Este estudo pretendeu verificar como aprendizes de inglês (L2) do sul do Brasil percebem, em termos de ponto de articulação, consoantes plosivas surdas sem soltura audível em codas simples finais de palavras do inglês. A pesquisa contou com 17 acadêmicos do primeiro semestre do curso de graduação em Letras, matriculados na disciplina Inglês I, turmas A e B, da UFRGS. Os acadêmicos foram submetidos ao Oxford Placement Test (ALLAN, 2004), que apontou duas categorias, básico e intermediário. Para medir a acurácia quanto ao ponto de articulação das consoantes propostas, foram aplicados dois testes de percepção: (a) teste de identificação perceptual, com 81 questões e (b) teste de discriminação categórica [de acordo com o modelo ABX (LIBERMAN et al. 1957)], com 135 questões. As palavras que serviram como estímulos auditivos nos testes foram selecionadas segundo a estrutura silábica CVC e equidistribuídas de acordo com as vogais [], [] e [] (como em ―beep”, ―lit”, ―sack”). Todas as palavras foram gravadas por três falantes nativos de inglês americano, gênero masculino, provenientes do oeste americano. De modo a verificar se a instrução explícita sobre o fenômeno da não soltura de oclusivas teria papel sobre a acuidade na percepção dos pontos de articulação das consoantes, os acadêmicos foram alocados em dois grupos: (a) grupo experimental, que recebeu instrução sobre o fenômeno, contando com 10 alunos; e (b) grupo controle, o qual foi composto de 7 alunos que não receberam qualquer instrução sobre o fenômeno. Os testes foram conduzidos no Laboratório de Línguas da universidade e executados durante 25 minutos em média. Através dos experimentos mencionados, os resultados mostram que: (a) os pontos de articulação labial e velar obtiveram maiores índices de acuidade; (b) as vogais nucleares [] e [] são as que favorecem a percepção do ponto de articulação das consoantes abordadas; (c) o grupo experimental obteve maiores índices de acuidade quando comparado ao grupo controle; e (d) os acadêmicos de nível intermediário apresentam maiores índices de acuidade, comparados aos acadêmicos de nível básico. / This study aimed to investigate how Southern Brazilian EFL learners perceive, in terms of distinctions in place of articulation, the English unreleased voiceless stops in word-final position. Seventeen undergraduate students of English from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul participated in this research study. The participants took the Oxford Placement Test (Allan, 2004), which grouped them in two levels of proficiency (basic and intermediate). In order to determine the perceptual accuracy regarding the place of articulation of the three consonants, two perception tasks were applied: (a) a perceptual identification task, containing 81 questions, and (b) a categorical discrimination task, following the ABX pattern (Liberman et al., 1957), with 135 questions. The words which served as auditory stimuli in both tasks were selected to meet the CVC syllabic structure and were equidistributed according to the vowels [], [], and [], as in ―beat”, “bit”, “bat”. The stimuli were recorded by three male native speakers of American English. In order to check whether explicit instruction regarding wordfinal consonant unrelease would play a role in the perception of the consonants‘ places of articulation, the participants were divided into two groups: (a) an experimental group, which has been instructed on the phenomenon, composed by 10 students; and (b) a control group, which refers to 7 students who were not instructed on the phonetic aspect researched. The tasks were conducted in the Language Laboratory of the university and took the participants around 25 minutes to be done. The results are the following: (a) the labial and velar places of articulation had higher levels of accuracy; (b) the nuclear vowels [] and [] are the ones that optimize the perception of the consonants‘ place of articulation; (c) the experimental group showed higher levels of accuracy, when compared to the control group; and (d) intermediate students show higher levels of accuracy in the perception tasks, when compared to the basic students.

