Phonetica was published by Karger Publishers up to and including 2020. If you or your institution subscribed to Phonetica during that period, you might still have access to the full text of this article on the Karger platform if you cannot access it here.
Abstract
A comparison of babbling and early speech, word patterns of languages, and, in one instance, a protolanguage corpus, reveals three basic movement patterns: (1) a ‘Frame’ provided by the cycles of mandibular oscillation underlying the basic mouth close-open alternation of speech; this Frame appears in relatively ‘pure’ form in the tendency for labial consonants to co-occur with central vowels; (2) two other intracyclical consonant-vowel (CV) co-occurrence patterns sharing the alternation: coronal consonants with front vowels and dorsal consonants with back vowels; (3) an intercyclical tendency towards a labial consonant-vowel-coronal consonant (LC) sequence preference for word initiation. The first two patterns were derived from oral movement capabilities which predated speech. The Frame (1) may have evolved from ingestive cyclicities (e.g. chewing). The intracyclical consonant-vowel (CV) co-occurrence patterns involving tongue position constraints common to consonants and vowels (2) may result from the basic biomechanical property of inertia. The third pattern (LC) was a self-organizational result of pressures for interfacing cognition with action – a result which must have numerous analogs in other domains of movement organization.
verified
References
1 Anderson, S.R.: Why phonology isn’t natural. Ling. Inqu. 12: 493–539 (1981).Search in Google Scholar
2 Bell, A.; Hooper, J.B.: Issues and evidence in syllabic phonology; in Bell, Hooper, Syllables and segments, pp. 3–22 (North-Holland, Amsterdam 1978).Search in Google Scholar
3 Bengtson, J.D.; Ruhlen, M.: Global etymologies; in Ruhlen, On the origin of language, pp. 277–336 (Stanford University Press, Stanford 1994).Search in Google Scholar
4 Boysson-Bardies, B.: Ontogeny of language-specific syllable production; in Boysson-Bardies, de Shonen, Jusczyk, MacNeilage, Morton, Developmental neurocognition: speech and face processing in the first year of life, pp. 353–364 (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht 1993).10.1007/978-94-015-8234-6_29Search in Google Scholar
5 Boysson-Bardies, B.; Vihman, M.M.; Roug-Hellichius, L.; Durand, C.; Landberg, I.; Arao, F.: Material evidence of infant selection from the target language: a cross-linguistic study; in Ferguson, Menn, Stoel-Gammon, Phonological development: models, research, implications, pp. 369–392 (York Press, Timonium 1992).Search in Google Scholar
6 Conrad, R.; Hull, A.J.: Information, acoustic confusion and memory span. Br. J. Psychol. 55: 429–432 (1964).10.1111/j.2044-8295.1964.tb00928.xSearch in Google Scholar
7 Davis, B.L.; MacNeilage, P.F.: Acquisition of vowel production: a quantitative case study. J. Speech Hear. Res. 33: 16–27 (1990).10.1044/jshr.3301.16Search in Google Scholar
8 Davis, B.L.; MacNeilage, P.F.: The articulatory basis of babbling. J. Speech Hear. Res. 38: 1199–1211 (1995).10.1044/jshr.3806.1199Search in Google Scholar
9 Drachman, G.: Child language and language change: a conjecture and some refutations; in Fisiak, Recent developments in historical phonology, pp. 123–144 (Mouton, The Hague 1976).10.1515/9783110810929.123Search in Google Scholar
10 Gildersleeve, C.; Davis, B.L.; MacNeilage, P.F.: Production constraints in babbling: implications for fricatives, affricates and liquids. Appl. Psycholing. (in press).Goldsmith, J.A.: The handbook of phonological theory (Blackwell, Oxford 1995).Search in Google Scholar
11 Gould, S.J.: Ontogeny and phylogeny (Belknap, Cambridge 1977).Search in Google Scholar
12 Halle, M.: Phonology; in Osherson, Lasnik, Language: an invitation to cognitive science, pp. 43–68 (MIT Press, Cambridge 1990).Search in Google Scholar
