Effect of Phonetic Transition on Word Production in Young Japanese Children

Abstract

Shimamori & Ito (2007) suggested that a transition between syllables was thought to be more difficult than one within the same syllable in word production in Japanese children who stutter. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether the same effect would be found in young Japanese children aged 4 to 6. In order to know the effect of the difference between transitions between syllables and those within syllables, we compared the reaction times for CV-CV (consonant-vowel and consonant-vowel) and CVN (consonant-vowel coupled with a nasal coda) nonwords. No significant difference was observed between the CV-CV and CVN nonwords. This finding suggests that in contrast to children who stutter, the difference between transitions between syllables and those within syllables does not affect word production in young Japanese children.