title: Temporal features of articulation from childhood to adolescence: an electropalatographic investigation.
abstract: This study was designed to investigate the development of articulatory timing from mid-childhood to late adolescence. Productions of sentences containing /t/, /l/, /s/, and /k/ were produced by 48 children and adults (aged 6-38 years) and captured using the Reading Electropalatography3 (EPG3) system. Mean duration of the sentences and the approach, closure/stable constriction, and release phases of consonant articulation were calculated. In addition, temporal coordination of lingual gestures and the intra-subject articulatory timing variation were investigated across the ages. Results reveal some distinct differences in duration and temporal coordination of lingual gestures between 6- to 7-year-olds and mature speakers, with continual refinement of articulatory control indicated into late adolescence. Differences in articulatory stability, in contrast, were not significant. The present findings may form a platform for development of a more descriptive model of motor speech development.
authors.affiliation: Motor Speech Research Unit, Division of Speech Pathology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. heiyan.cheng@gmail.com
authors.forename: Hei Yan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Bruce E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Murdoch
authors.forename: Justine V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Goozée
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D004568:Electrodiagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D010159:Palate / Q000502:physiology*; D010699:Phonation / Q000502:physiology*; D010700:Phonetics; D012016:Reference Values; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014059:Tongue / Q000502:physiology*