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PubMedDate not supplied

The relationship between phonological codes on memory and spelling tasks for students with and without learning disabilities.

The purpose of the study was to determine the degree to which 31 (23 boys and 8 girls) 13-year-old children with learning disabilities from Grades 7, 8, and 9 were comparable to younger (9-year-old) reading- and spelling-matched controls in (a) phonological similarity effects, (b) phonetically based misspellings, and (c) relationships between memory and spelling performance. Children with reading disabilities and reading-recognition-matched controls, subgrouped by spelling ability, were compared on their memory for phonetically similar and dissimilar word lists and types of spelling errors. The results indicate that children with reading disabilities who are matched to younger children on both reading recognition and spelling ability exhibit normal phonological effects on memory and spelling measures. Within each reading group, low spellers produced more semiphonetic errors than high spellers, and high spellers produced more phonetic errors than low spellers. Significant correlations between memory and spelling error measures were more frequent for children with reading disabilities when compared to controls matched on reading and spelling ability. It was concluded that the phonological performance of reading/spelling-matched children with reading disabilities is characterized by an overreliance on phonological codes, whereas their counterparts' performance reflects independent and less generalizable use of phonological substrates across tasks.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Nasality in Taiwanese.

This study used perceptual and articulatory data to investigate a language specific phonemic inventory, and allophonic rules for homorganic initial voiced stops versus homorganic nasal stops, and oral versus nasal vowels in Taiwanese. Four experiments were conducted: concept formation, gating, and two airflow studies. Results of a first nasal airflow study on syllable initial voiced stops and nasal stops showed that initial voiced stops were nasalized when preceded by a nasal consonant across a word boundary. Results of a concept formation experiment indicated that Taiwanese listeners grouped homorganic voiced stops and nasal stops into the same category. A gating experiment showed that subjects were insensitive to the phonetic differences between homorganic voiced stops and nasal stops. The presence or absence of nasality within the vowel nucleus was the crucial cue to the identification of oral and nasal syllables. A second nasal airflow study on vowel nuclei demonstrated that oral vowels were nasalized at their onset and offset when preceded or followed by a nasal consonant respectively. The distinction between oral and nasal vowels was maintained at the center of the vowel nuclei. By classifying homorganic initial voiced stops and nasal stops into the same category, Taiwanese speakers were able to ignore the phonetic difference between them and relied on the distinction between nasal vowel versus oral and nasalized vowel to distinguish between nasal versus oral syllables. Taiwanese speakers produced a clear distinction between oral and nasal vowels to retain the crucial role that oral versus nasal contrasts on vowel nuclei played during perception experiments. This study offers phonetic evidence to answer the controversial nasality issue in Taiwanese. Furthermore, a link was found between perception and extent of application of allophonic rules during production.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Interaction of native- and second-language vowel system(s) in early and late bilinguals.

The objective of this study was to determine how bilinguals' age at the time of language acquisition influenced the organization of their phonetic system(s). The productions of six English and five Korean vowels by English and Korean monolinguals were compared to the productions of the same vowels by early and late Korean-English bilinguals varying in amount of exposure to their second language. Results indicated that bilinguals' age profoundly influenced both the degree and the direction of the interaction between the phonetic systems of their native (L1) and second (L2) languages. In particular, early bilinguals manifested a bidirectional L1-L2 influence and produced distinct acoustic realizations of L1 and L2 vowels. Late bilinguals, however, showed evidence of a unidirectional influence of the L1 on the L2 and produced L2 vowels that were "colored" by acoustic properties of their L1. The degree and direction of L1-L2 influences in early and late bilinguals appeared to depend on the degree of acoustic similarity between L1 and L2 vowels and the length of their exposure to the L2. Overall, the findings underscored the complex nature of the restructuring of the L1-L2 phonetic system(s) in bilinguals.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The IPA categories "pharyngeal" and "epiglottal": laryngoscopic observations of pharyngeal articulations and larynx height.

