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This study investigated the role of pronunciation instruction in the acquisition of English word-final consonants by Brazilian students studying English at a Brazilian university. Students participated in either experimental or control groups. Material used for instruction was intended to be appropriate for teaching pronunciation of word-final consonants to beginning Brazilian learners and based on research results in the area of interphonology, taking into account the role of first language interface, different syllabic patterns of English and Brazilian Portuguese, and various degrees of difficulty posed by different word-final consonants in different environments. The main objective was to test the effects of pronunciation instruction by designing a pronunciation manual based on a communicative framework, which was introduced and integrated with the existing language syllabus. Pretest-posttest data indicated that pronunciation instruction facilitated the acquisition of word-final consonants among these students. The experimental group presented lower epenthesis rates following the pronunciation instruction than did the control group. All experimental group students reduced their epenthesis rates in the posttest, compared to only half of the control group students. Epenthesis was the most frequent syllable simplification strategy used to produce English world-final consonants. The pronunciation manual is appended. (Contains 36 references.) (SM)

This paper highlights the importance of phonology in second language learning, comparing phonetic mistakes made by adult native speakers of English learning Georgian and adult native speakers of Georgian learning English. It emphasizes the importance of a holistic, systemic approach to teaching second languages that involves making the first language part of the whole teaching and learning process. The paper describes a systemic approach to vowel acquisition, examining the phonological and vowel systems of English and Georgian (similarity and absence of sounds) and short vowels versus Georgian monophthongs (similarity and absence of sounds and absence of microsystems: diphthongs and triphthongs). It discusses consonantal systems of Georgian and English. It concludes that second language learners try to pronounce target sounds based on the native language's sound repertoire as well as the sound systems of other languages acquired previously. This storehouse of sounds is the learner's main resource for target sound acquisition and is a logical way to proceed from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Once the selection is made, the sounds make up a special reference sound group (RSG) to which the learner may refer as needed. The degree of similarity or dissimilarity existing between first and second language phonemes affects the nature of the RSG. Helpful tips for teachers for the application of the "Systemic Method" in foreign language teaching is appended. (Contains 24 notes, 19 tables, and 12 references.) (SM)

A study examined patterns in production of Spanish voiced and voiceless stop consonants by native English speakers, focusing on the interaction between two acoustic cues of stops: voice closure interval and voice onset time (VOT). The study investigated whether learners acquire the appropriate phonetic categories with regard to these stops and if so, how they manipulate the different acoustic cues of the speech signal to achieve the necessary distinction. Subjects were 14 students in an advanced college-level Spanish phonetics course, recorded throughout the semester in a series of pronunciation tasks. Resulting sentences were digitized and both voiceless closure interval and VOT of each word-initial target stop were measured. Results indicate: (1) the short lag category of Spanish voiceless stops is acquired more readily than the prevoiced category of the voiced stops; (2) Spanish stops are not acquired equally at all points of articulation; (3) voiceless closure interval is an important cue used and manipulated by learners in Spanish L2 speech production; (4) learners may differentiate up to three kinds of short lag stops in production; and (5) phonetic training may positively affect acquisition of L2 speech sounds. Contains three references. (MSE)

This analysis of verb morphology in Seri finds evidence that empty consonants occur in root-medial position. Analysis focuses on the parallel conjugation patterns of the verbs for "know" and "give," finding an empty consonant slot in the middle of each. This position is never preceded by a consonant, so it never appears as a geminated consonant, but it appears as a glide or as nothing. A distinction is made between long low vowels and sequences of identical short low vowels. It is noted that the data do not provide any more convincing arguments for empty consonant positions than previously presented, but do help document more of what is possible in language. (MSE)

A study investigated the realization of voicing contrasts ("breathiness") in plosive consonants produced by young French adults, particularly as they differ in males and females. Data came from acoustic analysis of recordings of nine informants reading lists of monosyllabic words with initial plosive consonants in isolation and in the content, "Jean avait dit..." The six plosive phonemes of French occurred several times before each of three vowels, but only tokens with the vowel /a/ were measured for this purpose. Results show consistent differences between males and females in the closure period of prevoiced stops. Methodological issues raised in this analysis were then examined in light of subsequent research, including measurement of spectral tilt, statistical comparability, and interrater reliability on perceptual experiments. Contains 24 references. (MSE)

A study investigated the nature of clear and dark sounds (resonance) in English, focusing on the features associated with the lateral consonant /l/. Subjects were three male undergraduate students and one male university faculty member, all native speakers of different English varieties. Each subject read aloud 27 short phrases or sentences. Using computerized sound spectrography, resonance patterns (clear or dark), tempo, and duration were analyzed for initial and final /l/. Results support the hypothesis that darker tokens of /l/ have a greater duration than clear tokens. This appears to be the case for individual speakers and also between speakers with different resonance distribution patterns. Contains 22 references. (MSE)

Gemination in Pulaar, a dialect of Fula, does not always follow typically known gemination processes and previous attempts to analyze Pulaar gemination processes have been unsatisfactory. The proposed analyses fail to account for numerous exceptions and do not provide a comprehensive analysis of all gemination processes in Pulaar. In this paper, the shortcomings of previous analyses are shown, and a satisfactory and comprehensive account of gemination processes in Pulaar is provided. Contains 17 references. (Author/JL)

