Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:21:37.338Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Syllable duration changes during babbling: a longitudinal study of French infant productions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2020

Mélanie CANAULT ,
Naomi YAMAGUCHI ,
Nikola PAILLEREAU ,
Jennifer KRZONOWSKI ,
Johanna-Pascale ROY ,
Christophe DOS SANTOS  and
Sophie KERN
Mélanie CANAULT*
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, UMR 5596 CNRS, Université Lumière Lyon 2 Institut des Sciences et Techniques de la Réadaptation, 69008Lyon, France
Naomi YAMAGUCHI
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie, UMR 7018 (Sorbonne-Nouvelle & CNRS), 75005Paris, France
Nikola PAILLEREAU
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie, UMR 7018 (Sorbonne-Nouvelle & CNRS), 75005Paris, France Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
Jennifer KRZONOWSKI
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, UMR 5596 CNRS, Université Lumière Lyon 2 Institut des Sciences et Techniques de la Réadaptation, 69008Lyon, France
Johanna-Pascale ROY
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de phonétique - Département de langues, linguistique et traduction - Université Laval – Quebec, Canada
Christophe DOS SANTOS
Affiliation:
UMR 1253, iBrain, Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours, France
Sophie KERN
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, UMR 5596 CNRS, Université Lumière Lyon 2 Institut des Sciences et Techniques de la Réadaptation, 69008Lyon, France
*
*Corresponding author: Mélanie Canault, Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage – Maison des Sciences de l'Homme 14, av. Berthelot 69363 Lyon Cedex 7 / France. E-mail: melanie.canault@univ-lyon1.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

At the babbling stage, the syllable does not have the temporal characteristics of adult syllables because of the infant's limited oro-motor skills. This research aims to further our knowledge of syllable duration and temporal variability and their evolution with age as an indicator of the development of articulatory skills. The possible impact of syllable position, as well as that of type of intrasyllabic associations and intersyllabic articulatory changes on these parameters has also been tested. Oral productions of 22 French infants were recorded monthly from 8 to 14 months. 11 261 Consonant-Vowel (CV) syllables were annotated and temporally analyzed. The mean duration varied according to syllable position, but not to the intrasyllabic or intersyllabic articulatory changes. Moreover, the syllable duration decreased significantly from the age of 10 months onwards, whereas the temporal variability remained the same.

Keywords

babblingoro-motor abilitiessyllabledurationtemporal variability
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 47 , Issue 6 , November 2020 , pp. 1207 - 1227
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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

