The acquisition of iambs by
monolingual German,
monolingual Spanish and
bilingual GermanGerman-Spanish
children: a case for different
representations
Javier Arias
Brief sketch of the talk
Short
presentation of the stress
systems of German and Spanish
Some
The
hypotheses
data
Empirical
results
Conclusions
Word stress in German
Word stress in German is based on Trochees
German being QS, iambiciambic-shaped words comprise a
moraic trochee preceded by an unfooted syllable
Phonetic properties of stressed and unstressed syllables
in comparison:
– Duration of a stressed syllable is twice that of an unstressed syllable
(Dogil 1999)
– The stressed syllable has higher pitch than the unstressed syllable
– Intensity of the stressed syllable is somewhat 2.2 dB greater than that
of an unstressed syllable (Delattre 1966)
“Final lengthening”: The last syllable of a Phonological Phrase
is lengthened
Word stress in Spanish
Spanish Word Stress is based on Trochees
Spanish being QI, iambiciambic-shaped words constitute
weight insensitive iambs (Altshuler
(Altshuler 2006)
Phonetic properties of stressed syllables:
– Duration of a stressed syllable is greater than that of an unstressed
syllable (Navarro Tomá
Tomás 1916, Mengel 1997).
1997). The difference amounts
to some + 50 ms for the trochaictrochaic-shaped words, and about + 150 ms
in iambic patterns
– The stressed syllable has a higher and wider pitch contour than the
unstressed syllable
– Intensity of the stressed syllable is about 1.3 dB greater than that of an
unstressed syllable (Delattre 1966)
“Final lengthening”: The last syllable of a Phonological
Phrase is lengthened
Representation of iambiciambic-shaped words
German
Spanish
PW
PW
Ft
Ft
w
s
Differences in word
word--stress between German
and Spanish
Differences in the representation of iambiciambic-shaped
words: in German unstressed syllable plus moraic
trochee, and in Spanish iambic foot
Mean differences in duration between stressed and
unstressed syllables are greater in German than in
Spanish
The difference in amplitude is also greater in German
(2.2 dB) than in Spanish (1.3 dB)
The Pitch contrast marking syllable prominence shows
greater values in German than in Spanish
The data
2 Spanish monolinguals (from the beginning of word
production until 2;6)
2 German monolinguals (from the beginning of word
production until 2;6)
2 GermanGerman-Spanish bilingual children (from the
beginning of word production until 2;6)
One-word utterances made up of iambic
Oneiambic--shaped
target words were phonetically analyzed for the
values of Duration, Pitch and Amplitude by means of
Praat for the MacIntosh. Both duration of vowels
and duration of syllables was measured.
Some hypotheses
If stress is acquired by means of an algorithm,
iambic--shaped words should pose difficulties both in
iambic
German and in Spanish.
The difference in the representation of iambiciambicshaped words between the two languages might
result in differences in the acquisition of iambiciambicshaped words in the two languages.
Bilingual children will acquire wordword-stress in the
corresponding languages the same way as
monolinguals do.
Percentages of truncation in
iambic--shaped words
iambic
100
100
José1
80
80
60
40
20
José2
Bernd1
Bernd2
Marion1
60
Maria1
Maria2
40
Miguel1
Marion2
Thomas1
20
Thomas2
0
0
Monolingual
Spanish
Monolingual
German
Child1: until 1;10
Child2: from 1;11 to 2;1
Two German monolinguals have almost
100% of truncation at stage 2
The other German child has about 40%
The Spanish children have less than 20%
of truncation at all times
Bilinguals in Spanish have values similar
to the monolinguals‘ but Simon1 has about
40%
Miguel2
100
Jens1
80
Jens2
60
Simon1
40
Simon2
20
0
Bilingual Spanish
Stress errors in Spanish iambiciambic-shaped words
over the total number of errors (José)
(José)
IAMBS AS TROCHEES
100
90
80
Percentage
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
UNTIL 1;8
FROM 1;9
An auditive analysis shows that iambs are produced target-like, but from 1;9 on
until 2; 6, José converts many iambs to trochees.
