31.3275, Review: Language Acquisition; Morphology; Phonetics; Phonology; Syntax: Vihman (2019)

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Subject: 31.3275, Review: Language Acquisition; Morphology; Phonetics; Phonology; Syntax: Vihman (2019)

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Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2020 20:02:11
From: Leah Paltiel-Gedalyovich [leah.gedalyovich at gmail.com]
Subject: Phonological Templates in Development

 
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/31/31-52.html

AUTHOR: Marilyn May Vihman
TITLE: Phonological Templates in Development
SERIES TITLE: Oxford Studies in Phonology and Phonetics
PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press
YEAR: 2019

REVIEWER: Leah R. Paltiel-Gedalyovich, ACHVA ACADEMIC COLLEGE

SUMMARY

This book addressed the issues related to children developing a system or
template for speech. Chapter 1 ''Perspectives on phonological development''
provides a historical overview of the development of the authors' approach to
phonological developments, including DST (Dynamic Systems Theory) and exemplar
theory as they pertain to phonology. In addition, the use of terms which will
recur throughout the book is explained. These include, for example: ''prosodic
structure'', ''template'', ''vocal motor schemes'', ''articulatory filter'',
''lexical configuration'' and ''lexical engagement''. First word learning is
influenced by communicative factors but also by the child's own productive
articulatory skills. Chapter 2 ''Whole word phonology'' gives an historical
and theoretical overview of this approach, which is adapted in the template
approach to phonology. The interface between phonology and lexicon in
children's early word productions is expanded. 

The following three chapters bring evidence in support of phonological
templates in children acquiring a variety of languages. In Chapter 3
''Building the evidence'', Vihman begins to present the evidence supporting
the template approach. Templates are observed when the child is producing
between 30-50 words and 200 words. (Word acquisition stage is more critical
here than age, although the author points out that the current data comes from
children with early rapidly expanding vocabularies.) This chapter also
includes the procedures and criteria for analysis of the individual,
idiosyncratic templates of children's early words.  Although there is a great
emphasis on the individual templates (or lack thereof) of each child, the
chapter does end with a summary of expected templates for children acquiring
American English. Chapter 4 ''First words and prosodic structures'', subtitled
''a cross-linguistic perspective'', continues the presentation of data,
drawing on findings from a variety of languages. This chapter also examines
the question of universal versus language specific trends. The author points
out similarities between the various languages, for instance in length of
first words as measured by number of syllables. Furthermore, the data support
a close relationship between forms practised in babbling and forms appearing
in early words. Similarly, preferences for certain word shapes appear
following practise with first words, and not before. This chapter is rich in
data, allowing the reader to follow closely the analysis process. Two
developmental patterns can be identified: children who primarily select words
which fit their phonological templates (and abilities) and children who
primarily adapt the words they attempt to their phonological templates (and
abilities). Chapter 5 ''Phonological templates in development'' brings further
cross-linguistic evidence for templates in children's early phonology. A
reference to one of the children studied as a ''transitional late talker''
provides a first insight into the application of the template theory to
phonological development in children showing some sort of speech-language
delay or disorder. The relationship between the development of the phonetic
inventory, and consonant variegation, and the development of templates (the
phonological development) is pointed out for a number of the children studied.
The analysis of the speech of bi-lingual children suggest that the analysis of
the templates of the two languages can clarify the relationship between the
phonological development of those languages. 

(A small point, I question use of IPA symbol for uvular fricative instead of
the symbol for uvular trill, p.141. In fact the use of IPA symbols is not
completely consistent throughout the text, possibly the result of diverse
origins of the data.

Furthermore, a problem is raised when the deletion of the onset in one word,
as opposed to another word of the same template occurs with no apparent
reason. This may be the child's aim not to have an identical sound sequence
represent two referents. The example given is: Nicola (Italian) ''carne''
(meat) [ane] ''cane'' (dog) [kane].p.151)

Chapter 6 ''Issues around child templates'' is subtitled ''Timing, fading,
quantification and function'' and further explores these aspects of templates.
Data is brought from children speaking a variety of languages. Questions of
the prevalence of template use and role are addressed as well as the
relationship to lexical development and developmental stage. 

