An Acoustic Study of Stops in Hakka Infant-Directed Speech

• Main Authors: Fu, Liping, 傅麗萍
• Other Authors: Cheng, Mingchung
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/54391684125349623494

碩士 === 國立聯合大學 === 客家語言與傳播研究所 === 100 === This acoustic research examined the acoustic parameters of the voice onset time (VOT), spectral peak and consonant/syllable ratio upon Infant-Directed Speech (IDS) of the stops in Si-xian Hakka. Through the methods and tools of experimental phonetics, we investigated the overall trend of acoustic characteristics of IDS, in comparisons with Adult-Directed Speech (ADS) in Hakka. In this study, the experimental process is as follows. We selected 5 Hakka women, who live in Miaoli County and speak Si-xian Hakka, as our participants in the speech recording. The test stimuli consisted of 18 Hakka vocabularies of daily life, and these syllables were comprised of 6 word-initial stops [p, t, k, ph, th, kh] and followed by 3 vowels [i, a, u]. In the first six months from the babies were born, we collected the sounds of IDS and ADS respectively every month. Then, we selected and segmented the target sound, and proceeded the follow-up measurements and analysis. The result shows that the overall IDS was more expanded and extended than ADS in Hakka. First, the time duration of VOT was longer, and the trend of extension was followed by the difference of intrinsic duration, that is, velar > alveolar > bilabial. The outcome in this experiment was not like MIPhI Model from Sundberg; the participants put more emphasis on VOT in the beginning than they did in the later. Therefore, it is necessary to re-evaluate this model. In addition, the past study of consonants in IDS used to focus only on the temporal cues. In this paper, however, we concerned the expansion of the frequency characteristics for those increases in the difference among phonetic units make relatively clear in IDS pronunciation, and thus may make the contrast characteristics more likely be perceived. Therefore it will help the development of early childhood language learning. In order to make up the deficiency of the previous consonant study, we took deeper thinking in the consonant/syllable ratio. Speech sounds should be expanded and extended on the premise without breaking the original rhyme proportion so as to help babies learn phonology properly. Last but not least, the IDS we brought up was not as clueless as Chomsky supposed. The mothers, based on the different ages of the babies, made an adjustment in their unconscious “strategic” speech sounds. It led the babies a correct way of speech system learning. As a whole, this article is a great contribution to Hakka IDS.