Acquisition of consonantal clusters: an analysis of natural and experimental data

• Autor(a) principal: Barbieri, Thais Telles
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Ferreira-Gonçalves, Giovana
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: letrônica
• Texto Completo: https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/letronica/article/view/26452
• topic: Phonetic-phonological acquisition; Consonantal clusters; Acoustic phonetics.; Aquisição fonético-fonológica; Encontros consonantais; Fonética acústica.; Aquisição fonético-fonológica; Encontros consonantais; Fonética acústica.

This work analyzes the process of acquisition of tautosyllabic consonantal clusters in oral productions of child speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (BP), aged between 1:4 and 5:0 (years:months). The acquisition of the CCV structure has been a focus of investigation in some researches; however, in many of these studies, intermediate steps, which are identified through acoustic analyses, are not reported. In more recent works, in which acoustic analysis has an important role, these intermediate steps are identified and evidenced by the presence of covert contrasts. Hence, in this paper it is intended to (i) describe intermediate steps present in the production of consonantal clusters, (ii) verify the use of vowel lengthening as a means of distinction between CCV and CV syllables and (iii) verify whether the use of the aspiration of plosives would also have a distinctive function. The data analyzed in this study were collected in natural and experimental contexts. These data have undergone an acoustic analysis along with words without consonantal clusters, considering measures of absolute and relative duration. Through the comparison of segment lengths, evidence has been found that vowel lengthening and the aspiration of plosives may work as means of distinction in the process of acquisition of the CCV structure.