Project title: Consonant development in typically developing Welsh-English bilingual children (PhD Bilingualism: Linguistics)

本项目将考察典型的威尔士-英语双语儿童辅音的习得情况。尽管威尔士有大量讲威尔士语的儿童，但很少有关于威尔士-英语双语儿童言语发展的研究(Ball，Muller&Munro，2001a；2001b，Munro，Ball，Muller，Duckworth and Lyddy，2005)。关于威尔士语语音的研究总体上是有限的，基于少数说话者的描述性数据(Ball and Jones，1984；Ball&Williams，2001；Hannahs，2013)。这对在威尔士工作的二语教师提出了挑战，他们需要关于威尔士-英语双语儿童言语发展的详细信息，以评估、诊断和治疗言语障碍。Munro，Ball，Muller，Duckworth and Lyddy(2005：26)指出，威尔士语学习策略建立在单一语言的基础上，没有考虑到双语语境中两个发展中的音位之间的关系。已有的关于威尔士语-英语言语习得的研究主要集中在2岁、6岁和5岁的儿童身上，但研究表明，并不是所有的威尔士语和英语辅音都是在5岁之前习得的(Ball，Muller&Munro，2001a；Ball，Muller&Munro，2001b；Munro et al，2005)。此外，这些关于同时习得威尔士语和英语的研究显示了语言优势对语音习得的影响，但提出还需要进一步的工作来探索威尔士-英语双语儿童辅音习得的发展。这项拟议的项目将调查威尔士三个地区儿童的语言接触情况和语言优势，在这些地区，讲威尔士语的人口比例较高。很少有研究调查从业者在识别双语儿童方面的经验和态度。最近关于爱尔兰第二语言教师与讲爱尔兰英语的双语儿童合作的经验的研究由于缺乏资源而使用单一语言的英语评估(穆尔格鲁、达菲和肯尼迪，2022年)。我们必须对双语儿童的言语发展有清晰的描述，以制定指导方针，指导如何处理受关注的双语儿童(Law等人，2000年)。双语儿童对语言发展的不同态度或缺乏知识可能会影响对需要言语和语言支持的儿童的干预。具体地说，该项目将重点开发威尔士-英语双语儿童2至7岁的辅音清单，重点关注在家中接触语言的影响。这将通过收集生产数据来解决，例如通过单词列表、图片命名任务以及背景父母问卷。将结合声学分析和语音转录来描述和分析生产数据，以确定儿童的生产变种。该项目的第二个目的是通过问卷调查，调查言语和语言治疗师(SLT)和临床医生在评估、诊断和治疗双语儿童言语方面的经验。这项研究将对不同背景的威尔士-英语双语儿童的辅音发展进行当代概述。将来自威尔士不同地区的儿童包括在内是至关重要的，因为他们接触的是不同程度的威尔士人。这项研究旨在为专业人员在处理有言语、语言和交流需求的双语儿童时提供一个基准。

This project will examine the acquisition of consonants in typically developing Welsh-English bilingual children. Despite the large number of Welsh-speaking children in Wales, there has been little research on speech development in Welsh-English bilingual children (Ball, Muller & Munro, 2001a; 2001b, Munro, Ball, Muller, Duckworth and Lyddy, 2005). Work on Welsh phonetics in general is limited, based on descriptive data with small numbers of speakers (Ball and Jones, 1984; Ball & Williams, 2001; Hannahs, 2013). This poses a challenge for SLTs working in Wales, who require detailed information about speech development in Welsh-English bilingual children to assess, diagnose and treat speech disorders. Munro, Ball, Muller, Duckworth and Lyddy (2005: 26) note that Welsh SLT is 'founded on monolingualism which does not take into account the relationship between two developing phonologies in a bilingual context'. The existing research that has been conducted into Welsh-English speech acquisition focusses primarily on children between the ages of 2;6 and 5, but the research shows that not all of the Welsh and English consonants are acquired by the age of 5 in the participant groups (Ball, Muller & Munro, 2001a; Ball, Muller & Munro, 2001b; Munro et al, 2005). Furthermore, these previous studies on the acquisition of Welsh and English simultaneously have shown an effect of language dominance on speech sound acquisition, but proposed that further work is required to explore the development of consonant acquisition in Welsh-English bilingual children. The proposed project will investigate language exposure and language dominance in children from three areas in Wales where Welsh is spoken by a higher proportion of the population. Very few studies have investigated the experiences and attitudes of practitioners in identifying children of concern who are bilingual. Recent research on the experience of Irish SLTs working with Irish-English speaking bilingual children were using monolingual English assessments due to the lack of resources (Mulgrew, Duffy and Kennedy, 2022). It is essential that we have clear descriptions of speech development in bilingual children to develop guidelines for how to proceed with bilingual children of concern (Law et al., 2000). Varying attitudes or lack of knowledge about language development in bilingual children may affect the interventions for children who require speech and language support. Specifically, this project will focus on the development of the consonant inventory in Welsh-English bilingual children between the ages of 2 and 7, focussing on the effect of language exposure in the home. This will be addressed by collecting production data via e.g. word lists, picture naming tasks as well as background parental questionnaires. The production data will be described and analysed using a combination of acoustic analysis and phonetic transcription to identify the production variants of the children. A secondary aim of the project is to investigate the experiences of Speech and Language Therapists (SLTs) and clinicians in the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of bilingual children's speech via questionnaires. The study will provide a contemporary overview of consonant development in Welsh-English bilingual children from different backgrounds. It is essential to include children from different regions in Wales as they are exposed to varying levels of Welsh. This study aims to provide a benchmark for professionals to use when working with bilingual children who have speech, language and communication needs.