Solving the puzzle of complex speech sounds

无论是对于学习第一语言的儿童还是第二语言的学习者来说，属于辅音（“液体”）家族的“l”和“r”语音都是最难掌握的。这是因为液体是高度复杂的，需要微调，语言特定的，协调发音手势。这种复杂性的细节仍然知之甚少，语音错误的补救和有效的教学语言学习带来了重大挑战。该项目旨在使用最先进的发音方法，以现代澳大利亚社会日益重要的四种类型学上不同的语言来检查液体，为未来的补救和教学工作奠定必要的基础。

Speech sounds that fall into the 'l' and 'r' family of consonants ('liquids') are amongst the most difficult to master, both for children learning their first language and for learners of a second. This is because liquids are highly complex and require finely tuned, and language specific, coordination of articulatory gestures. The details of this complexity remain poorly understood, posing significant challenges for remediation of speech errors and for effective pedagogy in language learning. This project aims to use state-of-the-art articulatory methods to examine liquids in four typologically distinct languages of increasing importance in modern Australian society to lay essential foundations for future work on remediation and instruction.