The phonetic problem is to describe accurately the articulatory mechanism, or mechanisms, responsible for the production of a series of sounds that are presently labelled on the chart of the International Phonetic Association as either pharyngeal or epiglottal. The sounds on which these categories are based are found in the Semitic languages, in the languages of the Caucasus, and in the languages of the Pacific Northwest coast of North America. In order to reconcile a variety of descriptive terms with a logical phonetic taxonomy, auditorily distinguishable parameters are deduced from a naturally occurring variety of sounds, isolated articulatorily, and observed with a fibreoptic laryngoscope to define a cardinal set of articulatory possibilities. Auditory comparisons with database illustrations of the sounds of various languages inform the production of cardinal values in the laryngoscopic study. Voiceless pharyngeals (fricatives) are identified by aryepiglottic fold constriction and a medial aperture. Voiced pharyngeals (approximants) are identified by aryepiglottic fold constriction and a covered glottis. Trilling can occur laterally along the aryepiglottic folds in either voiceless (fricative) or voiced (approximant) mode. A pharyngeal plosive is identified by full occlusion of the aryepiglottic sphincter. "Epiglottal" sounds, which have been described auditorily as "deeper" or "more extreme" than pharyngeals, are associated with either the trilled varieties of the simple fricative or approximant, or the default raised larynx posture of the aryepiglottic sphincter, with radical retraction of the tongue. They are therefore more severely constricted, but not physiologically "deeper" than simple [symbol: see text] or [symbol: see text]. Pharyngeal articulations may also be produced with larynx lowering. Voiceless pharyngeal [symbol: see text] may be accompanied by lowering of the larynx to distinguish it from a larynx-raised [H] variant. Larynx height variations are also found in "tense/lax" register distinctions.

Epiglottis↗
PubMed1989

The direct access method of teaching reading and the diagnosis and remediation of reading disability.

A distinction among reading disabled children based on whether phonetic or semantic deficits predominate has important implications for remediation. Two kinds of reading disability are related to two distinct aspects of the indirect phonological approach used in the vast majority of reading instructions. This approach to determining the meaning is a conversion of the written form of a word to its phonetic counterpart, making the comprehension auditory. Phonetic reading disabled children have a difficulty with the first step in the process, converting the written word to its sound. Semantic reading disabled children can convert the word to its sound, but this does not lead to determining meaning. Significant gains in performance, may occur by using a direct access to meaning, rather than through the intermediary of sound. The Direct Access approach to reading has one premise: Do not use a "word to sound to meaning" approach. The results of a demonstration project indicate the Direct Access approach to reading can be very useful for many reading disabled children.

Child↗
PubMed1989

Orchestration of multiple codes in developing readers: an alternative model of lexical access.

An alternative model of lexical access, based on recent PET scan studies showing localized coding operations in multiple brain sites, is proposed. Lexical access is viewed as a process of orchestrating multiple connections between corresponding visible language and oral language coding operations instead of a place--the internal lexicon--to which stimulus words gain access directly or indirectly. In both Study 1 (end of 1st grade) and Study 2 (mid 2nd and mid 4th grade) speed of naming phonically regular words, in which every letter can be phonemically coded, and of naming phonically irregular words, in which every letter cannot be phonemically coded, was not significantly different, indicating that naming can be based on a phonetic code connection rather than phonemic code connections. In both Study 1 and Study 2 speed of correctly accepting phonically regular real words was significantly faster than speed of correctly rejecting nonsense words on lexical decision, showing that absence of a semantic code is not detected as quickly as presence of a semantic code is. In both Study 1 and Study 2 speed of naming a phonically regular real word was significantly faster than speed of naming a nonsense word, demonstrating that naming is facilitated when two connections--between a printed word and its phonetic code and between a printed word and its semantic code--are activated. These findings held whether a key press (Study 1) or voice key (Study 2) response was used. Taken together, the results suggest that the whole word-phonetic code connection may be completed before the whole word-semantic code connection, both of which may precede the letter-phoneme connection in time.

Brain↗
PubMed1989

Consonant and vowel perception and production: early English-French bilinguals and English monolinguals.

