RPTF

Frequency effect in segmental awareness tasks

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Dina Alves

 

ABSTRACT: 

The main goal of this study is to contribute to the knowledge of the frequency effect of segmental units, performing metassegmental operations. Although this topic is a recurrent focus of investigation, both in clinical and in educational domains, the literature presents some gaps about the effect of consonants occurrence on the target system when children perform segmental awareness tasks. Given the research question raised, two hypotheses were formulated in order to, firstly, (i) check the frequency effect of tested consonants and of its natural classes in European Portuguese (EP) and, secondarily, (ii) verify the role of syllabic constituent in the analysis of the effect of segments frequency that these constituents can accommodate. To achieve the proposed goals, a sample was observed performing a segmental awareness task. This sample includes 96 children attending the first year of school and presents a low reading and writing knowledge (but not pathological); Overall, the tested subjects (with emergent knowledge of reading and writing) demonstrate an asymmetric trend between the emergency pattern observed in segmental awareness and the observed one in terms of frequency of occurrence, both in organized pattern by segments as in organized pattern by natural classes, considering, or not, the syllabic constituent that those segments can occupy.

 

KEYWORDS: Frequency, Segmental awareness, Consonants, Segmental properties, Syllable.