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An Ultrasound Study of the Development of Lingual Coarticulation during Childhood

  • Natalia Zharkova ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: April 11, 2018

Abstract

Background/Aims: There is growing evidence that coarticulation development is protracted and segment-specific, and yet very little information is available on the changes in the extent of coarticulation across different phonemes throughout childhood. This study describes lingual coarticulatory patterns in 6 age groups of Scottish English-speaking children between 3 and 13 years old. Methods: Vowelon-consonant anticipatory coarticulation was analysed using ultrasound imaging data on tongue shape from 4 consonants that differ in the degree of constraint, i.e., the extent of articulatory demand, on the tongue. Results: Consonant-specific age-related patterns are reported, with consonants that have more demands on the tongue reaching adolescent-like levels of coarticulation in older age groups. Within-speaker variability in tongue shape decreases with increasing age. Conclusion: Reduced coarticulation in the youngest age group may be due to insufficient tongue differentiation. Immature patterns for lingual consonants in 5- to 11-year-olds are explained by the goal of producing the consonant target overriding the goal of coarticulating the consonant with the following vowel.


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*Natalia Zharkova, Clinical Audiology, Speech and Language Research Centre, Queen Margaret University, Queen Margaret University, Drive, Musselburgh EH21 6UU, East Lothian (UK), E-Mail nzharkova@qmu.ac.uk

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Received: 2016-10-20
Accepted: 2017-11-18
Published Online: 2018-04-11
Published in Print: 2018-07-01

© 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel

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