This study is a comparative analysis of the English phonetic systems of 10 fluent adult English-French bilinguals who acquired their two languages prior to age 8 and who were English-dominant, and of 10 adult English monolinguals. The objective of the study was to determine whether or not early English-dominant bilinguals perceive and produce speech as English monolinguals do. Discrimination and identification tests of synthetic (d-t) and (i-I) continua and speech production tests revealed that the bilinguals' discrimination and production of (d) and (t) and their production of (I) did not differ significantly from the monolinguals'. However, the bilinguals' identification of (d-t) and (i-I) and one aspect of their production of (i) did differ significantly from that of the monolinguals. The present results indicate that early bilingualism can yield monolingual-like performance in at least one of the bilinguals' languages, but only with respect to certain aspects of the phonetic system. These findings are viewed in light of sound-class distinctions, the perception-production dichotomy, and bilingual phonetic transfer and restructuring.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

A reexamination of duplex perception evoked by intensity differences.

Duplex perception is a term used to describe the simultaneous evocation of phonetic and nonphonetic percepts, a phenomenon held by some to reveal the operation of a specialized module for phonetic perception. In a widely cited experiment by Whalen and Liberman (1987), duplex percepts were created by replacing the third format transition in a synthetic syllable with a sinusoidal tone glide and manipulating the level of the glide relative to the rest of the syllable. We discuss this study, and report four experiments. The first two made a systematic estimate of the "duplexity threshold"--the tone glide level at which a chirp-like sound could be heard as well as the speech-like syllable. In the third and fourth experiments, we used the results of the first to repeat and extend the experimental procedures in the original Whalen and Liberman study. We discuss the differences in outcome, and conclude that our results may be explained without the need to invoke a specialized phonetic module.

Attention↗
PubMed1989

Insights from a failure of selective adaptation: syllable-initial and syllable-final consonants are different.

Selective adaptation with a syllable-initial consonant fails to affect perception of the same consonant in syllable-final position, and vice versa. One account of this well-replicated result invokes a cancellation explanation: with the place-of-articulation stimuli used, the pattern of formant transitions switches according to syllabic position, allowing putative phonetic-level effects to be opposed by putative acoustic-level effects. Three experiments tested the cancellation hypothesis by preempting the possibility of acoustic countereffects. In Experiment 1, the test syllables and adaptors were /r/-/l/CVs and VCs, which do not produce cancelling formant patterns across syllabic position. In Experiment 2, /b/-/d/ continua were used in a paired-contrast procedure, believed to be sensitive to phonetic, but not acoustic, identity. In Experiment 3, cross-ear adaptation, also believed to tap phonetic rather than acoustic processes, was used. All three experiments refuted the cancellation hypothesis. Instead, it appears that the perceptual process treats syllable-initial consonants and syllable-final ones as inherently different. These results provide support for the use of demisyllabic representations in speech perception.

Attention↗
PubMed1989

The effects of auditory streaming on duplex perception.

When a formant transition and the remainder of a syllable are presented to subjects' opposite ears, most subjects perceive two simultaneous sounds: a syllable and a nonspeech chirp. It has been demonstrated that, when the remainder of the syllable (base) is kept unchanged, the identity of the perceived syllable will depend on the kind of transition presented at the opposite ear. This phenomenon, called duplex perception, has been interpreted as the result of the independent operation of two perceptual systems or modes, the phonetic and the auditory mode. In the present experiments, listeners were required to identify and discriminate such duplex syllables. In some conditions, the isolated transition was embedded in a temporal sequence of capturing transitions sent to the same ear. This streaming procedure significantly weakened the contribution of the transition to the perceived phonetic identity of the syllable. It is likely that the sequential integration of the isolated transition into a sequence of capturing transitions affected its fusion with the contralateral base. This finding contrasts with the idea that the auditory and phonetic processes are operating independently of each other. The capturing effect seems to be more consistent with the hypothesis that duplex perception occurs in the presence of conflicting cues for the segregation and the integration of the isolated transition with the base.

Attention↗
PubMed1999

[Speech understandability test in Sepedi].

