From:	UVAFON::CECILE        3-AUG-1994 14:45:56.67
To:	UVAFON::ROB
CC:	
Subj:	abstract

Kuijpers, C.T.L. (1993). Temporal aspects of the voiced-voiceless distinction
in speech development of young Dutch children.
Journal of Phonetics, 21, 313-327.

Several temporal phenomena have been examined in the speech of four-year-old and
six-year-old Dutch children. Intervocalic closure and burst durations of voiced
and voiceless stops, as well as preceding vowel durations, were compared to
study developmental patterns. Although the younger children produce longer
segment durations, relative differences in voiced and voiceless closure and
burst duration seem to correspond between the two age groups. In the same way,
relative durational differences between phonologically short and long vowels
are produced in an adult-like way by both of these groups of children. However,
the temporal adjustment between vowel and consonant in the VC sequence displays
a developmental trend. Although adult-like co-ordination of vowel and closure
duration in the VC sequence with voiced context has been acquired at the age of
four, only the older children have a relative shortening of the vowel in the
voiceless context. The durational differences can be interpreted as evidence of
development from a "syllable-independent" mechanism towards a
"syllable-integrated" mechanism with increase of consonantal influence across
the syllable boundary.