ABSTRACT

Hyper-articulation of vowel and consonant contrasts is often reported in infant-directed speech (IDS), but is not universal cross-linguistically, and may be a side-effect of speaking rate. This study investigated the voicing characteristics of the four-way oral stop voicing contrast in Nepali IDS. Both lead and lag time of word-onset/ɡ, ɡʱ, k, kʱ/were measured in the IDS and adult-directed speech (ADS) of 16 Nepali-speaking mothers. The lower prevalence of contrastive prevoicing and shorter lead times in IDS compared to ADS indicate hypo-articulated voicing contrasts. Shorter overall lag times in IDS suggest that stop consonants are less salient in IDS compared to ADS. These results cannot be explained as a side-effect of speaking rate, but rather suggest an increased salience for vowels compared to consonants within the IDS syllable. The implications for the acquisition of voicing contrasts are discussed.

摘要

在婴儿定向语音（IDS）中经常报告元音和辅音对比的过度发音，但在跨语言的语言中却不是普遍的，并且可能是发声率的副作用。这项研究调查了尼泊尔IDS中的四向口服停止语音对比的语音特征。在16名尼泊尔语母亲的IDS和成人定向语音（ADS）中测量了单词开始/ɡ，ɡʱ，k，kʱ/的前导和滞后时间。对比prevoicing和IDS短的交货时间相比，ADS患病率较低表明低清晰的语音对比。IDS中总体滞后时间较短，这表明IDS中终止辅音的显着性低于ADS。这些结果不能解释为发声率的副作用，而是暗示与IDS音节中的辅音相比，元音的显着性增加。讨论了获取语音对比的含义。