The next two chapters compare the use of templates in child and adult language
and  the relationship between them. Chapter 7 ''Relation of child to adult
template, I'' is subtitled ''Parallels in core grammar''. In accordance with
Dynamic Systems Theory, both possibilities of continuity and discontinuity are
acceptable. This chapter focusses on templates in adult language' bringing
examples from a number of languages from a variety of language families. For
instance, adult Arabic requires a ''prosodic output shape'' at a separate
level from the internal phonological syllable and word structure. This
''prosodic output shape'' is paralleled to children's phonological templates.
The children's templates differ in that templates allow non-standard prosodic
units. The description of the ''templates'' for these adult languages show
complex morpho-phonology as there are distinctive recognizable patterns for
different morphemes. Processes of metathesis and consonant harmony are seen in
these adult forms as they are in children's templates. It is preferred to find
a prosodically defined template without segmental specification, but often
such specification is required. Parallels are found between the selection and
adaptation processes found in child phonology and morpho-phonological
derivation in adult phonology. The template is prosodic and not segmental.
Reduplication, seen also in child phonology, is a common process in adult
phonologies, where partial reduplication can possibly explained as an
historical erosion process. In adult phonology, templates do not appear to be
productive in many cases.  For children, templates will be purely phonological
while for adults they are morphophonological. Prosodic phonology appears to
provide an appropriate theoretical framework but there are problems with
accounts of universality. Importantly, templates function at the whole word
level.

Chapter 8, ''Relation to adult templates, II'', subtitled ''Language at play''
further investigates the relationship between child and adult phonological
templates. By examining novel adult forms the author aims to shed light on
children's developing (novel) forms. The emphasis is on output, not process.
Prosodic phonology accounts for shortened forms in French by having a
predicted well-formed output which conforms to possible syllable structures in
French. An analysis of the data supports a lexical basis as opposed to a
morphological basis, since while output is predictable, input is variable. The
purpose of child template is production of an adult target, for the adult the
aim is ease of production (often with an aim to change the register or show
affinity to a certain cultural group). Data from novel and non-novel rhyming
in different languages is brought. In these word pairs, there is a
predominance of labial consonants. Vihman adapts Ronnenberger-Sibold's
explanation that shortenings aim to produce lexical forms ''that are 'short',
'easy' and 'distinctive''' (p.258). Parallels are drawn between adult and
child templates: both ''select'' familiar patterns and ''adapt new forms to
fit familiar patterns, both aim for recognizable, highly used prosodic output,
both may use affixed segment in the template (in a non-initial syllable). Much
is in common in the context of ''playing with language'' and communication as
a clearer aim that literal meaning. 

Chapter 9 concludes the book. Three stages in early lexical development are
posited, templates being most visible in the second stage. The theoretical
foundations of the template theory—dynamic systems theory, articulation as a
complex motor activity, and the role of memory—are reviewed. An integrated
view of lexical and phonological development stands out.  The approach does
not integrate a grammatical or constraint based view of phonology. (Other
theorists who do suggest interactions between connectionist time and
constraint type theories are described and the aspects that distinguish
Vihman's template theory are outlined). Importance is given to the role of
social communication in lexical and phonological development. No distinction
is made between competence and performance. 

EVALUATION

There are two stated goals of this book. The first is an investigation of the
concept of phonological templates in children based on cross-linguistic data.
The second is relating developmental phonological data, specifically prosodic
data, to adult data
(p. 35).

There is no introduction, as such, to the text. This made it more difficult to
put the ideas into context and made comprehension more difficult, although the
ideas themselves were clearly expressed. In Chapter 2, there is a fascinating
and clearly developed description of the development of whole word phonology.
I felt a lack of a clear statement of Vihmen's current theory and how it is
distinct from other theories described. In Chapter 3, the practical guidelines
for analysing phonological templates in children's speech are given clearly
enough to allow the reader to apply the procedures to a novel phonological
corpus. The procedures are clearly illustrated by application to six children
developing American English. From this chapter on the text is dense with data
from a large variety of different languages and language families. At times
examples of words are presented with the transcription of the children's
productions, but not always. Nevertheless, the great quantity of data used to
support the idea of phonological templates provides a convincing argument for
their existence. 