13 Ingram, D.: Fronting in child phonology. J. Child Lang. 1: 233–241 (1974).10.1017/S0305000900000672Search in Google Scholar
14 Jaeger, J.: How to say ‘Grandma’: the problem of developing phonological representations. First Lang. 17: 1–29 (1997).10.1177/014272379701704901Search in Google Scholar
15 Kenstowicz, M.: Phonology in generative grammar (Blackwell, Oxford 1994).Search in Google Scholar
16 Ladefoged, P.: The limits of biological explanation in phonetics; in Cohen, van den Broecke, Abstr. 10th Int. Congr. Phonet. Sci., pp. 31–37 (Dordrecht, Foris 1984).Search in Google Scholar
17 Lashley, K.S.: The problem of serial order in behavior; in Jeffress, Cerebral mechanisms in behavior, pp. 112–136 (Wiley, New York 1951).Search in Google Scholar
18 Levelt, W.J.M.: Speaking: from intention to articulation (MIT Press, Cambridge 1989).Search in Google Scholar
19 Levelt, W.J.M.: Accessing words in speech production: processes, stages and representations. Cognition 42: 1–22 (1992).10.1016/0010-0277(92)90038-JSearch in Google Scholar
20 Lindblom, B.: Can the models of evolutionary biology be applied to phonetic problems? in Cohen, van den Broecke, Proc. 10th Int. Congr. Phonet. Sci., pp. 67–81 (Dordrecht, Foris 1984).10.1515/9783110884685-010Search in Google Scholar
21 Lindblom, B.; Maddieson, I.: Phonetic universals and consonant systems; in Hyman, Li, Language, speech and mind, pp. 62–80 (Routledge, London 1988).Search in Google Scholar
22 Locke, J.L.; Pearson, D.: Linguistic significance of babbling: evidence from a tracheostomized infant. J. Child Lang. 17: 1–16 (1990).10.1017/S0305000900013076Search in Google Scholar
23 Loeb, G.E.: Motor systems; in Adelman, Encyclopedia of neuroscience, pp. 690–692 (Burkhauser, Boston 1987).Search in Google Scholar
24 MacKay, D.G.: The organization of perception and action (Springer, New York 1987).10.1007/978-1-4612-4754-8Search in Google Scholar
25 Macken, M.: Permitted complexity in phonological development: one child’s acquisition of Spanish consonants. Lingua 44: 219–253 (1978).10.1016/0024-3841(78)90077-3Search in Google Scholar
26 MacNeilage, P.F.: Typing errors as clues to serial order mechanisms in language behavior. Lang. Speech 7: 144–159 (1964).10.1177/002383096400700302Search in Google Scholar
27 MacNeilage, P.F.: Acquisition of speech; in Hardcastle, Laver, The handbook of phonetic sciences, pp. 301–332 (Blackwell, Oxford 1997).Search in Google Scholar
28 MacNeilage, P.F.: The Frame/Content theory of evolution of speech production. Behav. Brain Sci. 21: 499–548 (1998).10.1017/S0140525X98001265Search in Google Scholar
29 MacNeilage, P.F.; Davis, B.L.: Acquisition of speech: frames, then content; in Jeannerod, Attention and performance XIII, pp. 453–475 (Erlbaum, Hillsdale 1990a).10.4324/9780203772010-15Search in Google Scholar
30 MacNeilage, P.F.; Davis, B.L.: Acquisition of speech: the achievement of segmental independence; in Hardcastle, Marchal, Speech production and speech modelling, pp. 55–68 (Kluwer, Dordrecht 1990b).10.1007/978-94-009-2037-8_3Search in Google Scholar
31 MacNeilage, P.F.; Davis, B.L.: On the origin of internal structure of word forms. Science 288: 527–531 (2000).10.1126/science.288.5465.527Search in Google Scholar
32 MacNeilage, P.F.; Davis, B.L.: Evolution of speech: the relation between ontogeny and phylogeny; in Hurford, Knight, Studdert-Kennedy, The evolutionary emergence of language (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, in press, a).Search in Google Scholar
33 MacNeilage, P.F.; Davis, B.L.: Evolution of the form of spoken words. Evol. Commun. (in press, b).Search in Google Scholar
34 MacNeilage, P.F.; Davis, B.L.; Matyear, C.L.: Babbling and first words: phonetic similarities and differences. Speech Commun. 22: 269–277 (1997).10.1016/S0167-6393(97)00022-8Search in Google Scholar
