oller, D., Wieman, L., Doyle, W. & Ross, C. (1976). Infant babbling and speech. Journal of Child Language 3. 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rochester, S. (1973). The significance of pauses in spontaneous speech. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 2. 51–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schmidt, R. (1975). A schema theory of discrete motor skill learning. Psychological Review 82, 225–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, R., Leonard, L., Wilcox, J. & Folger, K. (1980). Again and again: reduplication in child phonology. Journal of Child Language 7. 75–87.Google Scholar
Smith, B., Brown-Sweeney, S. & Stoel-Gammon, C. (1988). A quantitative analysis of reduplicated and variegated babbling. Paper presented at the Child Phonology Conference, University of Illinois-Urbana.Google Scholar
Stark, R. (1978). Features of infant sounds: the emergence of cooing. Journal of Child Language 5. 379–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stark, R. (1979). Prespeech segmental feature development. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (eds), Language acquisition. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Stark, R. (1980). Stages of speech development in the first year of life. In Yeni-Komshian, G., Kavanagh, J. & Ferguson, C. A. (eds), Child phonology. Vol. 1. Production. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Stark, R. & Bond, J. (1983). Characteristics of reduplicated babbling in 6 to 8 month old infants. Paper presented at the tooth meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, San Diego.Google Scholar
Vihman, M. M., Macken, M. A., Miller, R., Simmons, H. & Miller, J. (1985). From babbling to speech: a reassessment of the continuity issue. Language 61. 397–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winitz, H. (1961). Repetitions in the vocalizations and speech of children in the first two years of life. ASHA Monograph Supplement, 7.Google Scholar