The study is to provide objective basis for field analysis carried out by those who assess and practice the cure for the articulation problem in the clinic facilities by comparing and analyzing the phonetic characteristics of an alveolar fricative /s/...
The study is to provide objective basis for field analysis carried out by those who assess and practice the cure for the articulation problem in the clinic facilities by comparing and analyzing the phonetic characteristics of an alveolar fricative /s/ of a three-year-old group and a seven-year-old group.
The study subjects were 18 three-year-old children and 18 seven-year-olds edly without articulation problems who live in Daejeon. The test was comprised of 14 categories : 7 CV syllables /si, sɛ, sɑ, sʌ, so, su, sɯ/ and 7 VCV syllables /isi, ɛsɛ, ɑsɑ, ʌsʌ, oso, usu, ɯsɯ/ made up of 7 vowel environments /i, ɛ, ɑ, ʌ, o, u, ɯ/ combined with alveolar fricative /s/. The children were to perform verbal imitation of all 14 categories, and the collected data were analyzed by Praat(ver 5.3.60)-using FFT(fast Fourier transform). By using spectral moment variables such as skewness, center of gravity, kurtosis and central moment which are useful in quantitatively comparing and analyzing energy distribution and spectrum model of fricatives, each spectral moment value of the alveolar fricative /s/ was measured.
As a result, the values of skewness, center of gravity, kurtosis and central moment taken from each subject group(3-year-olds and 7-year-olds) showed a meaningful difference among 7 vowel environments and CV and VCV syllable structures.
/si/ and /so/ scored the highest and the lowest in each phonetic variable respectively, thus making the difference between the two the biggest among all possible relations.
Third, a significant relation of alternation was observed between the age difference and the vowel environments. This is a result attained by expanding the relation of alternation into 3 independent variables for more detailed observation.
1) Comparison by age : regardless of the syllable structures under the skewness and center of gravity, when the high vowels such as /i, u, ɯ/ and /s/ combined, both 3-year-olds and 7-year-olds showed no significant distinction in pronunciation. But in case of /sɛ, sɑ, sʌ, so/ a meaningful difference did show. Simply put, if the fricative ㅅ for the 7-year-olds articulation were perfect, that of the 3-year-olds' was imperfect. When pronouncing high-vowel combined /si, su, sɯ/ one simply has to control lips from the articulation /s/ while /sɛ, sɑ, sʌ, so/ require the chin movement. The resulted age gap may have been derived from it.
2) Comparison by syllable structure : the 3-year-old group showed a meaningful difference in the CV syllable /su/ and VCV syllable /usu/ under the center of gravity. the 7-year-old group showed a meaningful difference in /so, oso, su, usu/ of kurtosis. This indicates that under the condition in which the high back vowels /o/ and /u/ happen to be the vowel environments that follow, the pronunciation of fricatives may be different depending on syllable structures. There must be some kind of undertone in the environmental variables of high back vowels.
3) Comparison by vowel environment : both 3-year-old and 7-year-old groups showed a meaningful difference between /si/ and /sɛ, sɑ, sʌ, so, su/. The fact that the combination of vowel /i/ and /s/ is comparatively easy, may be the reason for the uniqueness of /si/ that is not found in other vowel environments. In case of the 3-year-old group, /so-su/ and /su-sʌ/ relations showed meaningful differences. This may have been caused by immature, compared to the 7-year-old group, articulation practice that is needed in the (high) back vowel environment for the following vowels.
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