The Role of Imitation in Learning to Pronounce Piers Ruston Messum University College London April 2007 1 UMI Number: U592142 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U592142 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Declaration I, Piers Ruston Messum, declare that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources this has been acknowledged in the thesis. 2 Abstract Timing patterns and the qualities of speech sounds are two important aspects of pronunciation. It is generally believed that imitation from adult models is the mechanism by which a child replicates them. However, this account is unsatisfactory, both for theoretical reasons and because it leaves the developmental data difficult to explain. I describe two alternative mechanisms. The first explains some timing patterns (vowel length changes, ‘rhythm’, etc) as emerging because a child’s production apparatus is small, immature and still being trained. As a result, both the aerodynamics of his speech and his style of speech breathing differ markedly from the adult model. Under their constraints the child modifies his segmental output in various ways which have effects on speech timing; but these effects are epiphenomenal rather than the result of being modelled directly. The second mechanism accounts for how children learn to pronounce speech sounds. The common, but actually problematic, assumption is that a child does this by judging the similarity between his own and others’ output, and adjusting his production accordingly. Instead, I propose a role for the typical vocal interaction of early childhood where a mother reformulates (‘imitates’) her child’s output, reflecting back the linguistic intentions she imputes to him. From this expert, adult judgment of either similarity or functional equivalence, the child can determine correspondences between his production and adult output. This learning process is more complex than simple imitation but generates the most natural of forms for the underlying representation of speech sounds. As a result, some longstanding problems in speech can be resolved and an integrated developmental account of production and perception emerges. Pronunciation is generally taught on the basis that imitation is the natural mechanism for its acquisition. If this is incorrect, then alternative methods should give better results than achieved at present. 3 Table of Contents ABSTRACT.........................................................................................................................................................3 ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................................................................................9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.............................................................................................................................. 10 1 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................12 PART 1 - THE REPLICATION OF PATTERNS OF TIMING 2 INTRODUCTION TO PART 1.............................................................................................................18 2.1 F o u r ‘t e m p o r a l ’ ph o n e t ic p h e n o m e n a ...................................................................................................18 2.2 R e pl ic a t io n b y im it a t io n ( m o d e l l in g ) .................................................................................................. 21 2.3 O u t l in e o f P a r t 1 ..............................................................................................................................................21 3 SPEECH BREATHING IN ADULTS AND CHILDREN ...............................................................24 3.1 Spe e c h b r e a t h in g in a d u l t s ....................................................................................................................... 24 3.2 Spe e c h b r e a t h in g in c h il d r e n ....................................................................................................................25 3.3 St y l e o f a d u l t spe e c h b r e a t h in g ............................................................................................................ 30 3.4 St y l e o f c h il d sp e e c h b r e a t h in g ..............................................................................................................34 3.5 T h e n a t u r e o f a p u l sa t il e st y l e o f c h il d sp e e c h b r e a t h in g .....................................................35 3.5.1 Motor skill acquisition.......................................................................................................35 3.5.2 The control of pulses..........................................................................................................37 3.5.3 The magnitude of stress pulses........................................................................................... 38 4 PRE-FORTIS CLIPPING (PFC)..........................................................................................................40 4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................40 4.2 A BREATH STREAM DYNAMIC (B SD ) EXPLANATION FOR P F C ...............................................................41 4.3 PFC BEFORE FINAL FRICATIVES........................................................................................................................42 4.4 PFC BEFORE FINAL STOPS................................................................................................................................... 45 4.5 E x t e n sio n s a n d e x c e p t io n s ......................................................................................................................... 47 4.6 Su m m a r y ................................................................................................................................................................48 5 RESPIRATORY SYSTEM INVOLVEMENT IN THE REALISATION OF STRESS- ACCENT............................................................................................................................................................ 50 5.1 A d u l t s ..................................................................................................................................................................... 51 5.1.1 Evidence from observation..................................................................................................51 5.1.2 Evidence from instrumental investigation of the production................................... system 52 5.1.3 Evidence from acoustic studies...........................................................................................54 4 5.1.4 Summary..............................................................................................................................54 5.2 C h il d r e n ............................................................................................................................................................... 54 5.2.1 When is stress-accent deployed?........................................................................................54 5.2.2 What style of speech breathing is usedfor stress?............................................................. 55 5.2.3 Control and magnitude of stress pulses................................................................................57 5.3 S u m m a r y .............................................................................................................................................................. 57 6 A BREATH STREAM DYNAMIC (BSD) ACCOUNT OF THE EMERGENCE OF THE WGmPh.............................................................................................................................................................59 6.1 F o o t l e v e l sh o r t e n in g (F L S ).....................................................................................................................59 6.1.1 Appearance of rhythm and vowel reduction........................................................................ 60 6.1.2 Aerodynamic effects of syllable reduction........................................................................... 60 6.1.3 Varieties of foot...................................................................................................................62 6.1.4 The foot as a unit of production..........................................................................................63 6.1.5 Timing................................................................................................................................64 6.1.6 Learning............................................................................................................................