The other Spanish monolingual child, Miguel, presents a similar pattern.
In the bilinguals the attested errors first come up at 2;0.
Such errors appear at a point when the child lexicon contains many trochees.
Iambic--shaped words produced by German
Iambic
monolinguals (Bernd)
AMPLITUDE
75
70
dB
65
60
55
50
50
0
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
PITCH
400
Non-significant difference for any of
the three parameters.
Duration: p > 0.19649
Pitch:
p > 0.92275
Amplitude: p > 0.88695
375
Hz
350
325
300
275
250
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
Iambic--shaped words produced by German
Iambic
monolinguals (Marion)
AMPLITUDE
75
70
dB
65
60
50
55
0
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
50
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
PITCH
400
Non-significant difference for any of
the three parameters.
Duration: p > 0.06266
Pitch:
p > 0.66684
Amplitude: p > 0.36474
375
Hz
350
325
300
275
250
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
Iambic--shaped words produced by Spanish
Iambic
monolinguals (José)
AMPLITUDE
75
70
dB
65
60
55
50
0
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
50
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
PITCH
400
375
Highly-significant difference in duration
only: p < 0.00048
Pitch:
p > 0.35438
Amplitude:
p < 0.07297
Hz
350
325
300
275
250
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
Iambic--shaped words produced by Spanish
Iambic
monolinguals (Miguel)
AMPLITUDE
75
70
dB
65
60
55
50
0
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
50
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
PITCH
425
400
375
Highly-significant difference in duration
only: p < 0.00441
Pitch:
p > 0.12448
Amplitude:
p < 0.08337
Hz
350
325
300
275
250
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
Iambic-shaped words produced by the
Iambicbilinguals in German (Jens and Simon)
AMPLITUDE
75
70
65
dB
Simon
Jens
60
100
55
50
0
50
SECOND VOWEL
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
PITCH
400
375
350
Hz
FIRST VOWEL
Simon
Jens
325
300
275
250
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
Two-tailed tt--tests for German
Twoiambic--shaped words in the
iambic
bilinguals
SIMON:
Non-significant difference
Nonfor any of the three
parameters.
Duration: p > 0.11028
Pitch:
p > 0.66016
Amplitude: p > 0.29496
JENS:
Significant difference only
in duration.
Duration: p < 0.03818
Pitch:
p > 0.26891
Amplitude: p < 0.38373
Iambic-shaped words produced by the
Iambicbilinguals in Spanish (Jens and Simon)
AMPLITUDE
75
70
65
dB
Simon
Jens
60
55
50
0
50
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
PITCH
400
375
Hz
350
Simon
Jens
325
300
275
250
FIRST VOWEL
SECOND VOWEL
Two-tailed tt--tests for Spanish
Twoiambic--shaped words in the
iambic
bilinguals
SIMON:
JENS:
Highly-significant
Highlydifference in duration
only.
Non-significant
Nondifference for any of
the three parameters.
Duration:
p < 0.00038
Duration: p > 0.24588
Pitch:
p > 0.09454
Pitch:
Amplitude:
p < 0.09857
Amplitude: p > 0.50282
p > 0.84340
The role of codas in syllable duration
(German iambs)
SYLLABLE DURATION IN
BILINGUALS (GERMAN)
GERMAN MONOLINGUALS
450
600
400
500
350
400
250
Bernd
Marion
200
150
ms
ms
300
Simon
Jens
300
200
100
100
50
0
0
FIRST SYLLABLE
SECOND SYLLABLE
FIRST SYLLABLE
SECOND SYLLABLE
Bernd and Marion make use of a coda in the stressed syllable, in
order to make such syllable longer than the unstressed one.
The bilinguals Simon and Jens exhibit an analogous behavior to
that of Bernd and Marion.
Conclusions on German
Stressed syllables tend to have one additional mora,
(consonantal coda or glide). Duration of syllables with
coda is greater than duration of syllables without coda in
all children.
Iambic-shaped words come up at a later stage, and after
Iambicbeing truncated, are realized targettarget-like as regards
duration from 2;2 on.