The theoretical orientation is DST (Dynamic Systems Theory) and in this way
phonological behaviour is seen as one instance of human (motor) activity. 

The idea behind templates is reminiscent of the approach of PHB (Phonology as
Human Behavior, e.g. Tobin, 1997). In terms of PHB, phonological behaviour
reflects the tension between the 'communicative factor', which aims for a
precise signal and the 'human factor' , which aims to reduce the (motor)
effort of producing that signal. Child phonologies reflect the dominance of
the human factor. In terms of templates, the child develops an 'easy' pattern,
then selects words fitting this pattern and adapts new words to fit this
pattern. 

Furthermore, the idea of the speaker selecting a behavioural alternative from
a set of possible alternatives, brings to mind the selection process as
described in OT (Optimality Theory -There is a very brief reference to OT in
the text.) 

Throughout the text, there is an emphasis on looking at how an individual
learns phonology – therefore, small group studies are used where individual
differences are seen, as opposed to large scale studies where group tendencies
are emphasized. 

As a speech-language clinician, I am especially interested in possible
application of phonological templates to assessment and treatment of
phonological disorders. In terms of assessing the typicality of a child's
phonological development, the wide individual differences observed, ranging
both in terms of use of templates (from no use to widespread use) and the ages
when they appear, prevents the observance of templates as being indicative of
typical/atypical phonological development. Template use has been linked to
stage of lexical development as opposed to chronological age, but here too,
wide individual differences have been observed.

Nonetheless, the idea of templates may be useful both in understanding and in
treatment. The possibility arises of analysing a child's speech for templates
and the working on expanding vocabulary deliberately through selecting lexical
items suited to the template or lexical items easily adapted to the template.
The interface between phonetics, phonology and lexicon support clinical
approaches such as the ''core vocabulary approach'' (Dodd, Crosbie and Holm,
2004) and DTTC (Dynamic Tactile Temporal Cuing, e.g. Strand, Stoeckel and
Bass, 2006), while the idea of templates can help guide selection of
vocabulary items. 

The idea that children choose their early vocabularies according to their
phonetic and phonological abilities appears to support the traditional
clinical approach of treating sounds. Traditionally, sounds (and sound
patterns) which can be stimulated and sounds (and sound patterns) appearing in
some contexts are treated before others (eg as described in Van Riper, 1939).
This is consistent with the spontaneous use of templates which guide the
choice of lexical items to be added to a child's expanding vocabulary. 

The question arises, in therapy should efforts be directed to expanding
vocabulary within the templates in use? Or, should an effort be made to teach
children new templates and choose new vocabulary items which exemplify and
allow practise of these new templates?

In sum, I found Vihman's ''Phonological Templates in Development'' interesting
and challenging. The theory is well supported with data and suggests a
different way to look at children's early phonological and lexical
development. The text is suitable for advanced students of phonology,
phonologists and speech-language pathologists. 

REFERENCES

Dodd, Barbara, S. Crosbie and A. Holm. 2004. ''Core vocabulary therapy: An
intervention for childen with inconsistent speech disorders. Brisbane,
Australia: Perinatal Research Centre, Royal Brisbane & Women's Hospital,
University of Queensland.

Strand, Elisabeth A., R. Stoeckel and B. Bass. 2006. ''Treatment of seere
childhood apraxia of speech: A treatment efficacy study.'' Journal of Medical
Speech-Language Pathology, 14 (297-307)

Tobin, Yishai. 1997. ''Phonology as human behavior'' Chapter 2 in Tobin, Y.
''Phonology as human behavior''. Duke University Press.

Van Riper, Charles. 1972. ''Speech correction: Principles and methods.'' (5th
ed) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

I am a practising speech-language pathologist, with over thirty years
experience in the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of disorders, including
Speech Sound Disorders. I currently teach courses in typical and atypical
phonetics and phonology in the Communication Disorders Department of Achva
Academic College. My research interests include clinical applications of
theoretical linguistics, especially the semantic-pragmatic interface as well
as typical and atypical speech-language development.





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