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Relationship between phonemic and lingual awareness
Patricia Lohman1, Donald Fucci
1New Mexico State University, Las Cruces 88003-8001, USA.
Perceptual and Motor Skills
|June 26, 2002
Summary
This study found a significant link between phonemic awareness and lingual awareness in adults. Greater knowledge of speech sounds correlates with better tongue awareness, with sound-symbol knowledge being a key predictor.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Speech Science
- Phonetics
Background:
- Phonemic awareness, the ability to recognize and manipulate speech sounds, is crucial for literacy development.
- Lingual awareness, or the perception of tongue movements and contact during speech, is less understood in adults.
- This study investigates the relationship between these two awareness types in normal adult English speakers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the relationship between phonemic awareness and lingual awareness in adults.
- To examine how accurately subjects describe lingual contact during speech production.
Main Methods:
- 36 undergraduate phonetics students completed tests measuring phonemic awareness (e.g., sound identification, manipulation) and lingual awareness (e.g., describing tongue position and contact).
- Seven English phonemes were presented in consonant-vowel syllables, with subjects using diagrams of the oral cavity for reference.
- Correlation analysis was used to determine the relationship between the two measures.
Main Results:
- A significant positive correlation (r = .53) was found between phonemic awareness and lingual awareness.
- Knowledge of sound-symbol relationships was the strongest predictor of lingual awareness.
- Subjects experienced the most difficulty describing lingual contact for phonemes often challenging for children (e.g., /sh/, /r/, /l/, /s/).
Conclusions:
- Adults with higher phonemic awareness tend to have greater lingual awareness.
- Understanding sound-symbol relationships may enhance lingual awareness.
- Difficulties in describing lingual contact for certain phonemes may reflect underlying articulatory challenges.
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