The aim of this study was to develop the "Sepedi-toets vir Spraakverstaanbaarheid" to objectively evaluate the speech intelligibility of the client and to give appropriate phonetic information. This study evolved from the present need for evaluation mechanisms and therapeutic services in the indigenous African languages. The words used in the test had to conform to the requirements of certain phonetic criteria. Words and sentences of differing lengths were included. The procedures followed by the test administrator were different for mother tongue speakers than those for non-mother tongue speakers. After the compilation of the test it was applied to four dysarthria speakers. Upon execution of the test it was evident that differences in judgment of speech intelligibility exist between mother tongue and non-mother tongue speakers. Useful phonetic information was obtained through the qualitative analysis of the speech productions. It appears that the "Sepedi-toets vir Spraakverstaanbaarheid" can be used in the clinical environment to obtain a more objective evaluation of the client.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Development of gestalt-reading processes in children: assessment using the Boder test.

According to Boder, there are two processes involved in reading: visual-gestalt and analytic-phonetic. The gestalt process is activated for known words, forming part of the child's "sight vocabulary", and it enables him/her to recognize words even when they are exposed for a very short time. The analytic-phonetic process involves the auditory channel when the words are not part of the "sight vocabulary" and require a spelling process. At first, neither the English version nor the Italian adaptation of the Boder test included a control of word exposition time (ET) and reading time (RT). Both parameters are necessary for a check of the gestalt and phonetic processes. The aim of this paper was the assessment of minimum ET for the words belonging to the "sight vocabulary" and of RT for a word read through a gestalt process. Seventy-five primary schoolchildren from the first to the fifth class were presented with 100 meaningful words (MF) and 100 meaningless (ML) words, using ETs ranging from 150 to 650 ms. The results showed that, at the age of 7 years, the gestalt process was completely developed. Of MF words, 95% were correctly read and it did not change significantly with longer ETs. The RT for MF words did not change with different ETs and remained stable after the age of 7 years. Finally, the RT for ML words was always longer than the RT for MF words, and the difference was significant in 8-, 9- and 10-year-old children.

Child↗
PubMed1984

Auditory processing of the acoustic patterns of speech.

The auditory processing of the acoustic patterns of speech relevant for the perception of phonetic units is discussed in terms of a three-stage generic model of phonetic perception. It is argued that the auditory system analyzes each brief segment of the acoustic waveform of speech for tonal components and the shape of the "spectral envelope." The presence and pattern of tonal components is used in the perception of voicing and pitch. The shapes of spectral envelopes and their dynamics induce the perception of phonetic units. The important attributes of the spectral-envelope patterns are identified.

Audiometry, Speech↗
PubMed2003

Cognitive effects of unilateral posteroventral pallidotomy: a 4-year follow-up study.

We assessed the long-term neuropsychological effects of unilateral posteroventral pallidotomy in Parkinson's disease. Eleven Parkinson's disease patients, from an original cohort of 15 consecutive patients who underwent pallidotomy, were evaluated. A neuropsychological battery was administered to each patient before (3 days) and after (3 months and 4 years) surgery during the effects of levodopa. The following tests were administered: Rey's Auditory-Verbal Learning Test, Visual Associative Learning test from the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised, Luria's motor alternation, Benton's Judgment of Line Orientation, Trail Making, phonetic verbal fluency, Stroop test, Petrides' working memory tasks, Beck's depression questionnaire and the Maudsley obsessional-compulsive inventory. In the 3-month postoperative assessment, there was a significant worsening in phonetic verbal fluency and an improvement in Benton's Judgment of Line Orientation test. In the 4-year follow-up assessment, phonetic verbal fluency and Benton's Judgment of Line Orientation test returned to baseline scores. Although there was no significant difference between pre- and postsurgical scores for long-term visual associative memory, there was a significant deterioration between 3-month and 4-year follow-up performances. Our results suggest that unilateral posteroventral pallidotomy may produce transient changes in prefrontal and visuospatial functions, but there is no evidence of permanent neuropsychological effects.

Aged↗
PubMed1997

Cerebral asymmetries in processing strategies for letter and symbol trigrams.

