phonology and word segmentation

unit of sound

shortest segment of speech that distinguishes two words

vowels

sounds where air is not bloocked but produced with relatively free flow of air. main dimensions

• high vs low - depends on tongue position = how big space in mouth is

• front v back - depends on lip posture and where in mouth vowels are produced

consonants

features that affect where air is blocked and how that interacts with sound. 3 features

1. voicing - when vocal cords begin vibrating

2. place - where obstruction is made in speech system

3. manner - how air passes thru

voicing of articulation

• voiced - z, v, g, b,d

• voiceless - s, f, k, p, t

differ by voice onset time

voice onset time

time between release of constriction of airstream and when vocal cords start vibrating

phonemes

unit of sound in language

• shortest segment of speech that distinguishes 2 words

• phonemic distinctions are specific to language

• symbol /x/

phones

any distinct speech sound regardless of whether the exact sound is critical to word meaning

• phonetic distinctions are independent of language

• symbol - [x]

allophones

different phones that are perceived as the same phoneme in particular language - don’t change word meaning

• spin - p is unaspirated

• pin - p is aspirated

categorical perception

tendency to perceive continuous physical stimulias belonging to dinstinct categories

• for consnants - vowels show graded differences

statistical learning

ability to detect patterns and regularities in environment by tracking what occurs, how often and what occurs together. 2 kinds

• individual/frequency - how often single event or item occurs

• co-occurrence how often 2 events occur together based on conditional probabilities

word segmentation

identifying individual words within continuous speech

possible ways word segmentation is learned

• carers insert more pauses in child-directed speech

• bootstrapping - once successfully segmented a few words = becomes easier

• phonotactic constraints - which sounds go together

• prosodic constraints - pattterns of stress or pitch

transitional probabilities

likelihood that 1 element (sound or syllable) will be followed by another in speech