1. What is an infant’s speech perception ability and how does it relate to language development?
Speech perception ability is essential to a child’s language development and in essence is the child’s ability to pay attention to the prosodic and phonetic regularities of speech. The prosodic cues of speech include frequency, duration, intensity, stress, intonation and rhythm while the phonetic regularities of speech refer to phonemes and how to combine them to form sequences of sounds. Without this ability children will not be able to properly produce their native language, nor will they be able to understand what is being said to them. Essentially, children will not be able to segment the speech stream and discover the patterns native to their language, which is why this ability is an integral part of language development.
2. Explain and give a few examples of phonotactic regularities. …show more content…
For example in English, the combinations /st/, /pr/, and /tr/ are acceptable but the combinations /kb/, /fp/, and /qs/ are not. Additionally, perceiving phonotactic regularities in their language helps a child segment the speech stream and develops early on in life to facilitate language development.
3. Explain how children categorize speech.
Children categorize their speech into two distinct categories: Speech and non-speech sounds. Children are able to differentiate between sounds by focusing on specific features of the sounds (Ex. Voiced sounds {b} versus voiceless sounds {p}). However it takes children awhile to learn to differentiate between allophones; which are variations of the sound in the same category (Ex. Voiceless stop, aspirated stop etc.).
4. Why is an infant’s awareness of movement and understanding of the goals underlying an action an important precursor for language development? Explain your
Speech perception ability is essential to a child’s language development and in essence is the child’s ability to pay attention to the prosodic and phonetic regularities of speech. The prosodic cues of speech include frequency, duration, intensity, stress, intonation and rhythm while the phonetic regularities of speech refer to phonemes and how to combine them to form sequences of sounds. Without this ability children will not be able to properly produce their native language, nor will they be able to understand what is being said to them. Essentially, children will not be able to segment the speech stream and discover the patterns native to their language, which is why this ability is an integral part of language development.
2. Explain and give a few examples of phonotactic regularities. …show more content…
For example in English, the combinations /st/, /pr/, and /tr/ are acceptable but the combinations /kb/, /fp/, and /qs/ are not. Additionally, perceiving phonotactic regularities in their language helps a child segment the speech stream and develops early on in life to facilitate language development.
3. Explain how children categorize speech.
Children categorize their speech into two distinct categories: Speech and non-speech sounds. Children are able to differentiate between sounds by focusing on specific features of the sounds (Ex. Voiced sounds {b} versus voiceless sounds {p}). However it takes children awhile to learn to differentiate between allophones; which are variations of the sound in the same category (Ex. Voiceless stop, aspirated stop etc.).
4. Why is an infant’s awareness of movement and understanding of the goals underlying an action an important precursor for language development? Explain your