Several studies have shown that laterally presented consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) strings produce both superior performance, and a more wholistic processing strategy in the right visual field/left hemisphere (RVF/LHEM), and a more sequential strategy in the inferior left visual field (LVF). To determine whether these strategies are applied to other types of trigrams subjects (n = 30) were asked to identify consonant and symbol trigrams briefly projected unilaterally to the LVF or RVF, or bilaterally (the same trigram in both fields--BVF). A second group of subjects (n = 30) first practiced pronouncing consonant trigrams and then viewed them tachistoscopically. Both tasks yield RVF advantages. Symbols are processed more wholistically in the LVF, more sequentially in the RVF and in an intermediate pattern when presented bilaterally. In contrast, subjects seem to chunk letters as bigrams, and do so equally well in all fields, and visual field differences in strategies emerge for consonants only when they are pronounced. Pronounceability of consonant trigrams, assessed with ratings and vocal reaction times, was predicted by orthographic regularity. Since the RHEM has limited phonetic skills, but it, like the LHEM, is privy to information on orthographic regularity, the error pattern on consonant strings indicates non-phonetic processing, whereas the RVF wholistic strategy for consonant-vowel-consonant strings appears to reflect phonetic processing.

Brain↗
PubMed1989

Neuronal activity in the human lateral temporal lobe. I. Responses to speech.

Single and multiple unit neuronal activity was recorded from the cortex of the lateral temporal lobe in conscious humans during open brain surgery for the treatment of epilepsy. Recordings were obtained from the right and left superior, middle and inferior temporal gyrus of 34 patients (41 recording sites). Recordings were restricted to regions to be resected during subsequent surgery. This excluded recordings from language areas proper. Neuronal responses to words and sentences presented over a loudspeaker and during free conversation were recorded. No significant differences between the right and left hemisphere were obvious. All neurons in the superior temporal gyrus responded to various aspects of spoken language with temporally well defined activation/inhibition patterns, but not or only little to non-linguistic noises or tones. Excitatory responses were typically short or prolonged (up to several hundred ms) bursts of discharges at rates above 20/sec, reaching peak rates of 50-100/s. Such responses could be specifically related to certain combinations of consonants suggesting a function in categorization, they could depend on word length, could differentiate between polysyllabic and compound words of the same length or could be unspecifically related to language as such. No formant specific responses were found, but the prolonged excitations across syllables suggest that consonant/vowel combinations may play a role for some activation patterns. Responses of some neurons (or neuronal populations) depended on the attention paid to the words and sentences, or the task connected with them (repeat words, speech addressed to the patient demanding something). Neurons in the middle and inferior temporal gyrus were only little affected by listening to single words or sentences, but some were unspecifically activated by words or while listening to sentences. Excitatory responses varied within a limited range of discharge rates usually below 5-10/s. Phonetic distortion of spoken language could reduce responses in superior temporal gyrus neurons, but also the slight changes in discharge rate of middle temporal neurons could be absent during distorted and uncomprehensible speech sounds. We conclude that superior temporal gyrus neuron responses reflect some general phonetic but not semantic aspects of spoken language. Middle and inferior temporal gyrus neurons do not signal phonetic aspects of language, but may be involved in understanding language under certain conditions.

Epilepsy↗
PubMed1993

A fixed-detachable implant-supported prosthesis retained with precision attachments.

The implant-supported, maxillary anterior, fixed-detachable prosthesis is often fabricated with a gingival flange to enhance esthetics and phonetics. However, only the dentist can remove the prosthesis, and the esthetic labial flange invariably impedes patient access for cleaning. A two-piece, fixed-detachable prosthesis that incorporates a substructure retained with conventional set screws and a superstructure retained with precision attachments has been developed. The substructure is contoured to facilitate patient access for oral hygiene because it will be covered by the superstructure and neither esthetics nor phonetics is a concern. The superstructure is easily removed by the patient for routine cleaning and can be designed for favorable esthetics and phonetics. This article reviews and describes the procedures for fabrication of this precision attachment-retained, implant-supported prosthesis.

Dental Casting Technique↗
PubMed1996

Description of human fetal laryngeal functions: phonation.

Here presented are the different human fetal larynx functions. Analysis and observation of the organ show at least three behavioural patterns: swallowing, respiratory and phonetic. The respiratory function coincides with a blood aspiration through the venosus duct (phenomenon measured by pulsed Doppler) which increases the amount of oxygenated blood in brain circulation that comes from the placenta. The phonetic function is presented setting down the requirements for its recognition. Phonetic function is observed after the 18th week of fetal life and can be considered to be a demonstration of cerebral cortex activity in the fetus.

Deglutition↗