Development of the voiceless sibilant fricative contrast in three-year-olds: an ultrasound and acoustic study.

The study analysed spectral and tongue shape dynamics of voiceless alveolar and postalveolar fricatives produced by ten children learning Scottish English. Synchronised ultrasound tongue imaging data and acoustic data were used to characterise children's productions of the phonemic contrast. Six children had consistently accurate productions of both fricative targets, with some cross-consonant phonetic differences in the direction previously demonstrated for older children and adults, as well as some immature acoustic and articulatory dynamic patterns.

The Impact of Real-Time Articulatory Information on Phonetic Transcription: Ultrasound-Aided Transcription in Cleft Lip and Palate Speech.

Objective: This study investigated whether adding an additional modality, namely ultrasound tongue imaging (UTI), to perception-based phonetic transcription impacted on the identification of compensatory articulations and on interrater reliability.

Patients And Methods: Thirty-nine English-speaking children aged 3-12 years with cleft lip and palate (CLP) were recorded producing repetitions of /aCa/ for all places of articulation with simultaneous audio recording and probe-stabilized ultrasound (US). Three types of transcriptions were performed: (1) descriptive observations from the live US by the clinician recording the data, (2) US-aided transcription (UA) by two US-trained clinicians, and (3) traditional phonetic transcription by two CLP specialists from audio recording.

The dynamics of voiceless sibilant fricative production in children between 7 and 13 years old: An ultrasound and acoustic study.

This study reports on dynamic tongue shape and spectral characteristics of sibilant fricatives /s/ and /ʃ/ in Scottish English speaking children aged between 7 and 13 years old. The sequences /əCa/ and /əCi/ were produced by 40 children, with ten participants in each age group, and two-year intervals between successive groups. Productions of the same sequences by ten adults were used for comparison with the children's data.

An Ultrasound Study of the Development of Lingual Coarticulation during Childhood.

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.

Voiceless alveolar stop coarticulation in typically developing 5-year-olds and 13-year-olds.

In this study, vowel-on-consonant lingual coarticulation at [t] closure offset was compared in 5-year-old children and 13-year-old adolescents. The study aimed to establish whether, by the end of the closure, children from the younger age group adjust the tongue shape to the following vowels to the same extent as adolescents. Ten 5-year-olds and ten 13-year-olds, all speakers of Scottish Standard English, produced [t]-vowel syllables with the vowels [i] and [a], in a carrier phrase.