Este estudo pretendeu verificar como aprendizes de inglês (L2) do sul do Brasil percebem, em termos de ponto de articulação, consoantes plosivas surdas sem soltura audível em codas simples finais de palavras do inglês. A pesquisa contou com 17 acadêmicos do primeiro semestre do curso de graduação em Letras, matriculados na disciplina Inglês I, turmas A e B, da UFRGS. Os acadêmicos foram submetidos ao Oxford Placement Test (ALLAN, 2004), que apontou duas categorias, básico e intermediário. Para medir a acurácia quanto ao ponto de articulação das consoantes propostas, foram aplicados dois testes de percepção: (a) teste de identificação perceptual, com 81 questões e (b) teste de discriminação categórica [de acordo com o modelo ABX (LIBERMAN et al. 1957)], com 135 questões. As palavras que serviram como estímulos auditivos nos testes foram selecionadas segundo a estrutura silábica CVC e equidistribuídas de acordo com as vogais [], [] e [] (como em ―beep”, ―lit”, ―sack”). Todas as palavras foram gravadas por três falantes nativos de inglês americano, gênero masculino, provenientes do oeste americano. De modo a verificar se a instrução explícita sobre o fenômeno da não soltura de oclusivas teria papel sobre a acuidade na percepção dos pontos de articulação das consoantes, os acadêmicos foram alocados em dois grupos: (a) grupo experimental, que recebeu instrução sobre o fenômeno, contando com 10 alunos; e (b) grupo controle, o qual foi composto de 7 alunos que não receberam qualquer instrução sobre o fenômeno. Os testes foram conduzidos no Laboratório de Línguas da universidade e executados durante 25 minutos em média. Através dos experimentos mencionados, os resultados mostram que: (a) os pontos de articulação labial e velar obtiveram maiores índices de acuidade; (b) as vogais nucleares [] e [] são as que favorecem a percepção do ponto de articulação das consoantes abordadas; (c) o grupo experimental obteve maiores índices de acuidade quando comparado ao grupo controle; e (d) os acadêmicos de nível intermediário apresentam maiores índices de acuidade, comparados aos acadêmicos de nível básico. / This study aimed to investigate how Southern Brazilian EFL learners perceive, in terms of distinctions in place of articulation, the English unreleased voiceless stops in word-final position. Seventeen undergraduate students of English from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul participated in this research study. The participants took the Oxford Placement Test (Allan, 2004), which grouped them in two levels of proficiency (basic and intermediate). In order to determine the perceptual accuracy regarding the place of articulation of the three consonants, two perception tasks were applied: (a) a perceptual identification task, containing 81 questions, and (b) a categorical discrimination task, following the ABX pattern (Liberman et al., 1957), with 135 questions. The words which served as auditory stimuli in both tasks were selected to meet the CVC syllabic structure and were equidistributed according to the vowels [], [], and [], as in ―beat”, “bit”, “bat”. The stimuli were recorded by three male native speakers of American English. In order to check whether explicit instruction regarding wordfinal consonant unrelease would play a role in the perception of the consonants‘ places of articulation, the participants were divided into two groups: (a) an experimental group, which has been instructed on the phenomenon, composed by 10 students; and (b) a control group, which refers to 7 students who were not instructed on the phonetic aspect researched. The tasks were conducted in the Language Laboratory of the university and took the participants around 25 minutes to be done. The results are the following: (a) the labial and velar places of articulation had higher levels of accuracy; (b) the nuclear vowels [] and [] are the ones that optimize the perception of the consonants‘ place of articulation; (c) the experimental group showed higher levels of accuracy, when compared to the control group; and (d) intermediate students show higher levels of accuracy in the perception tasks, when compared to the basic students.

ABSTRACT The purpose of the current study was to compare speech samples elicited with four different methods regarding speech sound production errors. Nine Swedish-speaking children with SSD (Speech Sound Disorder) participated. A new method of speech elicitation was introduced, a narrative task using a silent short film as a prompt. Severity of involvement of the speech sound production was measured using PCC-R (Percentage of Consonants Correct-Revised), as well as a new severity metric, PSC (Percentage of Syllables Correct). Speech error patterns were also analyzed. All four methods of speech elicitation are suggested to be useful clinical tools for phonological assessment. The elicitation methods yielded similar results. However, the results indicated that a higher degree of control and phonological complexity in a task generally yield lower severity measures and more types of speech error patterns. The definition of SSD used in this study includes several clinical diagnoses used by speech and language pathologists. The participants’ results were therefore analyzed regarding clinical diagnosis. No difference was found. This first evaluation of PSC shows that it is a promising new severity metric, and that its strength lies first and foremost in the possibility to include unintelligible speech. The evaluation of the new elicitation task shows that narration of a silent short film as a prompt is promising as well. The results yielded indicate a gain in degree of control combined with a preserved high ecological validity associated with speech elicitation methods yielding conversational speech. SAMMANFATTNING Syftet med den här studien var att undersöka variation av avvikelser i språkljudsproduktionen hos nio svensktalande barn med språkljudsstörning vid fyra olika taluppgifter. En av de fyra uppgifterna innefattade en ny eliciteringsstrategi: berättande till ljudlös film. Grad av avvikelse undersöktes genom beräkning av PCC-R (Percentage of Consonants Correct-Revised), samt ett nytt mått, PSC (Percentage of Syllables Correct). Även avvikelsetyper undersöktes. Resultatet tyder på att samtliga undersökta taluppgifter kan vara användbara kliniska verktyg. Även om ingen skillnad kunde påvisas mellan deltagarnas grad av avvikelse vid de fyra taluppgifterna, sågs en tendens till att en hög styrningsgrad och fonologisk komplexitet av målorden ger upphov till en lägre träffsäkerhet i språkljudsproduktionen och ökar antalet olika avvikelsetyper som förekommer. Definitionen av språkljudsstörning inkluderar olika logopediska diagnoser. I denna studie kunde barnens diagnostillhörighet inte förklara variationer i resultaten. Den första utvärderingen av PSC visar att det är ett lovande nytt mått på träffsäkerhet i språkljudsproduktionen, och att dess styrka framför allt ligger i möjligheten att inkludera oförståeligt tal. Även denna första utvärdering av den nya eliciteringsmetoden berättande till ljudlös film är lovande. Resultaten tyder på en högre styrningsgrad samtidigt som den ekologiska validiteten i sammanhängande tal till stor del bibehållits.

