Distinctive-feature analyses of the speech of deaf children.

Abstract

22 children aged 8.5 through 15.5 yrs with HTLs greater than or equal to 90 db in the better ear spoke a carrier phrase before each of 41 monosyllables containing each an initial and a final consonant (23 consonants were represented). Each S repeated the 41-word list 10 times. Speech samples were recorded simultaneously but independently in audio-only and in audio-visual modes, and transcribed by 3 judges using each mode separately. Percent correct speaker-subjects' utterances of target consonants in initial and in final word-positions were scored for presence or absence of distinctive features according to the systems of Chomsky and Halle (1968) and of Fisher and Logemann (1971). Consistently higher correct feature usage was noted for target consonants in the initial rather than in the final word-position for both systems. Further, higher scores were obtained when transcribers could see as well as hear the speaker, but correct usage of a feature was not uniformly a function of the visibility of that feature. Finally, there was no significant increase in correct feature usage as a function of speaker age.