Similar Place Harmony: A Possible Learning Bias?
Issued Date: 18 Apr 2014
Abstract
Similar Place Avoidance (SPA) is a phenomenon well-known to adult languages, where consonants within a root that share the same place of articulation are avoided. The existence of SPA across languages is so robust that it has been claimed to be a statistical phonological universal. Given these claims to universality, this study aims to investigate whether there are any “homorganicity” effects present in the speech of children; i.e. effects that are sensitive to place of articulation. While children often exhibit a stage of consonant harmony, there has been virtually no research involving possible gradient patterns of SPA for children (where the pattern is typically gradient for adult languages). The findings are telling: there is evidence for a homorganicity effect, but one that is driven by agreement in place of articulation, and not avoidance of similar place. This finding is linked to later stages of consonant harmony in child speech.
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DOI: 10.1558/lhs.v9i2.119
References
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Kinney, A. L. (2005) Serial Organization of Speech Sounds in Creole Languages. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.
Leben, W. (1973) Suprasegmental Phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT. [published 1980, New York: Garland Press].
Lee, Y. (2006) Sub-syllabic Constituency in Korean and English. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University.
Martin, A. (2007) The Evolving Lexicon. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, UCLA.
Macken, M. A. (1978) Permitted complexity in phonological development. Lingua 44 (2–3): 219–253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(78)90077-3
MacWhinney, B. (2000) The CHILDES Project: Tools for Analyzing Talk. Third Edition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
McCarthy, J. J. (1988) Feature geometry and dependency: A review. Phonetica 45: 84–108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000261820
Moreton, E. (2008) Analytic bias and phonological typology. Phonology 25 (1): 83–127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0952675708001413
Padgett, J. (1995) Stricture in Feature Geometry. Stanford, CA: CSLI.
Pierrehumbert, J. B. (1993) Dissimilarity in the Arabic verbal roots. Proceedings of the North East Linguistics Society 23: 367–381.
Pozdniakov, K. and Segerer, G. (2007) Similar place avoidance: A statistical universal. Linguistic Typology 11 (2): 307–348. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/LINGTY.2007.025
Schwartz, R. and Leonard, L. (1982) Do children pick and choose? An examination of phonological selection and avoidance in early lexical acquisition. Journal of Child Language 9 (2): 319–336. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900004748
Smith, N. V. (1973) The Acquisition of Phonology: A Case Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sosa, A. (2008) Lexical Effects in Typical Phonological Acquisition. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington.
Stoel-Gammon, C. (2011) Relationships between lexical and phonological development in young children. Journal of Child Language 38 (1): 1–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900005766
Stoel-Gammon, C. and Cooper, J. A. (1984) Patterns of early lexical and phonological development. Journal of Child Language 11 (2): 247–271.
Storkel, H. L. (2001) Learning new words: Phonotactic probability in language development. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 44: 1321–1337. http://dx.doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2001/103)
Treiman, R., Kessler, B., Knewasser, S., Tincoff, R., and Bowman, M. (2000) English speakers’ sensitivity to phonotactic patterns. In M. B. Broe and J. B. Pierrehumbert (eds), Papers in Laboratory Phonology V: Acquisition and the Lexicon, 269–282. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Valian, V. (2009) Innateness and learnability. In L. Bavin (ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language, 15–34. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vihman, M. (1978) Consonant harmony: Its scope and function in child language. In J. H. Greenberg, C. A. Ferguson and E. A. Moravcsik (eds) Universals of Human Language, Vol. 2: Phonology, 281–334. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Wilson, C. (2006) Learning phonology with substantive bias: An experimental and computational study of velar palatalization. Cognitive Science 30 (5): 945–982. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0000_89
Zamuner, T. S., Gerken, L. and Hammond, M. (2004) Phonotactic probabilities in young children’s speech production. Journal of Child Language 31 (3): 515–536. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305000904006233
Berkley, D. M. (2000) Gradient OCP effects. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University.
Brown, J. (2008) Theoretical aspects of Gitksan phonology. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of British Columbia.
Coetzee, A. W. and Pater, J. (2008) Weighted constraints and gradient restrictions on place cooccurrence in Muna and Arabic. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 26 (2): 289–337. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11049-008-9039-z
Dale, P. S. and Fenson, L. (1996) Lexical development norms for young children. Behavioral Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 28 (1): 125–127. http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/BF03203646
Fenson, L., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S., Thal, D., Bates, E., Hartung, J. P., Pethick, S. and Reilly, J. S. (1993) The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories: User’s Guide and Technical Manual. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brokes Publishing Co.
Ferguson, C. A. and Farwell, C. B. (1975) Words and sounds in early phonological acquisition. Language 51 (2): 419–439. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/412864
Frisch, S. A. (1996) Similarity and Frequency in Phonology. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University.
Frisch, S. A. (2004) Language processing and segmental OCP effects. In B. Hayes, R. Kirchner, and D. Steriade (eds) Phonetically Based Phonology, 346–378. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Frisch, S. A., Pierrehumbert, J. B. and Broe, M. B. (2004) Similarity avoidance and the OCP. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 22: 179–228. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:NALA.0000005557.78535.3c
Frisch, S. A. and Zawaydeh, B. A. (2001) The psychological reality of OCP-Place in Arabic. Language 77 (1): 91–106. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/lan.2001.0014
Gardiner, R. (2011) Phonological constraints on young children’s choice of early lexicon. Unpublished manuscript, University of Auckland.
