Objectives: This study investigated the articulatory characteristics of initial stops in the speech of 1-2-year-old children.. By conducting a single syllable word naming trials, the formation features of initial consonant stops were perceptually exam...
Objectives: This study investigated the articulatory characteristics of initial stops in the speech of 1-2-year-old children.. By conducting a single syllable word naming trials, the formation features of initial consonant stops were perceptually examined based on two age groups. Additionally, the acoustic characteristics of initial stops produced by children were
compared with those of adults, identifying different different lenis-fortis-aspirated types.
Methods: : A total of 35 typically developing children aged 1~2 years and 10 adults participated in the study. The participants performed a naming taskusing nine monosyllabic words containing initial stops. The accuracy ofconsonants in the initial stops, as well as examine errors in articulationposition and voicing features were analyzed among children in
the late1-year-old and early 2-year-old age groups. Consonant accuracy, articulationposition, and voicing error ratios were compared between the two age groups.Additionally, the study investigated patterns of voicing errors observed ineach age group in detail. In acoustic analysis, tokens exhibiting articulation errors were excluded, and the Voice Onset Time (VOT) and fundamental frequency (F0), crucial for distinguishing stops, were examined using Praat scripts to ascertain differences in lenis-fortis-aspirated types between children and adults.
Results: Findings revealed that the articulatorycharacteristics of initial stops were prominent in voicing errors observed inboth age groups. Consonant accuracy was significantly higher in the early2-year-old group compared to the late 1-year-old group. The most prevalenterror observed in both late 1-year-old and early 2-year-old children was voicingerrors.
Examining the patterns of voicing errors, it was found that late1-year-olds exhibited all possible error patterns in voicing features, whileearly 2-year-olds showed a reduction or disappearance of some voicing errorpatterns, excluding errors related to aspiration. The acoustic characteristics of stops produced by children showed similarities to adults in terms of VOT and F0 for labial, alveolar, and velar.
Conclusion: This study investigated the articulatorycharacteristics of initial stops in the speech production of children in the lateage of 1 and the early age of 2, presenting information on the acquisitionprocess of initial stops. Error patterns in voicing features were commonlyobserved in the younger age group before the late age of 2.
Keywords: Korean Initial Stops, Speech Acquisition,Voicing, Typically Developing Children, 1-to-2-Year-Olds