Phonetic Category Formation in Korean-English Bilingual Children

使用两种语言的人如何组织他们的语音系统一直是双语和第二语言（L2）语音研究领域的长期兴趣。成人二语学习者受到了极大的关注，但很少有研究表明语音范畴是如何在早期习得中产生和发展的，以及在这一过程中起作用的机制是什么。本研究的主要目的是探讨韩英双语儿童元音和辅音的产生，以确定语音产生的发展模式。在我们的初步研究中，我们声学检查的语音生产在5岁和10岁的韩国-英语双语儿童，发现两个年龄组之间的发展差异。第一，5岁的儿童建立了独特的系统，每种语言的元音，但没有停止辅音，而10岁的儿童获得独特的系统，元音和辅音;第二，这两组儿童采用不同的潜在机制。基于这些观察结果，我们建议进一步研究两个不同年龄段的言语产生，以确定更精确的发展模式：3岁和7岁儿童。双语儿童的语音检查将作出重大贡献，目前的双语文学中，拟议的研究将使我们能够解释的发展过程中，双语扬声器达到完全建立的语音生产的水平。此外，检查正常发展的双语儿童将提供重要的教育和临床意义的双语儿童语音障碍。如果对学习两种语言的典型发育儿童的言语模式没有明确的了解，就很难实施言语评估和干预计划，以服务于语言多样性的言语声音障碍儿童。因此，本研究的结果将为双语儿童语音障碍的言语评估和干预提供重要的信息。 公共卫生相关性：检查正常发育的双语儿童的语音产生特性将提供重要的教育和临床意义的双语儿童与语音障碍，因为正常发育的儿童的发展语音模式通常被认为是一个诊断工具的语音障碍。如果没有一个典型的发展中儿童学习两种语言的语音模式的清晰的理解，这是很难实施评估和干预计划，以服务于双语儿童的语音障碍。因此，本研究的结果将为双语儿童语音障碍的言语评估和干预提供重要的信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): How individuals who use two languages organize their phonetic system(s) has been of long-standing interest in the area of bilingual and second language (L2) speech research. Great attention has been paid to adult L2 learners, but few studies have characterized how phonetic categories emerge and develop in early acquisition and what kind of mechanisms are at play in this process in bilingual children. The main goal of this proposed study is to examine vowel and consonant production in Korean-English bilingual children in order to determine developmental patterns of speech production. In our preliminary studies, we have acoustically examined speech production in 5- and 10-year-old Korean-English bilingual children and found developmental differences between the two age groups. First, 5-year-old children established distinctive systems for each language for vowels but not for stop consonants, while 10-year-old children obtained distinctive systems for both vowels and consonants; second, both groups of children employed different underlying mechanisms. Based on these observations, we propose to further investigate speech production at two different chronological ages in order to determine more precise developmental patterns: 3- and 7-year-old children. Examination of bilingual children's speech will make significant contributions to the current literature of bilingualism in that the proposed study will allow us to explain the developmental processes by which bilingual speakers reach the level of fully established speech production. Furthermore, examining normally developing bilingual children will provide important educational and clinical implications for bilingual children with speech sound disorders. Without a clear understanding of the speech patterns in typically developing children learning two languages, it is difficult to implement speech assessment and intervention programs to serve linguistically diverse children with speech sound disorders. Thus, the results of this proposed study will provide significant information for developing speech assessment and intervention programs for bilingual children with speech sound disorders. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Examining speech production characteristics of normally developing bilingual children will provide important educational and clinical implications for bilingual children with speech sound disorders because the developmental speech patterns of normally developing children are commonly considered to be a diagnostic tool for speech disorders. Without a clear understanding of the speech patterns in typically developing children learning two languages, it is difficult to implement assessment and intervention programs to serve bilingual children with speech sound disorders. Thus, the results of this proposed study will provide significant information for developing speech assessment and intervention programs for bilingual children with speech sound disorders.