Temporal aspects of the voiced–voiceless distinction in speech development of young Dutch children

Several temporal phenomena have been examined in the speech of six four-year-old and six six-year-old Dutch children. Intervocalic closure and burst durations of voiced and voiceless stops, as well as preceding vowel durations, were compared to study developmental patterns. Although the younger children produce longer segmental durations, relative differences in voiced and voiceless closure duration and burst duration seem to correspond between the two age groups. In the same way, relative durational differences between phonologically short and long vowels are produced in an adult-like way by both of these groups of children. However, the temporal adjustment between vowel and consonant in the VC sequence displays a developmental trend. Although adult-like co-ordination of vowel and closure duration in the VC sequence with voiced context has been acquired at the age of four, only the older children have a relative shortening of the vowel in the voiceless context. The durational differences can be interpreted as evidence of development from a “syllable-independent” mechanism towards a “syllable-integrated” mechanism with increase of consonantal influence across the syllable boundary.