Simon WolfLING 203

8/25/15Study Questions #2

1. Adult speakers of 11 different languages for the most part showed uniformity in

their production of voiced vs. voiceless sounds. Not accounting for minor

exceptions, these values fell at only three points on the VOT spectrum, suggesting

that there is some universal aspect of voicing onset time since if the onset were

random, much greater variation would be expected among 11 diverse languages.

2. Sucking rate is a tool that can be used by researchers to measure infants’

responses to certain stimulus that they would otherwise be unable to

communicate.

3. The predominant difference between the infants who were exposed to two sounds

within the same phonemic category vs. those who were exposed to two sounds

from across different phonemic categories was that the first group showed a

significantly smaller change in response rate when presented with the change in

stimulus than that of the second group.