Perception of complex onsets - Summary

[Bruno Estigarribia]

My understanding of Dutch and German phonetics is rudimentary but 
couldn't this be related to the fact that Dutch and French have 
prevoicing in those onsets and German does not? The observation would 
then support the fact cited in the summary that "The phonetics of French 
may make the perception of gl clusters particularly challenging because 
of the prevoicing of the voiced  velar and its release into l (which is 
a 'clear' l)."

Would this leave English asymmetries unexplained?

Bruno Estigarribia
Ph.D. candidate
Stanford Linguistics
> In the acquisition of German we find no difference between /gl/ and 
> /kl/ concerning the time onset of correct production.
> Fox & Dodd (1999) Die phonologische Entwicklung im Deutschen. 
> Sprach-Stimme-Gehör,(23), 183-191
> Fox & Schäfer (in preparation) Further data on the phonological 
> development in German-speaking children.
>
> Annette Fox
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
>
> A
>> Dear Info-CHILDES members,
>>
>> Thank you very much to everyone listed below for their useful input.  
>> Here is a brief summary of the suggestions received.
>>
>> --The asymmetry between target gl and kl clusters is attested in  
>> children learning languages other than French such as Dutch and English.
>>
>> --g is typologically more marked than other (voiced and voiceless)  
>> stop consonants.
>>
>> --g is articulatorily more difficult to produce than k.
>>
>> --The phonetics of French may make the perception of gl clusters 
>> particularly challenging because of the prevoicing of the voiced  
>> velar and its release into l (which is a 'clear' l).
>>
>> --The pattern may be related to some particular OCP(voicing) or other 
>> sequence constraint.
>>
>> --The pattern may be similar to the asymmetry between final nt and nd 
>> clusters, which has already been related to perceptual factors.
>>
>> References suggested:
>> --Allen, G. J Child Lang. 1985 Feb;12(1):37-46.
>> --Jongstra, Wenckje. PhD Thesis, UToronto
>> --Braine (1974) - Language
>> --Yuchtman, M., Stemberger, J.P., & Martin, C. (1987). "Recognition  
>> of consonant clusters". Paper presented at the meeting of the  
>> Acoustical Society of America, Miami, November.
>> --Gamkrelidze (1975, Lingua)
>> --Maddieson (1984) Patterns of Sounds
>>
>> Contributors:
>> --George Allen
>> --Barbara Bernhardt
>> --David Ingram
>> --Ron Smyth
>> --Joe Stemberger
>> --Marilyn Vihman
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Yvan (& Christophe)
>>
>>
>
>