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LOT Course Monday

The acquisition of word stress


Problem how can the child find out about the inaudible principles that assign audible word stress? Remark The system of stress rules is particularly appropriate to look for acquisition strategies that identify inaudible principles alternatives and observations are more clear than elsewhere it is probably the best analyzed subsystem of grammar the system is - productive (nonsense words) - universal - abstract Word stress is guided by binary syllable tree Phrase stress is guided by binary phrase tree

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Stress patterns in English words (Zonneveld & Trommelen)


2 syllable words ultimate propose, tattoo control, canoe betray forget ? pen-ultimate pirate tuba Marxist nature agenda appendix redundant Vancouver democratic correspondent Honolulu pre-pen-ultimate ----

3 syllable words

pedigree president Galveston colony family economy democracy colonial interior

4 syllable words

Find out why it is a trochee Find out where the trochee is placed

LOT Course Monday

English non-sense words


2 syllable words ultimate grofot bidou frodose trivol ---pen-ultimate ripate buta karmist narute edanga addinpox Couvancor dedondont lototunu pocusrondant modudramie pre-pen-ultimate ----

3 syllable words

gipidry sipredint locany Velgostan cremodacy conolial reinteor enocomy

4 syllable words

----

The stress is assigned by analogy The rules of analogy reveal the abstract system

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Stress patterns in English non-sense words


ultimate 2 syllable grofot words bidou frodose trivol 3 syllable ---words pen-ultimate ripate buta karmist narute edanga addinpox Couvancor dedondont lototunu pocusrondant modudramie pre-pen-ultimate ----

gipidry sipredint locany Velgostan cremodacy conolial reinteor enocomy

4 syllable ---words

The syllable selected for stress follows from an immediate rule

LOT Course Monday

The stress rules


5 parameter main distinctions for stress assignment major stress leftmost foot rightmost foot - heavy syllable - light syllable - trochaic (strong-weak) - iambic (weak-strong) feet are assigned - from left-to-right - from right-to-left ternary feet dealt with - <+ extra-metrically> - < extra-metrically>. F F F F F F CV Van-cou-ver CVC re-dun-dant CV democracy [ ] Paris [ ] Paris

quantity

foot directedness

extra-metric syllable

e-le-(phant) canoe, tatoe

F F ()

The 5 syllable-parameters yield 32 systems (Hayes 1995)

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Stress derivations in English Por tu (gal) => last syllable extra-metrical

a ka (ba)

=> parse in trochees

A me ri (ca)

=> from right to left

Ho no lu (lu)

=> main stress on right-hand foot

Simple cases for simple principles

LOT Course Monday

Stress patterns in English words again


pen-ultimate pre-pen-ultimate

3 syllable words

agenda appendix redundant Vancouver democratic correspondent Honolulu

4 syllable words

pedigree president Galveston colony family economy democracy colonial interior

Do the same principles apply to multi-syllabic words?

LOT Course Monday

Questions for cues


1. Are stress patterns rule-based ?
(stress in non-sense words is rule-based language-specific)

2. Which simplification/truncation rules does the child apply ? 3. What does the pre-system suggest ? (Yes, truncation/ reduction is important)

String-reduction is the key to a stepwise acquisition of grammar

LOT Course Monday

Historical background: Jakobson (1942)


Kindersprache, Afasie und allgemeine Lautgesetze Some 20 universal articulation oppositions suffice to cover all natural language sound systems. The oppositions follow from the articulation apparatus. [Language adapts to make use of a natural system] Example The non-sonorant consonants (in English/ Dutch) can be based on 4 articulation options, is 24=16 items < anterior>, < coronal>, < voice>, < continuant>

See next slide


20 articulation options = 220 = 1.048.576 systems

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Historical background: Jakobson (1942)

+ anterior continuant + p b f v t d s z

anterior tj dj sj (z)j k g ch g voice + voice +

+ coronal coronal
+/ anterior +/ continuant +/ coronal +/ voice = = = = +/ tongue external muscle +/ full closure +/ tongue internal muscle +/ vocal cords

24 = 16

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Historical background: Jakobson (1942)


Children learn the speech sounds of their language in a predictable order. That order is fixed in a hierarchy of universal articulation features.

Some features are always used in all languages and other features are only used in some languages.
The always chosen features are learned first, the vowels aa - ie - oe and consonants p - t k. Features that are learned early are historically more stable, typologically more spread, and resistant in aphasics. Learnability predicts a grammatical hierarchy

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Historical background: Jakobson (1942)


1. Suppose, there is no language that lacks the p or the aa. Child language tends to start with these two sounds (pa-pa). These sounds are most innate (least marked). The p is the maximal closure of the mouth. The aa is maximally opening the mouth. This yields the UG properties: maximal articulation contrast; easiest to tell apart; most learnable; occurs in all languages Jacobson attempts to derive (part of) UG from a hierarchy in neural (articulation) controls.

2.

3.

At least part of UG arises from accidental structures in the body rather than from language-designed structures of the brain

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Cues for stress rules (Dresher 1999)


Dresher (1999) proposes cues for all stress parameters A cue is a well identifiable characteristic of the input. causes (triggers) the learner to set an a priori parameter. holds the learner to his initial choice. causes an acquisition order. The parameter presupposes a UG principle that is innate

Cues are supposed to operate with a blind deterministic effect

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Learnability order (Dresher 1999)


Hierarchy of cues Certain cues are listened to before others.