This paper argues that Korean "tense" consonants are geminates based upon phonetic as well as phonological evidence. In section 2, the phonetic realization of tense consonants is discussed and compared with the phonetic realization of plain consonants. Section 3 looks at the representation of Korean tense consonants as single segments. Section 4 focuses on the representation of Korean tense consonants as geminates and show that they are more appropriately represented as geminates than as single segments. In section 5, the phonetic realization and phonological representation of Korean tense consonants are summarized. Contains 16 references. (JL)

Consonant harmony, a complex phonological assimilation in which segments (usually consonants, but sometimes even vowels) become identical, which occurs in the speech of young children and adult aphasics, is analyzed, particularly as it occurs in Finnish-speakers. Consonant harmony has an articulatory basis: it is a trend toward repetition of the same articulatory gesture instead of more varied gestures. The analysis looks at the nature of harmonic errors and proposed "explanations" of harmonic word forms, reviewing relevant literature on language acquisition and adult aphasia. Consonant harmony is then discussed in the framework of traditional, natural, and non-linear phonological theories. The phonetic quality of harmonic errors and their relation to slips of the tongue and Finnish vowel harmony are discussed. Finally, some directions for future research on consonant harmony are explored. (Contains 44 references.) (MSE)

In Quiegolani Zapotec (QZ), a language spoken by approximately 3,000 people in Oaxaca, Mexico, words contain minimal consonant clusters of two or even three consonants, and most of these clusters show a decreasing scope of sonority. This violates sonority constraints proposed by Greenberg (1978) and further discussed by Bell and Saka (1983). QZ, like most Zapotec languages, has a lenis-fortis distinction among some of its consonants. However, this distinction is less clear in QZ than in other Zapotec languages and carries a lower functional load. After an introduction, this paper discusses the phonemes, consonants, vowels, prosodies, and consonant clusters in QZ. It is suggested that many of the unusual consonant clusters in QZ can be explained by the QZ tendency toward monosyllabic words. This tendency is seen clearly in Spanish loanwords. Typically, only some of the consonants of the unstressed syllables remain. Many words that are polysyllabic in other Zapotec languages have been reduced to one-syllable words in QZ by the same process. (JL)

A study investigated the distribution of post-vocalic /r/ in Singapore English as it may relate to social factors, particularly whether usage appears to be perceived as a prestige feature by those who use it. Informants were 21 subjects from various social backgrounds. Three speech styles representing a range of stylistic variation were elicited: subjects were interviewed, read a passage aloud, and read a word list. Frequency of post-vocalic /r/ use in each speech style was calculated, and subjects were ranked by frequency. The effects of other variables (age, gender, peer group influence, self-consciousness) and the phenomenon of hypercorrection were also examined. It is concluded that (r) is a sociolinguistic variable in this group, with post-vocalic /r/ seen as a prestige feature for some speakers. A sound change may also be occurring, with increased frequency of general usage predicted. The reading passage, word list, and data on individual usage patterns are appended. A 14-item bibliography is included. (MSE)

Toddlers with slow expressive language development were compared on three global measures of phonological behavior to age-mates with normal speech development. The measures were the average level of complexity of syllable structures, the number of different consonant phonemes produced, and the percentage of consonants correctly produced in intelligible utterances. The groups were found to differ significantly on all three variables. Further analyses broke the groups down into narrower age ranges and revealed differences between youngsters with normal and late speech development. Detailed analyses of the range of phonemes and syllable structures produced, and of the appearance of phoneme classes within syllable structures and positions, revealed that late talkers showed a delayed rather than a deviant pattern of phonological development. The implications of these findings for identifying and monitoring expressive delay in toddlers are discussed. Contains 32 references. (Author/LB)

Four studies were conducted in which subjects performed three sets of tasks tapping, in a standard format, progressively refined, non-linguistic processes in speech processing. The studies examined the following: (1) auditory versus phonetic processes in the discrimination of consonants; (2) auditory versus phonetic processes in loudness and pitch judgments; (3) auditory versus phonetic processes in the categorization of consonants; and (4) phonetic processes in the categorization of consonants. Subjects were male and female Canadian francophones of different ages and varying degrees of knowledge of English. The third study gave the clearest results, allowing dichotomization into two separate processes by finding differential patterns of development for two tasks. It was possible to postulate that the processes were linguistic and non-linguistic by finding the expected specific patterns of development, specific patterns of sex by age similarities and differences, differential patterns of correlation between degree of bilingualism and consonant contrasts, and, unexpectedly, a different pattern of performance on one contrast, all according to task. Results are discussed mainly in relation to other experiments on the phonetic mode. A 90-item bibliography and substantial appended materials concerning the design and results of the studies are included. (Author/MSE)

This article reviews literature on normal and impaired spelling development, and discusses the influence of consonant clusters, phonetic influences, and the role of letter names. Research that underscores the importance of fine-grained linguistic analyses of spelling performance is described. It is concluded that such an approach holds promise. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)