Linguistics Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Linguistics, including details on human language, phonetics, syntax, phonology.

Variation in consonant cluster production by pediatric cochlear implant users.

Chin SB

Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-5119, USA. schin@iupui.edu

OBJECTIVE: To provide an account of variation in the production of consonant clusters by pediatric cochlear implant users. DESIGN: Productions of consonant clusters by pediatric cochlear implant users were analyzed for variation in number of segments, reduction patterns, and segmental substitutions within the framework of Optimality Theory. RESULTS: A finite set of faithfulness and markedness constraints and variable constraint ranking can account for much of the variation in the production of consonant clusters by pediatric cochlear implant users. CONCLUSION: Variation in consonant cluster production by pediatric cochlear implant users is not structurally random but subject to the same principles of phonological organization that govern other linguistic systems.

Published 14 May 2007 in Ear Hear, 28(2): 7S-10S.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2005-2008 Linguistics Research Today. All Rights Reserved.