Chapter 5 Discussion
5.3 Discussion on syllable type analysis
國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
2002).
To sum up, examining the overall variability patterns shows us the process of
phonological development. At early stage of development, since the speech motor control is not mature, the variability rate is high. When children’s lexicon starts to
grow, their phonemic representation development then becomes mature, resulting in a more stable production of each word. However, when linguistic reorganization happens, variability rate increases again. This study did not show the once-again stabilized pattern of variability.
5.3 Discussion on syllable type analysis
The study of overall variability pattern aims to investigate the developing process of children’s phonological system. Since children’s early lexicon
representation is the whole-word, the syllable types which composed the variable repeated words in children’s speech are also of interest. Phonological variability can be attributed to many factors including the immature of speech neuromotor control, phonological complexity, and phonological overload (Holm et al., 2007; Macrae, 2013; McLeod & Hewett, 2008; Sosa & Stoel-Gammon, 2006 & 2012). In this study, the relationship between syllable type frequency and variability rate as well as the substitution pattern were examined.
The findings in this study can be explained by the markedness theory
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
presented by Jakobson (1941/68) which proposed that children would acquire the unmarked form of language first, and only later acquire the more marked ones. Those phonetic forms most commonly found cross-linguistically are considered to be
unmarked, and would therefore be the first to be acquired. Those who less frequently attested in the world’s languages are considered to be marked, and would be acquired
later. Jakobson’s markedness theory of syllable can be summarized as below:
(1) Open syllable is more unmarked than closed syllable
(2) Syllable with onset is more unmarked than those without onset (3) Syllable contained consonant cluster is marked.
5.3.1 Syllable type frequency
In this study, syllable types with higher frequency were CV, GV, CGV, and CVG, while VG, GVN and VN had lower frequency in monosyllabic words as well as in disyllable words. Among the syllable types with higher frequency, firstly, CV and GV are open syllable and they are also the only two open syllables among the 12 syllable types in Mandarin. Secondly, four of these syllable types are syllables contained onset consonants. And thirdly, three of these syllable types do not contain consonant cluster. To sum up, syllable types with higher frequency accord with the unmarked syllable criterion proposed by Jakobson, so it could be generalized that syllable types with higher frequency in this study are more unmarked syllable types.
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
As for syllable types with the lowest frequency in this study, all of them are closed syllable and two of them have no onset consonant. The frequency of syllable types contained consonant cluster such as CGVG and CGVN, although do not had the lowest frequency, compare to other syllable types their frequencies are still relatively low. So, again, the results might also be consistent with the constraints mentioned above, which stated that closed syllable, syllable without onset, and syllable contained consonant cluster are more marked syllable types.
5.3.2 Substitution pattern
As for substitution pattern, the ranking of syllable types that were most frequently used to replace other types was CV, followed by CGV, GV and V. Noted that the frequencies of these four syllable types were higher than other types; however, syllable types with high frequency did not necessarily used frequently in replacing others. For example, CVG had high frequency, even higher than CGV, but the percentage of CVG used in replacing others only reached 3.9%. The reason may due to the fact that coda-dropping is very common in phonological acquisition (Tsay, 2007; So & Dodd, 1995), and it was also a commonly used strategy by children in this study when replacing other types. For example, CVN was most frequently replaced by CV; CGVG was most frequently replaced by CGV. So, the strategy participants used when replacing immature syllable types was to simplify the syllable by only dropping
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國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
the coda consonant. That is, syllable types that were most frequently used in replacing others are all open syllables. Furthermore, they are also syllables contained onset
consonants. The results accord with McCarthy and Prince (1994), who proposed that children’s early productions were governed by highly-ranked No-Coda constraints,
which predicts that CV syllable types appear to be the most common output of syllable errors.
Syllable types that were frequently replaced by others were CVG, CGVG, and CVN. All of these syllable types also presents similar features: they are all closed syllables, and one of them contains consonant cluster. So, the findings of substitution pattern may indicate that children have the tendency to replace a more marked syllable type with a more unmarked one.
5.3.3 Syllable type variability
Studies have shown that phonological variability is most likely to occur when one or more aspect of the word is unstable in child’s phonological system; that is, phonological elements were presented in a child’s speech, but not yet mastered (Holm
et al., 2007; Leonard et al., 1982; McLeod & Hewett, 2008). In this study, syllable
types that had higher variability rates in monosyllabic words were VG, CGVN, and CGVG. In disyllabic words, VN and CGVN presented higher variability rates.CV and V were the last two in the ranking of variability rates in both monosyllabic and
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
disyllabic words.
Syllable types presented higher variability rates are more marked syllables. All of them are closed syllables; VG and VN are syllables without onset; CGVG and CGVN are syllables contained consonant clusters. The results are in support of the study of Leonard et al. (1982). They suggested that words with higher variability rates are most often those which have more advanced forms, sounds, or word shapes. Among the syllable types with high variability rates, two of them are the most maximal syllable in Mandarin: CGVG and CGVN. So, it is much more difficult for children to master, resulting in high variability rates.
As for VN and VG, although they have relatively simple structure compared to CGVG or CGVN, they are the only two syllable types without onset consonant in Taiwan Mandarin, which are the more marked syllable types. So, it would acquired later by children. As proposed by Macrae (2013), later-acquired sounds are produced less accurately and with more variability than earlier-acquired sounds.
Comparing the syllable type frequency and variability rate, the results show that syllable types with higher frequency would present lower variability rates, and
syllable types with lower frequency would show higher variability rates. For example, CV was the most frequently used syllable type in children’s speech and it presented
the lowest variability rates in both monosyllabic and disyllabic words. The results
‧
國立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
accord with Sosa and Stoel-Gammon (2012). They suggested that high frequency facilitates both word recognition and word production, that is, the relationship
between syllable type frequency and variability rate may respond to the rule that
‘practice makes perfect’, so the more the children produce a certain kind of syllable
type, the lower the variability rate of that type is.