32.955, Review: Language Acquisition; Phonology: Vihman, Keren-Portnoy (2019)

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Subject: 32.955, Review: Language Acquisition; Phonology: Vihman, Keren-Portnoy (2019)

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Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2021 00:08:31
From: Anett Garami [garami.anett.reka at gmail.com]
Subject: The Emergence of Phonology

 
Discuss this message:
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/31/31-1118.html

EDITOR: Marilyn M. Vihman
EDITOR: Tamar  Keren-Portnoy
TITLE: The Emergence of Phonology
SUBTITLE: Whole-word Approaches and Cross-linguistic Evidence
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
YEAR: 2019

REVIEWER: Anett Réka Garami, Pázmány Péter Catholic University

SUMMARY

This volume presents studies on first language acquisition and the emergence
of phonology in children. Seventeen papers written by Marilyn M Vihman and
Tamar Keren-Portnoy, Marilyn M. Vihman and William Croft, Natalie Waterson,
Charles A. Ferguson and Carol B. Farwell, Marlys A. Macken, Lise Menn, T. M.
S. Priestly, Marilyn M Vihman and Shelley L. Velleman, Marilyn M Vihman,
Shelley L. Velleman, and Loraine McCune, Daniela Oliveira-Guimarães, Sophie
Wauquier and Naomi Yamaguchi, Marta Szreder, Tuula Savinainen-Makkonen, Ghada
Khattab and Jalal Al-Tamimi, Mitsuhiko Ota, Lorraine McCune, Lise Menn, Ellen
Schmidt, and Brent Nicholas respectively are included in this collection
dealing with various languages (British and American English, French, Arabic,
Polish, Finnish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese and Spanish). Through language
specific features of acquisition authors aim to establish general features of
child language as well, which appears to be a successful attempt. The volume
is dedicated to the presentation of early word production and the phonological
patterning that can be observed in that. Along with this, it contributes to
the literature of usage-based phonological development, more precisely the
so-called whole-word approach, which started in the 1970s. Papers in this
volume extend this model.

Introduction: (Introduction: the emergence of phonology: whole-word
approaches, cross-linguistic evidence). Ferguson and Farwell’s and Macken’s
studies on whole-word or lexical patterns as the core of adult as well as
child phonological patterns stood outside of phonological theory at the time
of publication. Following Chomsky and Halle’s statement of generative
phonology (1968) other studies emerged as a response to its limitations; child
phonology was examined within different theoretical frameworks. One of them
was the whole-word approach, which the volume returns to and determines as the
core of adult and child phonological knowledge. It means that children take
words (or word-like sequences) as units, not sounds. This theoretical
framework can account for individual differences across children, lexical
variation within one child and the phenomenon of regression. According to the
whole-word phonological model the input is the entire lexical unit based on
which the child generates his/her own word templates and generates his/her own
output. Through this process different mechanisms are applied (e.g.
truncation, reduplication, omission etc.). However, the source of the shapes
of the earliest words is also related to prelinguistic vocal practice, namely
babbling. The pronunciation of the first words is close to the child’s
babbling practice. Furthermore, the importance of word templates in early
phonological development is emphasized. Vihman and Keren-Portnoy claim that
rhythm is an important factor responsible for variability in acquisition
processes. The volume provides descriptive papers that have given rise to the
whole-word approach in Part II, empirical studies that work with this approach
(except for Ota (Chapter 15) and Priestly (Chapter 7), who do not make any
explicit use of the theory) in Part III. In Part IV further perspectives and
challenges to theories are addressed.

Part I contains one paper (Chapter 2: Phonological development: toward a
''radical'' templatic phonology) describing the current framework. In that
chapter Vihman and Croft establish their theoretical hypothesis as
language-specific phonotactic templates being the representation of the
segmental phonological structure of words. In addition, they argue that this
theory is also suited to the analysis of adult phonology. In this theory the
basic phonological unit is a word template. Since for many children the
earliest domain seems to be the entire lexical unit, authors conclude that
children are progressing towards their linguistic and phonological knowledge
by learning whole words at first. They also argue that some patterns occur
cross-linguistically while others are language-specific.

Part II includes papers (Chapters 3-6) on the emergence of the theoretical
framework used throughout this volume. Authors build new models on existing
literature. They present long-existing generally accepted knowledge and
phenomena, but highlight exceptional, interesting processes of language
learning as well (e.g., regression in pronunciation, high level of variation
of word forms in one child, imitation etc.) In Chapter 3 (Child phonology: a
prosodic view) Waterson offers an approach that provides new insights into the
relationship between child and adult forms and structures. Children’s language
system is different from adults’ but it is related to it. The child’s
linguistic development is individual; however, it may be similar to other
children’s, thus the findings may have general implications. The paper
provides a detailed description of the acquisition of certain sounds ([v, w,
ɲ, b]). Evidence is given that the child’s own forms are produced through the
recognition of a set of features out of the selection of features composing
adult forms.