35 MacNeilage, P.F.; Davis, B.L.; Kinney, A.; Matyear, C.L.: Origin of serial output complexity in speech. Psychol. Sci. 10: 459–460 (1999).10.1111/1467-9280.00187Search in Google Scholar
36 MacNeilage, P.F.; Davis, B.L.; Kinney, A.; Matyear, C.L.: The motor core of speech: a comparison of serial organization patterns in infants and languages. Child Dev. 71: 153–163 (2000).10.1111/1467-8624.00129Search in Google Scholar
37 MacNeilage, P.F.; Sholes, G.N.: An electromyographic study of the tongue during vowel production. J. Speech Hear. Res. 7: 209–232 (1964).10.1044/jshr.0703.209Search in Google Scholar
38 MacNeilage, P.F.; Studdert-Kennedy, M.G.; Lindblom, B.: Functional precursors to language and its lateralization. Am. J. Physiol. B (Reg. integ. comp. Physiol. 15) 246: 912–915 (1984).10.1152/ajpregu.1984.246.6.R912Search in Google Scholar
39 MacNeilage, P.F.; Studdert-Kennedy, M.G.; Lindblom, B.: Planning and production of speech: an overview; in Lauter, Planning and production of speech in normally hearing and deaf people, pp. 15–22, ASHA Rep. (American Speech and Hearing Association, Washington 1985).Search in Google Scholar
40 Matyear, C.L.; MacNeilage, P.F.; Davis, B.L.: Nasalization of vowels in nasal environments in babbling: evidence of frame dominance. Phonetica 55: 1–17 (1997).10.1159/000028422Search in Google Scholar
41 Mayr, E.: The history of biological thought (Belknap, Cambridge 1984).Mitchell, P.; Kent, R.: Phonetic variation in multisyllabic babbling. J. Child Lang. 17: 247–265 (1990).Search in Google Scholar
42 Oller, D.K.: The emergence of the sounds of speech in infancy; in Yeni-Komshian, Kavanagh, Ferguson, Child phonology, vol. 1: Production, pp. 29–42 (Academic Press, New York 1980).10.1016/B978-0-12-770601-6.50011-5Search in Google Scholar
43 Oller, D.K.; Steffans, M.L.: Syllables and segments in infant vocalizations and young child speech; in Yavas, First and second language phonology, pp. 45–62 (Singular Press, San Diego 1993).Search in Google Scholar
44 Pater, J.: Minimal violation and phonological development. Lang. Acquis. 6: 201–253 (1997).10.1207/s15327817la0603_2Search in Google Scholar
45 Radinsky, L.B.: The evolution of vertebrate design (University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1987).10.7208/chicago/9780226220635.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
46 Redford, M.L.; MacNeilage, P.F.; Davis, B.L.: Perceptual and motor influences on final consonant inventories in babbling. Phonetica 54: 172–186 (1997).10.1159/000262220Search in Google Scholar
47 Smith, B.L.; Brown-Sweeney, S.; Stoel-Gammon, C.: A quantitative analysis of reduplicated and variegated babbling. First Lang. 17: 147–153 (1989).Search in Google Scholar
48 Steger, C.L.; Werker, J.F.: Infants listen for more phonetic detail in speech perception than in word learning tasks. Nature 388: 381–382 (1997).10.1038/41102Search in Google Scholar
49 Thelen, E.; Smith, L.: A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action (MIT Press, Cambridge 1994).10.7551/mitpress/2524.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
50 Tinbergen, N.: Derived activities: their causation, biological significance, origin and emancipation during evolution. Q. Rev. Biol. 27: (1952).Search in Google Scholar
51 Tyler, A.A.; Langsdale, T.E.: Consonant-vowel interactions in early phonological development. First Lang. 16: 159–191 (1996).10.1177/014272379601604702Search in Google Scholar
52 Vihman, M.M.: Early syllables and the construction of phonology; in Ferguson, Menn, Stoel-Gammon, Phonological development: models, research, implications (York Press, Timonium 1992).Search in Google Scholar
53 Vihman, M.; Macken, M.; Miller, R.; Simmons, H.; Miller, J.: From babbling to speech: a reassessment of the continuity issue. Language 60: 397–445 (1985).10.2307/414151Search in Google Scholar
© 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel
