Interallophonic Generalization of /r/ Training

Abstract

Twelve children (ages 5:6 to 7:10) who inconsistently misarticulated /r/, participated in training programs for specific allophones of /r/. Training steps included production of syllables, nouns, noun phrases, and simple sentences. Generalization to untrained allophones occurred for all children. However, transfer of training was less likely to occur from training of [] to clustered [Cr] and [] phones. Results suggest that /r/ training programs need to include production practice for the shorter, less stressed allophones as well as the more stable [].