Le travail a porté sur la perception du trait de voisement des consonnes occlusives en position initiale et dont l’indice acoustique principal est le Délai d’Etablissement du Voisement (DEV: délai entre la fin de l’occlusion de la consonne et le début des vibrations des cordes vocales; VOT en anglais). <p>Une première étude a concerné la ‘bascule phonologique’ c’est à dire le passage d’un mode de perception universel à un mode de perception phonologique spécifique à la langue. L'analyse des variations du rythme cardiaque de nourrissons francophones exposés à des syllabes /də/ et /tə/ variant sur un continuum de DEV a montré une sensibilité aux frontières universelles (-30 et +30 ms de DEV) à 4 mois et à la frontière phonologique du français (0 ms de DEV) à 8 mois. <p>L'objectif d'une autre étude a été de déterminer si la maturation de la perception du voisement était liée à l’apprentissage de la lecture ou si elle résultait d’une maturation cognitive plus globale. Des enfants de 5, 6 ,7 et 8 ans ainsi que des adultes francophones ont été soumis à des tâches d’identification et de discrimination pour trois types de continua différents :voisement (syllabes (/də/ et /tə/) ;couleurs (jaune et vert) et expressions faciales (joie-peur). Alors que la perception catégorielle des couleurs était présente dès 5 ans, le développement de la perception des expressions faciales était plus tardif et similaire à celui du voisement, ce qui suggère que ce dernier ne dépend pas de la lecture. <p>Par ailleurs, les potentiels auditifs évoqués par la présentation des syllabes /də/ et /tə/ dont le DEV variait entre -75 et +75 ms ont été enregistrés chez des adultes francophones. L’analyse de la morphologie (simple vs double pic) de deux sous-composantes de la N100 (N1b et Na), a montré chez ces sujets adultes une sensibilité résiduelle aux frontières universelles de voisement auxquelles les nourrissons de 4 mois étaient également sensibles. Par contre, aucune sensibilité résiduelle à la frontière phonologique du français n'est apparue. <p>Les implications théoriques de l’ensemble de ces résultats sont discutées à la lumière des modèles existants.<p> / Doctorat en sciences psychologiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This diploma thesis deals with pronunciation of English speakers in Czech, especially with assimilation of voicing. The theoretical part describes Czech and English consonants, speech processes in both languages, factors influencing foreign accent and textbook analysis focusing on the practice of assimilation of voicing. The following part presents a research with 12 English native speakers. From these analyses, conclusions were drawn about the correctness of pronunciation and also about the correctness of assimilation of voices in general and for individual speakers. On the basis of the obtained data, a didactic plan for this phenomenon was created. Key words: English, Czech as a foreign language, assimilation of voicing, pronunciation, consonants, voicing, phonetics

