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An experimental test of phonemic cyclicity*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Judith A. Gierut
Judith A. Gierut*
Affiliation:
Indiana University
*
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA, Internet: [email protected]
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Abstract

Laryngeal-supralaryngeal cyclicity has been put forth as an acquisition principle that describes expansion of the phonemic inventory as a bivalent cycle with alternations between the elaboration of laryngeal and supralaryngeal properties of the system (Gierut, 1994). This study evaluated experimentally the claims of the principle by manipulating the domain of the cycle and the phase relationship of the cycle as independent variables, and by monitoring longitudinally the order of emergent phonemic distinctions in the sound systems of seven children with phonological delays (aged 3;4 to 5;8) as the dependent variable. Three general findings emerged: (1) the course of acquisition for all children was consistent with cyclicity; (2) there were no differences in phonemic acquisition between children taught a laryngeal as opposed to a supralaryngeal distinction; and (3) children taught out-of-phase with the cycle evidenced greater phonemic expansion than those taught inphase with the cycle.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 1996 , pp. 81 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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Footnotes

[*]

This research was supported in part by grants (DC 00076, DC 01694) from the National Institutes of Health to Indiana University. Daniel Dinnsen provided helpful commentary throughout this project. Jessica Barlow, Jennifer Huljak and Michele Morrisette assisted in data transcription, management and analyses; Holly Storkel provided clinical treatment to the children. Portions of this paper were presented at the 1994 Boston University Conference on Language Development.

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