Gallagher, G. (2008) Total identity in cooccurrence restrictions. Paper presented at the Berkeley Linguistics Society 34.
Gildea, D. and Jurafsky, D. (1996) Learning bias and phonological-rule induction. Computational Linguistics 22 (4): 497–530.
Greenberg, J. (1950) The patterning of root morphemes in Semitic. Word 6: 162–181.
Goldsmith, J. (1976) Autosegmental Phonology. PhD. Dissertation, MIT, circulated by Indiana University Linguistics Club [published 1979 as Autosegmental Phonology, New York: Garland Press].
Goad, H. (1997) Consonant harmony in child language: An optimality-theoretic account. In S.J. Hannahs and M.Young-Scholten (eds) Focus on Phonological Acquisition, 113–142. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Hansson, G. (2001a) The phonologization of production constraints: Evidence from consonant harmony. In M. Andronis, C. Ball, H. Elston and S. Neuvel (eds) CLS 37: The Main Session. Papers from the 37th Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, Vol. 1, 187–200. Chicago, IL: Chicago Linguistic Society.
Hansson, G. (2001b) Theoretical and Typological Issues in Consonant Harmony. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, UC Berkeley.
Hay, J., Pierrehumbert, J. and Beckman, M. (2003) Speech perception, well-formedness and the statistics of the lexicon. In J. Local, R. Ogden and R. Temple (eds), Phonetic Interpretation: Papers in Laboratory Phonology VI, 58–74. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kessler, B. (2001) The Significance of Word Lists. Stanford, CA: CSLI.
Kessler, B. and Treiman, R. (1997) Syllable structure and the distribution of phonemes in English syllables. Journal of Memory and Language 37 (1): 295–311. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1997.2522
Key, M.P. (2012) Phonological and Phonetic Biases in Speech Perception. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Kinney, A. L. (2005) Serial Organization of Speech Sounds in Creole Languages. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas at Austin.
Leben, W. (1973) Suprasegmental Phonology. Ph.D. dissertation, MIT. [published 1980, New York: Garland Press].
Lee, Y. (2006) Sub-syllabic Constituency in Korean and English. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern University.
Martin, A. (2007) The Evolving Lexicon. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, UCLA.
Macken, M. A. (1978) Permitted complexity in phonological development. Lingua 44 (2–3): 219–253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0024-3841(78)90077-3
MacWhinney, B. (2000) The CHILDES Project: Tools for Analyzing Talk. Third Edition. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
McCarthy, J. J. (1988) Feature geometry and dependency: A review. Phonetica 45: 84–108. http://dx.doi.org/10.1159/000261820
Moreton, E. (2008) Analytic bias and phonological typology. Phonology 25 (1): 83–127. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0952675708001413
Padgett, J. (1995) Stricture in Feature Geometry. Stanford, CA: CSLI.
Pierrehumbert, J. B. (1993) Dissimilarity in the Arabic verbal roots. Proceedings of the North East Linguistics Society 23: 367–381.
Pozdniakov, K. and Segerer, G. (2007) Similar place avoidance: A statistical universal. Linguistic Typology 11 (2): 307–348. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/LINGTY.2007.025
Schwartz, R. and Leonard, L. (1982) Do children pick and choose? An examination of phonological selection and avoidance in early lexical acquisition. Journal of Child Language 9 (2): 319–336. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900004748
Smith, N. V. (1973) The Acquisition of Phonology: A Case Study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sosa, A. (2008) Lexical Effects in Typical Phonological Acquisition. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington.
Stoel-Gammon, C. (2011) Relationships between lexical and phonological development in young children. Journal of Child Language 38 (1): 1–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305000900005766
Stoel-Gammon, C. and Cooper, J. A. (1984) Patterns of early lexical and phonological development. Journal of Child Language 11 (2): 247–271.
Storkel, H. L. (2001) Learning new words: Phonotactic probability in language development. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 44: 1321–1337. http://dx.doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2001/103)
Treiman, R., Kessler, B., Knewasser, S., Tincoff, R., and Bowman, M. (2000) English speakers’ sensitivity to phonotactic patterns. In M. B. Broe and J. B. Pierrehumbert (eds), Papers in Laboratory Phonology V: Acquisition and the Lexicon, 269–282. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Valian, V. (2009) Innateness and learnability. In L. Bavin (ed.) The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language, 15–34. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Vihman, M. (1978) Consonant harmony: Its scope and function in child language. In J. H. Greenberg, C. A. Ferguson and E. A. Moravcsik (eds) Universals of Human Language, Vol. 2: Phonology, 281–334. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Wilson, C. (2006) Learning phonology with substantive bias: An experimental and computational study of velar palatalization. Cognitive Science 30 (5): 945–982. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog0000_89
Zamuner, T. S., Gerken, L. and Hammond, M. (2004) Phonotactic probabilities in young children’s speech production. Journal of Child Language 31 (3): 515–536. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0305000904006233
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