Dresher (1999) proposes that there are early decisions quantity: which syllables are light, which are heavy? extra-metric syllables: which syllable positions are extrametrical? Later cues would trigger type of foot: [ ] (trochee) or [ ] (iambe)

Criticism Dreshers hierarchy of cues is an additional stipulation It is not yet much of an explanation

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Learnability order (Dresher 1999)


How does the child find out that there is differentiation light/ heavy syllable? that a heavy syllable is either closed (VC ) or tensed (C V<+tense>) Dresher proposes: By comparing three and four syllable words. If the penultimate gets stress it is closed (VC correspondent) or tensed V (C V<+tense> Vancouver) If the penultimate is not stressed, it is open and stress falls on the pre-penultimate (Portugal) Hence stress distribution in 3 or 4 syllable words informs about the relevance of strong/weak syllables. Syllable quality in the pen-ultimate triggers the parameter setting

This search system might have been wired in, like sucking for milk in all young mammals

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Acquisition questions for Dreshers proposal


Dreshers proposal (as he explicitly admits) is a mere theoretical proposal. He does not consider: Acquisition questions Which percentage of the childs lexicon consists of 3 or 4-syllable words? Why should the child be so concerned about the penand pre-penultimate stress in these words? At which age is it clear that stress in 3 and 4-syllable words is well-established? Is it only after that point that the extra-metricality and the quantity in two-syllable words become obvious? Proposal: reconstruct child language to find out about the hierarchy in acquisition

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A different approach: Truncation


See the simplifications patterns in English child language (Kehoe & Stoel-Gammon 1997) for 3-4 syllable words

S(W)S CRO(co)DILE DI(no)SAUR TE(le)PHONE


S(W)S KAN(ga)ROO CHIM(pan)ZEE

(W)SW (ba)NAna (to)MAto (po)TAto


S(W)W A(ni)mal E(le)phant OC(to)pus

S(W)SW also truncated AL(li)GAtor HE(li)COPter A(vo)CAdo

The trochee (established in bi-syllables) is now imposed by truncation to the minimal binary patterns

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Truncation patterns are a starting point


Acquisition facts

Initially, all words are reduced to a two-syllable pattern. Mute syllables (consonant-schwa) are left out in the middle (exclusion of all 3- and 4-syllable words). The percentage of trochaic forms in English is then overwhelming. The output of the child reinforces a basic pattern (cf. Elbers 1993)

Due to truncation, the parameter setting is reduced to an effective intake (evidence frame)

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Other simplifications in word patterns


Word templates (Vihman 1996, 2003) Within the first 50 words the child forms word templates consistent with the basic stress pattern of the input. The child induces structure from highly familiar words (selected for accessible patterns)- e.g. French Charles) papa and imposes that structure in producing similar (adapted) words, e.g.

(French Charles) selected adapted

WS (iambe) pApa apa ApwA apa hap hapo::

papa lapin ouvrir poupe chaussure(s) cest beau

(daddy) (rabbit) (open) (doll) (shoe(s)) (its nice)

A minimal amount of input might impose the basic pattern

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Natural input reduction


Scheme (global)
reduction to binary syllable word trochee pattern extra-metrical status for uneven syllables

procedure for heavy syllables ?

Natural input reduction is the key

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Acquisition order
The moral 1. Look at the childs simplifications first. 2. Recalculate his intake from that point of view. The acquisition procedure strong reduction leave out mute vowel (schwa) syllables all words are trochaic type stepwise restoration add final mute schwa, maintain original trochee last mute syllable is extra-metric type

Natural reductions happen to yield evidence frames Evidence frames explain the linear order in acquisition steps

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References
Demuth, K. (1996) The prosodic structure of early words, in: J. Morgan & K. Demuth Signal to Syntax: Bootstrapping from Speech to Grammar in Early Acquisition, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 171-184. Dresher, E. (1999) Charting the learning path: Cues to parameter setting, Linguistic Inquiry 30, 2767. Elbers, L. (1993) Production as a source of input for analysis: evidence from the developmental course of a word-blend, Journal of Child Language 22, 47-71. Fikkert, P. (1994) On the acquisition of prosodic structure. Chapters 6 and 7. Guasti, M.T. (2002) Language Acquisition. The Growth of Grammar, Cambridge Mass./London: MIT Press. Hayes, B. (1995) Metrical Stress Theory: Principles and Case Studies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Jakobson, R. (1942) Kindersprache, Afasie und Allgemeine Lautgesetze, Kehoe, M. & C. Stoel-Gammon (1997) The acquisition of prosodic structure: An investigation of current accounts of children's prosodic development, Language 73, 113-144. Vihman, M. (1996) Phonological Development: The origins of language in the child. Oxford: Blackwell. Vihman, M. (2003) The representation of early words, invited lecture at the Conference on Domains, May 5. Wijnen, F., Krikhaar, E. & Den Os, E. (1994) The (non)realization of unstressed elements in children's utterances: Evidence for a rhythmic constraint. Journal of Child Language 21, 5983 http://www.dbnl.nl/tekst/wijn024nonr01/wijn024nonr01_001.htm Zonneveld, W. & M. Trommelen (1989) Klemtoon en Metrische Fonologie Muiderberg: Couthino.

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