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Phonological development in Israeli Hebrew-learning infants and toddlers

Perception and production
  • Tamar Keren-Portnoy and Osnat Segal
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Acquisition and Development of Hebrew
This chapter is in the book Acquisition and Development of Hebrew

Abstract

The chapter provides an overview of early receptive and productive phonological development in Israeli Hebrew. We report on perception studies which show that Hebrew-learning infants are familiar with the rhythms and phonotactic structures of Hebrew, as demonstrated by their preference for iambic words and for frequent word pattern-structures (miškalim). We also describe the emergence of languagespecific phonetic categories, demonstrated by the different responses of Hebrew and Arabic-learning infants. We then summarize findings from prior research regarding the phonological characteristics of the early words produced by Hebrew-learning toddlers. Examination of onset-less word forms produced by a 2-year-old child reveals that onset omission is especially frequent in iambic target words with codas. We discuss these findings from the perspective of wholeword phonology.

Abstract

The chapter provides an overview of early receptive and productive phonological development in Israeli Hebrew. We report on perception studies which show that Hebrew-learning infants are familiar with the rhythms and phonotactic structures of Hebrew, as demonstrated by their preference for iambic words and for frequent word pattern-structures (miškalim). We also describe the emergence of languagespecific phonetic categories, demonstrated by the different responses of Hebrew and Arabic-learning infants. We then summarize findings from prior research regarding the phonological characteristics of the early words produced by Hebrew-learning toddlers. Examination of onset-less word forms produced by a 2-year-old child reveals that onset omission is especially frequent in iambic target words with codas. We discuss these findings from the perspective of wholeword phonology.

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