Pronounceability: A Measure of Language Samples Based on Children's Mastery of the Phonemes Employed in Them

Abstract

56 samples ( n > half a million phonemes) of names (e.g., men's, women's jets'), song lyrics (e.g., Paul Simon's, rap, Beatles'), poems (frequently anthologized English poems), and children's materials (books directed at children ages 3–10 years) were used to study a proposed new measure of English language samples—Pronounceability—based on children's mastery of some phonemes in advance of others. This measure was provisionally equated with greater “youthfulness” and “playfulness” in language samples and with less “maturity.” Findings include the facts that women's names were less pronounceable than men's and that poetry was less pronounceable than song lyrics or children's materials. In a supplementary study, 13 university student volunteers' assessments of the youth of randomly constructed names was linearly related to how pronounceable each name was ( eta =.8), providing construct validity for the interpretation of Pronounceability as a measure of Youthfulness.