Amayreh, M. M., & Dyson, A. T. (1998). The acquisition of Arabic consonants. Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 41(3), 642–653. https://doi.org/10.1044/jslhr.4103.642CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baayen, R. H., Davidson, D. J., & Bates, D. M. (2008). Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language, 59( 4), 390–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2017). Praat: doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 6.0.29, released May 24 from http://www.praat.org/Google Scholar
Canault, M., & Laboissière, R. (2011). Le babillage et le développement des compétences articulatoires: indices temporels et moteurs. Faits de Langue, 37, 173–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canault, M., Sock, R., & Perrier, P. (2010). Acquisition du contrôle temporel du cycle mandibulaire. Travaux de l'institut de phonétique de Strasbourg, 35, 1–15.Google Scholar
Crystal, T. H., & House, A. S. (1990). Articulation rate and the duration of syllables and stress groups in connected speech. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 88(1), 101–112. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.399955CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davis, B. L., & MacNeilage, P. F. (1995). The articulatory basis of babbling. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 38(6), 1199–1211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Boysson-Bardies, B., Bacri, N., Sagart, L., & Poizat, M. (1981). Timing in late babbling. Journal of Child Language, 8(03), 525–539. https://doi.org/10.1017/S030500090000341XCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delattre, P. (1962). Some Factors of Vowel Duration and Their Cross-Linguistic Validity. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 34(8), 1141–1143. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1918268CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dolata, J. K., Davis, B. L., & MacNeilage, P. F. (2008). Characteristics of the rhythmic organization of vocal babbling: Implications for an amodal linguistic rhythm. Infant Behavior and Development, 31(3), 422–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2007.12.014CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edwards, J., & Beckman, M. E. (2008). Some cross-linguistic evidence for modulation of implicational universals by language-specific frequency effects in phonological development. Language, Learning, and Development, 4(2), 122–156. https://doi:10.1080/15475440801922115CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fagan, M. K. (2009). Mean Length of Utterance before words and grammar: Longitudinal trends and developmental implications of infant vocalizations. Journal of Child Language, 36(03), 495–527. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000908009070CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, J. R., Moore, C. A., Higashikawa, M., & Steeve, R. W. (2000). The physiologic development of speech motor control: Lip and jaw coordination. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 43(1), 239–255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, J. R., Moore, C. A., & Reilly, K. J. (2002). The sequential development of jaw and lip control for speech. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45(1), 66–79. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2002/005)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, J. R., Nip, I. S., Maassen, B., & Van Lieshout, P. (2010). Some organization principles in early speech development. Speech Motor Control: New developments in basic and applied research, 171–188.Google Scholar
Green, J. R., & Wilson, E. M. (2006). Spontaneous facial motility in infancy: A 3D kinematic analysis. Developmental Psychobiology, 48(1), 16–28. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.20112CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Iverson, J. M. (2010). Developing language in a developing body: the relationship between motor development and language development. Journal of Child Language, 37(02), 229–261. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000909990432CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacewicz, E., Fox, R. A., O'Neill, C., & Salmons, J. (2009). Articulation rate across dialect, age, and gender. Language Variation and Change, 21(2), 233–256. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394509990093CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kern, S., & Gayraud, F. (2010). Inventaire Français du Développement Communicatif. Les éditions La Cigale, Grenoble.Google Scholar
Klatt, D. H. (1976). Linguistic uses of segmental duration in English: Acoustic and perceptual evidence. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 59(5), 1208–1221. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.380986CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levitt, A. G., & Wang, Q. (1991). Evidence for language-specific rhythmic influences in the reduplicative babbling of French-and English-learning infants. Language and Speech, 34(3), 235–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindblom, B. (1978). Final lengthening in speech and music. In Garding, E., Bruce, G., & Bannert, R. (Eds.), Nordic, prosody (pp. 85–101). Lund University: Department of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Lynch, M. P., Oller, D. K., Steffens, M. L., & Buder, E. H. (1995). Phrasing in prelinguistic vocalizations. Developmental Psychobiology, 28 (1), 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.420280103CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacNeilage, P. F. (1998). The frame/content theory of evolution of speech production. Behavioral and brain sciences, 21(04), 499–511.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacNeilage, P. F., & Davis, B. (1990). Acquisition of speech production: Frames, then content. In Jeannerod, M. (Ed.), Attention and performance 13: Motor representation and control (pp. 453–476). Hillsdale, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.Google Scholar
MacNeilage, P. F., Davis, B. L., Kinney, A., & Matyear, C. L. (2000). The motor core of speech: A comparison of serial organization patterns in infants and languages. Child development, 71, 153–163. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00129CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malécot, A., Johnston, R., & Kizziar, P. A. (1972). Syllabic rate and utterance length in French. Phonetica, 26, 235–251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maner, K. J., Smith, A., & Grayson, L. (2000). Influences of Utterance Length and Complexity on Speech Motor Performance in Children and Adults. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 43(2), 560–573. https://doi.org/10.1044/jslhr.4302.560CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moore, C. A., & Ruark, J. L. (1996). Does speech emerge from earlier appearing oral motor behaviors? Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 39(5), 1034–1047.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, L., & Wren, Y. E. (2018). A Systematic Review of the Literature on Early vocalizations and Babbling Patterns in Young Children. Communication Disorders Quarterly. 40(1), 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525740118760215CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murdoch, B. E., Cheng, H.-Y., & Goozée, J. V. (2012). Developmental changes in the variability of tongue and lip movements during speech from childhood to adulthood: An EMA study. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 26(3), 216–231. https://doi.org/10.3109/02699206.2011.604459CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nathani, S., Ertmer, D. J., & Stark, R. E. (2006). Assessing vocal development in infants and toddlers. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 20(5), 351–369. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699200500211451CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nathani, S., Oller, D.K., & Cobo-Lewis, A. B. (2003). Final Syllable Lengthening (FSL) in infant vocalizations. Journal of Child Language, 30(1), 3–25. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000902005433CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nip, I. S. B., & Green, J. R. (2013). Increases in Cognitive and Linguistic Processing Primarily Account for Increases in Speaking Rate With Age. Child Development, 84(4), 1324–1337. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12052CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nip, I. S. B., Green, J. R., & Marx, D. B. (2011). The co-emergence of cognition, language, and speech motor control in early development: A longitudinal correlation study. Journal of Communication Disorders, 44(2), 149–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2010.08.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nittrouer, S. (1993). The emergence of mature gestural patterns is not uniform: evidence from an acoustic study. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 36, 959–972. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.3605.959CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oller, D. K. (1973). The effect of position in utterance on speech segment duration in English. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 54(5), 1235–1247. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1914393CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oller, D. K. (1978). Infant vocalization and the development of speech. Allied Health and Behavioral Science, 1, 523–549.Google Scholar