Chapter 4 (Words and sounds in early language acquisition) examines the
child’s language development in terms of words and word-initial consonants.
Interestingly, imitations are not excluded from the analysis, since
spontaneous data are very rare in one-year-old children. Ferguson and Farwell
find surprising tendencies in their data, namely the high range of variability
of word forms and the accurate rendition of early stage words. Furthermore,
the child may show a fallback in earlier, more accurate forms as their
learning proceeds and also shows a great selectivity in deciding which words
they would want to produce. Thus the authors conclude that phonological
development takes place along several parameters (including the phonetic and
lexical parameter). Ferguson and Farwell establish a model in which they
separate phonetic and phonemic development while maintaining some
''contrast''. First children learn words from others; they construct their own
phonologies and then develop phonological awareness. They assume that an
adult’s ability to pronounce her/his language is a stage in her/his
phonological development, which means the same kind of developmental structure
as that of children.

Chapter 5 (Developmental reorganization of phonology: a hierarchy of basic
units of acquisition) describes the acquisition of the consonant system by a
child learning Mexican Spanish as her native language. Macken lists several
phenomena that show a central role for the word as a prosodic unit through
language acquisition. Si (the subject of the study) employs syllable deletion,
syllable reduction, consonant harmony, consonant cluster simplification and
metathesis. Si’s data are reviewed as they pertain to a general model of
phonological acquisition including universals and individual differences of
acquisition.

In Chapter 6 (Development of articulatory, phonetic, and phonological
capabilities) Menn reviews the strategies children use in acquiring phonology.
The author creates a model that allows us to deal with three issues: (1)
knowledge of how words sound, (2) knowledge of how to pronounce them, (3)
knowledge of allomorphy. To be able to ''copy'' adult forms the child invents
rules to derive their own output. Early phonological development is viewed as
the development of motor programming. The model is placed in the theory of
child phonology in general.

The nine papers (Chapters 7-15) in Part III include cross-linguistic empirical
studies. Chapter 7 (One idiosyncratic strategy in the acquisition of
phonology) is one of the exceptional studies in this volume not adopting the
whole-word approach explicitly. Data are analyzed on the basis of
relationships between input and output (correspondences, coincidences and
reversions). It was found that syllable position and stress are major factors
determining the child’s output. Furthermore, the study suggests the syllable
should be regarded as the basic unit in phonological acquisition.

Chapter 8 (Phonological reorganization: a case study) provides an illustration
of the beginning of phonological systematization with the documentation of
three processes: experimentation, the use of whole-word-sized production
patterns and regression. As a result the establishment of preferred production
patterns and the restructuring of new target words to fit the existent
production patterns are evidence of phonological systematization.

The aim of Chapter 9 (How abstract is child phonology? Towards an integration
of linguistic and psychological approaches) is the examination of the
emergence of phonological systematicity within a psychological framework based
on the distinct paths that children follow in phonological and lexical
development.  The subjects of this study are two children who have different
strategies, units of organization and articulatory bases for their first word
production. The two children’s way of language development is different;
however, simple CV(CV) words are pronounced by both of them.  It was found
that children pronounce the most difficult or unfamiliar sounds
word-initially, while word-medially more automatic production is at work. The
model shown in this paper proposes vocal motor schemes and adult models on
which children shape their early vocal patterns.

Chapter 10 (Beyond early words: word template development in Brazilian
Portuguese) offers an analysis of the emergence and evolution of word
templates, and a discussion on the role of the word and the segment in
phonological acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese. Evidence is shown of the
gradual fading of templates as segments emerge as the units of representation.
There is also an extension of phonological templates to new words as the
child’s vocabulary increases. The achievement of the author’s goal, to trace
and follow the emergence of templates and also their decline and
disappearance, is proved by case studies.

Chapter 11 (Templates in French) examines a previous hypothesis proposed for
French: having a formal, rhythmically determined template which includes a
variety of structures in child output. The study maintains CV syllable
structure as the basic unit employed by French children. According to the
findings of the paper, children begin with CV and VCV structures and insert
internal CV structures to develop towards the adult form of words.

In Chapter 12 (The acquisition of consonant clusters in Polish: a case study)
Szreder provides a comprehensive analysis of the acquisition of consonant
clusters, especially word-medially in Polish. Among the findings of this study
the author acknowledges that the four positions of consonants (singletons at
word onset; word-initial, word-medial, and word-final consonant clusters) pose
different difficulties for children. However, she claims that the overall
shape of the word triggers processes; and vice versa, processes affect the
overall shape of the word. There is a dependency interaction between
word-initial and word-medial position regarding the stability of the word
form. The results prove that the child’s linguistic experience is crucial.
Although we can see systematicity in the use of pronunciation patterns, there
is no clear consistency, which makes it difficult to build a clear model of
phonological development. Interestingly, Szreder found examples of cluster
insertion where the adult target word had no clusters.

In Chapter 13 (Geminate template: a model for first Finnish words) the
acquisition of Finnish as a native language is examined. In Finnish children
hear inflected words with three or more syllables most of the time, but they
cannot reproduce them properly. This study discusses whether the first words
of Finnish children can be represented in CVCV structures successfully with a
focus on medial geminates.

