Abstract
There is a tendency for spoken consonant-vowel (CV) syllables, in babbling in particular, to show preferred combinations: labial consonants with central vowels, alveolars with front, and velars with back. This pattern was first described by MacNeilage and Davis, who found the evidence compatible with their "frame-then-content" (F/C) model. F/C postulates that CV syllables in babbling are produced with no control of the tongue (and therefore effectively random tongue positions) but systematic oscillation of the jaw. Articulatory Phonology (AP; Browman and Goldstein) predicts that CV preferences will depend on the degree of synergy of tongue movements for the C and V. We present computational modeling of both accounts using articulatory synthesis. Simulations found better correlations between patterns in babbling and the AP account than with the F/C model. These results indicate that the underlying assumptions of the F/C model are not supported and that the AP account provides a better and account with broader coverage by showing that articulatory synergies influence all CV syllables, not just the most common ones.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 63-77 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Journal of Phonetics |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2013 Mar |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language
- Speech and Hearing