Linguistics 101

HW #7 (Language Acquisition)

Due: April 25, 2012

Name: ______

A) Given that children overgeneralize grammatical rules, identify what non-adult form a child is likely to use for each of the adult forms below.

a. threw

b. spat

c. geese

d. better

e. worst

B) Consider the following data. Using the terms on page 2 of the handout, list the process that accounts for the difference in the child’s pronunciation of each form. (Note that here and below, we will ignore aspiration.)

Utterances / Child / Adult / Process
1 / don’t / [doʊt] / [doʊnt]
2 / skip / [kɪp] / [skɪp]
3 / shoe / [su] / [ʃu]
4 / that / [dæt] / [ðæt]
5 / play / [peɪ] / [pleɪ]
6 / bath / [bæt] / [bæθ]
7 / chop / [tɑp] / [tʃɑp]
8 / pet / [bɛt] / [pɛt]
9 / dolly / [dɑwi] / [dɑli]
10 / sad / [sæt] / [sæd]

C) Consider the data below taken from Berko Gleason (2005).

Adult / Child 1: / Child 2:
a. pot / [pɑt] / [bɑt] / [bɑt]
b. top / [tɑp] / [dɑp] / [dɑp]
c. cat / [kæt] / [ɡæt] / [tæt]
d. back / [bæk] / [bæk] / [bæt]
e. day / [deɪ] / [deɪ] / [deɪ]
f. game / [geɪm] / [geɪm] / [deɪm]

a. For each child, describe the differences between adult speech and the child’s speech using the terms found in the handout. Be sure to specify whether the change occurs in onset position, coda position, or both, and which sounds are affected.

b. Based on the data above, determine how each child will most likely pronounce the six following words.

adult / Child 1 / Child 2
pull / [pʊl]
tummy / [tʌmi]
go / [ɡoʊ]
pay / [peɪ]
gate / [ɡeɪt]
kiss / [kɪs]