Chapter 14 (Influence of geminate structure on early Arabic templatic
patterns) examines the geminate structure in early Arabic templatic patterns
with a focus on the influence of adult phonology and the child’s own processes
towards phonological knowledge. The study shows data from children between the
beginning and the end of the one-word stage of language acquisition. New data
on early word shapes in Lebanese Arabic and patterns in children’s production
are presented. The findings support the preliminary hypothesis of the special
role of phonological length in Arabic in the production of lengthening as a
suprasegmental feature, which the child tends to overgeneralize and applies to
new incoming words.

Chapter 15 (Lexical frequency effects on phonological development: the case of
word production in Japanese) is the other exception to the approach featuring
the studies in this volume. Ota presents evidence that the development of
phonological production involves lexical diffusion and phonological
conditioning. When children become able to produce a word depends on how often
they hear the word. The production of Japanese words with more than one
syllable is discussed in this chapter, including the phenomenon of syllable
omission or ''truncation''. A notable finding of the paper is the role of the
lexicon in cross-word variation in sound production.

Further perspectives and challenges to theories are addressed in Part IV
(Chapters 16 and 17). In Chapter 16 (A view from developmental psychology)
McCune summarizes the importance of template research for early child
phonology and general studies of the first phase of language acquisition as
well.

Chapter 17 (Challenges to theories, charges to a model: the Linked-Attractor
model of phonological development) concludes the volume by presenting the
Linked-Attractor model of phonological development (Menn et al., 2009). The
novelty of the Linked-Attractor model is that it comprises three elements:
production/output templates, perceptual/input templates and the mappings
between input and output. Building a theory of child phonology acquisition is
exposed to the problems of variability and individual differences.

EVALUATION

The Emergence of Phonology is a collection of descriptive papers for linguists
researching early phonological development in children. The studies presented
here provide detailed discussion and analysis of the early stage of language
acquisition in children learning different languages. Based on fieldwork and
personal data collection from subjects, the authors successfully describe the
individual factors as well as general implications of first language
acquisition. The data presented in this volume appear to support one of
Jakobson’s major claims that there is a uniform order of sound development in
different children learning the same language and in children learning
different languages as well. These uniformities arise from fundamental
implications, such as children learn to produce sounds and units that they
often hear, which is obviously not the same set in the case of different
children. However, based on data represented here a solely uniform structure
of language development cannot be built. Besides general simplification
methods natural phonological processes (attested in adult phonology as well –
e. g. vowel harmony, assimilation, voicing, spreading of features such as
nasality etc.) also work on child words. We should have a model that can
account for uniformities as well as individual differences. The “whole-word
approach” is supposed to be a model of this type. By claiming that language
acquisition is triggered by perceiving whole words (entire lexical units),
individual differences can be accounted for since children are exposed to
different sets of words and sound strings which they attempt to reproduce.

Within “whole-word” acquisition the templatic approach highlights the
simplification processes of difficult sound strings and segments. Based on the
input (word or word-like units) children build templates that help them in
reproduction. The questions could be raised whether acquiring perception and
production are distinct and whether the “whole-word” has different roles in
these processes. I think the “word” as a unit may have different functions in
perception and production, which difference could be elaborated on. 

In my opinion, comparing the whole-word approach to other current theoretical
frameworks could make explicit the limitations of the former. For instance,
CVCV Phonology (Lowenstamm, 1996; Scheer, 2004) or Optimality Theory (OT)
(Prince and Smolensky 1993) could provide further analyses of the data
collected and described with great care in this volume. Representing the data
collected from various languages in the syllable-free CVCV Phonology framework
controlled by principles and parameters could provide new insight into the
process. It would be interesting to represent child words in CVCV structure to
see how governing relations work and produce well-formed words in a child’s
own grammar.

REFERENCES

Ferguson, C. A. and Farewell, C. B. 1975. Words and sounds in early language
acquisition. Language, 51. 419-39. Reprinted in this volume as Chapter 4.

Lowenstamm, J. 1996. CV as the only syllable type. Ed. Jacques Durand and
Bernard Laks Current Trends in Phonology: Models and Methods. European Studies
Research Institute, University of Salford Publications. 419–442.

Menn, L., Schmidt, E., and Nicholas, B. 2009. Conspiracy and sabotage in the
acquisition of phonology: dense data undermine existing theories, provide
scaffolding for a new one. Language Sciences, 31 (2-6), 285-304.

Prince, A. and Smolensky, P. (1993). Optimality Theory: Constraint Interaction
in Generative Grammar. Rutgers University Center for Cognitive Science
Technical Report 2.
Scheer, T. 2004. A Lateral Theory of Phonology. Vol. 1. Berlin: Mouton de
Gruyter.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

My name is Anett Réka Garami, I am a student of PPCU Doctoral School of
Linguistics (Hungary). I am a phonologist and my research field is special
consonant clusters in English and West Slavonic languages represented in CVCV
Phonology framework.





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