CV co-occurrence and articulatory control in three Brazilian children from 0:06 to 1:07

Many studies in language acquisition have addressed consonant/vowel co-occurrence, henceforth CV. Traditional views focus on the upper vocal tract (Davis, B.L., MacNeilage, P.F., 1995; Browman, C., Goldstein, L., 1992), while a recent one stresses the importance of its lower end (Esling, J., 2012). None has nevertheless attempted to understand how these two tracts interact and cooperate in early vocalization. Besides, the role of the ambient language in this interaction is also understudied. Although there are common preferences for certain CV combinations, sensitivity to language environment may already be present in babbling (Boisson-de-Bardies, B.; Vihman, M., 1991).The aim of this project was to integrate such apparently contradictory views by reporting on research that observed activity in both ends of the vocal tract during the emergence of CV combinations in three Brazilian children acquiring Brazilian Portuguese in interaction with their parents, between the ages of 0:06 and 1:07.