In iambiciambic-shaped words, vowel duration proves to be
statistically significant for Jens. Once codas are
considered, duration becomes significant for Bernd and
highly significant for Marion and both bilingual children,
Simon and Jens.
Conclusions on Spanish
In the iambic words the bilingual child Simon groups together with the
monolinguals, with duration alone playing the relevant role for
prominence, whereas in Jens no phonetic parameter shows statistical
significance.
However, if truncation and stress errors are additionally taken into
account, the bilinguals differ from the monolinguals. The former
present a relatively greater percentage of truncation, whereas more
errors are attested in the latter.
In the bilingual child Jens, at first (until 1;11) Spanish iambs seem to
call for a GermanGerman-like representation, in terms of a moraic trochee
preceded by an unfooted syllable. Truncation of iambiciambic-shaped words
at this stage results in CVC productions i.e. moraic trochees.
As for Simon, until 1;11 he clearly deviates from the monolinguals, due
to his high percentage of truncation, even reducing CV.CV iambs to CV
structures, which is not found in Jens. Once his early stage is over, he
seems to have a targettarget-like representation for iambs as a right
right--headed
foot, given the targettarget-like productions, especially after 2;2.
Summary on iambs
In the German monolinguals, no phonetic parameter of
vowels seems to be statistically significant
Duration of the whole syllable containing a coda is
significant
In the Spanish monolinguals, duration(but no other
parameter) of vowels plays a significant role
Regarding the German of the bilinguals, vowel duration
proves significant in Jens, and syllables with coda in
Simon
With respect to the Spanish of the bilinguals, only vowel
duration in the child Simon shows significant values
A brief overview of the results on
iambs
Iambs seem to be acquired at an early age,
beginning at 2;2
Iambs seem to be acquired before trochees
are, as a high percentage of trochees,
especially in Spanish, show the effect of Final
Lengthening
Could the apparent acquisition of iambs be
due to an effect of Final Lengthening?
Contrast between the unstressed
vowels
GERMAN MONOLINGUALS
350
300
250
200
ms
Bernd
Marion
150
100
50
50
0
0
TROCHEES
IAMBS
TROCHEES
BILINGUALS (SPANISH)
IAMBS
BILINGUALS (GERMAN)
250
250
200
200
150
ms
Simon
Jens
Simon
Jens
ms
150
100
100
50
50
0
0
TROCHEES
IAMBS
TROCHEES
IAMBS
Comparison between final vowels
GERMAN MONOLINGUALS
450
400
350
300
250
ms
Bernd
Marion
200
150
100
50
50
0
0
TROCHEES
IAMBS
TROCHEES
IAMBS
BILINGUALS (GERMAN)
BILINGUALS (SPANISH)
350
350
300
300
250
250
200
ms
Simon
Jens
Simon
Jens
ms
200
150
150
100
100
50
50
0
0
TROCHEES
IAMBS
TROCHEES
IAMBS
Some conclusions on the comparison
between trochees and iambs
In general, unstressed syllables of trochees are longer
than unstressed syllables of iambs. This contrast must
be due to Final Lengthening in the case of trochees.
The last vowel of iambs has greater duration than the
last vowel of trochees. This contrast is due to the
joint effect of stress prominence and Final
Lengthening in the case of iambs.
The difference in duration between both the stressed
vowels and between the unstressed vowels of iambs
and trochees is greater for the stressed syllables. This
points to the targettarget-like acquisition of stress in iambs.
Conclusion
Iambs pose difficulties both in German and in
Spanish, as reflected in the stress errors in which
iambic--shaped words are levelled as trochees to
iambic
adapt to the most general stress pattern of the
language. Such errors are found both in the
monolinguals and in the bilinguals.
Differences in the acquisition of iambiciambic-shaped
words in the two languages have been attested by
the different degrees of truncation in the acquisition
of the two languages.
Bilingual children acquire iambic wordword-stress in
German the same way as monolinguals do.
However, deviations from the monolingual pattern
could be found in Spanish in Jens, and at the
earliest stage in Simon.
Thank you very much!
Muito obrigado!
¡Muchas gracias!
Vielen Dank!