University of Alberta, Canada.
University of British Columbia, Canada.
J Child Lang. 2022 Sep;49(5):979-1007. doi: 10.1017/S0305000921000489. Epub 2021 Jun 25.
This paper addresses how input variability in the adult phonological system is mastered in the output of young children in Akan, a Kwa language spoken in Ghana, involving variability between labio-palatalized consonants and front rounded vowels. The high-frequency variant involves a complex consonant which is expected to be mastered late, while the low-frequency variant involves a front rounded vowel which is expected to be mastered relatively early. Late mastery of complex consonants was confirmed. The high-frequency labiopalatalized-consonant variant was absent at age 3 and not yet mastered even at age 5. All children produced the easier-to-produce low-frequency front-rounded-vowel variant, most at far greater frequency than in adult speech, implying that a child's output limitations can affect which variant the child targets for production. Modular theories, in which phonological plans reflect only the characteristics of adult input, fail to account for our results. Non-modular theories are implicated.
本文探讨了加纳的夸夸语（一种 Kwa 语言）中，成人语音系统中的输入可变性如何在儿童的输出中得到掌握，涉及到唇齿音辅音和前圆元音之间的可变性。高频变体涉及到一个复杂的辅音，预计要到很晚才能掌握，而低频变体则涉及到一个前圆元音，预计要相对较早掌握。复杂辅音的后期掌握得到了证实。高频唇齿音辅音变体在 3 岁时不存在，甚至在 5 岁时也尚未掌握。所有的孩子都产生了更容易产生的低频前圆元音变体，其频率远高于成人语言，这意味着儿童的输出限制会影响儿童选择产生哪种变体。仅反映成人输入特征的模块理论无法解释我们的结果。这暗示了非模块理论的存在。
