Acquisition of variability in Akan Phonology: Labio-palatalized consonants and front rounded vowels

Abstract

This paper addresses how input variability in the adult phonological system is mastered in the output of young children in Akan, a Kwa language spoken in Ghana, involving variability between labio-palatalized consonants and front rounded vowels. The high-frequency variant involves a complex consonant which is expected to be mastered late, while the low-frequency variant involves a front rounded vowel which is expected to be mastered relatively early. Late mastery of complex consonants was confirmed. The high-frequency labiopalatalized-consonant variant was absent at age 3 and not yet mastered even at age 5. All children produced the easier-to-produce low-frequency front-rounded-vowel variant, most at far greater frequency than in adult speech, implying that a child's output limitations can affect which variant the child targets for production. Modular theories, in which phonological plans reflect only the characteristics of adult input, fail to account for our results. Non-modular theories are implicated.

Vowel harmony preferences in infants growing up in multilingual Ghana (Africa).

“…While there have been some studies with children aged 3 years and above in Ghana (e.g., Amoako & Stemberger, 2022a, 2022bOmane & Höhle, 2021), the present study represents the first psycholinguistics research on infants growing up in Ghana. Our experiences support and illustrate several issues raised in the ongoing discussion on diversifying language acquisition research (e.g., Aravena-Bravo et al, 2023;Cristia et al, 2023;Kidd & Garcia, 2022;Paradis, 2022;Singh et al, 2023).…”