Oller, D. K. (1980). The emergence of the sounds of speech in infancy. In Yeni-Komshian, G., Kavanagh, J., & Ferguson, C. (Eds.), Child phonology, Vol. 1: Production (pp. 93–112). New York: Academic Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oller, D. K., & Smith, B. L. (1977). Effect of final-syllable position on vowel duration in infant babbling. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 62(4), 994–997. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.381594CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pellegrino, F., Coupé, C., & Marsico, E. (2011). Across-language perspective on speech information rate. Language, 87(3), 539–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robb, M. P., & Saxman, J. H. (1990). Syllable durations of preword and early word vocalizations. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 33(3), 583–593. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.3303.583CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rome-Flanders, T., & Cronk, C. (1995). A longitudinal study of infant vocalizations during mother–infant games. Journal of Child Language, 22(02). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900009788CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roug, L., Landberg, I., & Lundberg, L.-J. (1989). Phonetic development in early infancy: a study of four Swedish children during the first eighteen months of life. Journal of Child Language, 16(01), 19–40. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900013416CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sadagopan, N., & Smith, A. (2008). Developmental Changes in the Effects of Utterance Length and Complexity on Speech Movement Variability. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51(5), 1138–1151. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2008/06-0222)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sharkey, S. G., & Folkins, W. (1985). Variability of Lip and Jaw Movements in Children and Adults: Implications for the Development of Speech Motor Control. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 28, 8–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schötz, S., Frid, J., & Löfqvist, A. (2013). Development of speech motor control: Lip movement variability. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 133(6), 4210–4217. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.4802649CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, B. L. (1978). Temporal aspects of English speech production: A developmental perspective. Journal of Phonetics, 6, 37–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B. L., Brown-Sweeney, S., & Stoel-Gammon, C. (1989). A quantitative analysis of reduplicated and variegated babbling. First Language, 9(6), 175–189. https://doi.org/10.1177/014272378900900605CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B. L., & Gartenberg, T. E. (1984). Initial observations concerning developmental characteristics of labio-mandibular kinematics. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 75(5), 1599–1605. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.390869CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, A., & Goffman, L. (1998). Stability and Patterning of Speech Movement Sequences in Children and Adults. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 41(1), 18–30. https://doi.org/10.1044/jslhr.4101.18CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, B. L., & McLean-Muse, A. (1986). Articulatory movement characteristics of labial consonant productions by children and adults. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 80(5), 1321–1328. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.394383CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, L. B., & Thelen, E. (2003). Development as a dynamic system. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 7(8), 343–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00156-6CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, A., & Zelaznik, H. N. (2004). Development of functional synergies for speech motor coordination in childhood and adolescence. Developmental Psychobiology, 45(1), 22–33. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.20009CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steeve, R. W., & Moore, C. A. (2009). Mandibular motor control during the early development of speech and nonspeech behaviors. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 52(6), 1530–1554. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0020)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stoel-Gammon, C. (1989). Prespeech and early speech development of two late talkers. First Language, 9(6), 207–223. https://doi.org/10.1177/014272378900900607CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thelen, E. (1991). Motor aspects of emergent speech: A dynamic approach. In Krasnegor, N. A., Rumbaugh, D. M., Schiefelbusch, R. L., & Studdert-Kennedy, M. (Eds.), Biological and Behavioral Determinants of Language Development (pp. 339–362). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Thelen, E., & Smith, L.B. (1994). A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Tiffany, W. R. (1980). The Effects of Syllable Structure on Diadochokinetic and Reading Rates. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 23(4), 894–908. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.2304.894CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tyler, A., & Edwards, M. (1993). Lexical acquisition and acquisition of initial voiceless stops. Journal of Child Language, 20(2), 253–273. https://doi:10.1017/S0305000900008278CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker, J. F., Archibald, L. M. D., Cherniak, S. R., & Fish, V. G. (1992). Articulation Rate in 3- and 5-Year-Old Children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 35(1), 4–13. https://doi.org/10.1044/jshr.3501.04CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker, J. F., & Archibald, L. M. D. (2006). Articulation rate in preschool children: A 3‐year longitudinal study. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 41(5), 541–565. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428190500343043CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walsh, B., & Smith, A. (2002). Articulatory Movements in Adolescents: Evidence for Protracted Development of Speech Motor Control Processes. 15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, E. M., & Green, J. R. (2009). The development of jaw motion for mastication. Early Human Development, 85 (5), 303–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2008.12.003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woda, A., Foster, K., Mishellany, A., & Peyron, M. A. (2006). Adaptation of healthy mastication to factors pertaining to the individual or to the food. Physiology & Behavior, 89(1), 28–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2006.02.013CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yamaguchi, N., dos Santos, C., & Kern, S. (2015). Ce que révèle l'ordre d'acquisition des classes naturelles à propos des harmonies consonantiques. Lidil. Revue de linguistique et de didactique des langues, 51, 89–117.Google Scholar