Consonnes et voyelles sont les deux catégories de sons qui composent la parole. Elles se distinguent à divers niveaux et notamment servent des fonctions linguistiques différentes. Cette asymétrie consonne/voyelle établie chez les adultes, a conduit Nespor, Peña et Mehler (2003) à suggérer un partage du travail dès la naissance, les consonnes facilitant l'acquisition des mots tandis que les voyelles aideraient à apprendre les règles de grammaire. La validité développementale de cette hypothèse est explorée par l'étude de ses origines chez les bébés français. Premièrement, nos études d'imagerie cérébrale optique montrent que consonnes et voyelles sont également traitées par les mécanismes précurseurs de l'apprentissage syntaxique à la naissance (Exp. 1 - 3). Deuxièmement, nos études sur la reconnaissance du prénom chez les enfants de 5 mois montrent une sensibilité à une modification vocalique (Alix/Elix) chez les bébés monolingues, mais pas à une modification consonantique en position initiale (Victor/Zictor) chez les bébés monolingues et bilingues, ou finale chez les monolingues (Luca/Luga; Exp. 4 - 9). Au stade des premiers mots, le traitement lexical privilégie donc les voyelles. Nos résultats contribuent à la compréhension des origines développementales de l'asymétrie fonctionnelle consonne/voyelle, et du rôle spécifique de la langue native dans son émergence. / Speech is composed of two categories of sound, i.e. consonants and vowels, which have different properties and serve different linguistic functions. This consonant/vowel asymmetry, which is established in adults, has led Nespor, Peña and Mehler (2003) to suggest a division of labor present from birth, whereby consonants would facilitate lexical acquisition while vowels would help to learn grammatical rules of language. We have explored the developmental validity of this hypothesis by studying its origins in French-learning infants. First, our optical brain imaging studies show that both consonants and vowels provide input for precursory mechanisms of syntax processing (Exp. 1 - 3). Secondly, our studies on own-name recognition at 5 months demonstrate sensitivity to a vowel mispronunciation in monolingual infants (Alix/Elix), but fail to show a reaction to a consonant mispronunciation in initial position (Victor/Zictor) for monolinguals and bilinguals, or in final position (Luca/Luga) for monolinguals (Exp. 4 - 9). Thus, vowels are a better input for lexical processing in first familiar words. Our results contribute to the understanding of the developmental origin of consonant/vowel functional asymmetry, hence the influence of the native input on its emergence.

The diploma thesis Problematics of Spelling Soft and Hard Consents in Teaching deals with the given topic within the curriculum of the second year of primary school. The main aim of the thesis was to teach pupils the orthographic rules related to the topic and their application. Theoretical part describes the position of consonants in Czech language, the position of given topic in teaching and problematics of terminology. It also describes the psychomotor development of child. Further, in theoretical part is an analysis of interpretation and practice in Czech language textbooks for the second year of primary school. The subject of the practical part was to create and apply an alternative teaching method and to teach pupils to use soft and hard i/y after spellingly soft and hard consonants. The survey was conducted with pupils of the second year of primary school in the form of application of an alternative teaching method created on the basis of a synthesis of knowledge from the theoretical part. It was attended by 21 pupils for 22 teaching hours. Main testing was performed at the beginning and at the end, continuous testing took place in sections of the subject matter. The survey also included testing of fifth and seventh grade pupils in order to map the current state of knowledge of the topic....

Although English and Spanish both have the voiceless stops /ptk/, they differ in VOT; English has long-lag voiceless stops and Spanish has short-lag. This difference means that native English-speaking learners of Spanish are likely to transfer the long voice lag typical of their first language (L1) to Spanish voiceless stops. This study measured the VOT of 20 native English-speaking learners of Spanish, each with a length of residence (LOR) in a Spanish-speaking country of almost 2 years. The study participants were found to produce voiceless stops intermediate to the averages of their L1 (American English) and L2 (Spanish), with some speakers producing voiceless stops with the range observed for Spanish. A significant main effect on VOT was found for all the variables of linguistic context tested: place of articulation, word-initial vs. -internal position, stress, preceding segment and following segment. A significant main effect was also found for speech style, percentage of communication done in Spanish with native Spanish speakers while abroad, years of formal L2 instruction prior to stay abroad, and time spent each week speaking Spanish with native speakers since their return home. While the extra-linguistic variables are correlated with more target-like VOT, the amount of communication done in the L2 with other native English L2 learners of Spanish was correlated with longer VOTs, i.e. less target-like VOTs, possibly due to reinforcement of L1 transfer habits.

The purpose of this study was (1) the selection of consonant clusters of both English and Japanese; (2) the comparison and analysis of the clusters on the phonemic as well as phonetic level; and (3) the formulation of a hierarchy of difficulties encountered by the Japanese students in learning English consonant clusters.

No description available.