This paper describes early language development in a deaf Spanish child fitted with a cochlear implant (CI) when she was 1;6 years old. The girl had been exposed to Cued Speech (CS) since that age. The main aim of the research was to identify potential areas of slow language development as well as the potential benefit of CI and CS. At the beginning of this research the child was 2;6 years (she had been using the CI for 12 months). Adult–child 30‐minute sessions were videotaped every week for 1 year (13–24 months of CI use), and transcribed according to CHAT norms. Measures of phonemic inventory, intelligibility, lexicon, and grammar development were obtained. Part of the data were compared with data from two normally hearing (NH) children with the same mean length of utterance (MLU). In order to confirm trends observed during these 12 months of observation, an extra set of data was obtained in the next 3 months (25–27 months of CI use). Results in the initial 12 month period (13–24 months of CI use) showed irregular language development in the deaf child. The development of her phonemic inventory and lexicon progressed at a rate that was similar to, or faster than, that of NH children. However, the slow acquisition of articles and also the slow development of MLU suggested that the child might have problems with grammar. Data from the next 3 months (25–27 months of CI use) confirmed this trend. Results are discussed in relation to similar studies in other languages. Potential benefits of CS are also discussed.

This study explores the hypothesis that the existence of a short sensitive period for lower-level speech perception/articulation skills, and a long one for higher-level language skills, may partly explain the language outcomes of children with cochlear implants (CIs). The participants were fourteen children fitted with a CI before their second birthday. Data about their language skills and the environmental conditions (e.g. Family Involvement in rehabilitation) were obtained over a period of three years. Age at implantation correlated exclusively with the ratio of errors of place of articulation, a phonological feature for which CIs provide insufficient information. The degree of Family Involvement was significantly correlated with the remaining language measures. We conclude that small plasticity reductions affecting lower-level skills may partly explain the difficulties of some CI users in developing language.

This paper presents the results of a closed-set recognition task for 80 Spanish consonant-vowel sounds (16 C × 5 V, spoken by 2 talkers) in 8-talker babble (–6, –2, +2 dB). A ranking of resistance to noise was obtained using the signal detection d′ measure, and confusion patterns were analyzed using a graphical method (confusion graphs). The resulting ranking indicated the existence of three resistance groups: (1) high resistance: /ʧ, s, ʝ/; (2) mid resistance: /r, l, m, n/; and (3) low resistance: /t, θ, x, ɡ, b, d, k, f, p/. Confusions involved mostly place of articulation and voicing errors, and occurred especially among consonants in the same resistance group. Three perceptual confusion groups were identified: the three low-energy fricatives (i.e., /f, θ, x/), the six stops (i.e., /p, t, k, b, d, ɡ/), and three consonants with clear formant structure (i.e., /m, n, l/). The factors underlying consonant resistance and confusion patterns are discussed. The results are compared with data from other languages.

Lesion-symptom mapping studies reveal that selective damage to one or more components of the speech production network can be associated with foreign accent syndrome, changes in regional accent (e.g., from Parisian accent to Alsatian accent), stronger regional accent, or re-emergence of a previously learned and dormant regional accent. Here, we report loss of regional accent after rapidly regressive Broca’s aphasia in three Argentinean patients who had suffered unilateral or bilateral focal lesions in components of the speech production network. All patients were monolingual speakers with three different native Spanish accents (Cordobés or central, Guaranítico or northeast, and Bonaerense). Samples of speech production from the patient with native Córdoba’s accent were compared with previous recordings of his voice, whereas data from the patient with native Guaranítico´s accent were compared with speech samples from one healthy control matched for age, gender, and native accent. Speech samples from the patient with native Buenos Aires’s accent were compared with data obtained from four healthy control subjects with the same accent. Analysis of speech production revealed discrete slowing in speech rate, inappropriate long pauses, and monotonous intonation. Phonemic production remained similar to those of healthy Spanish speakers, but phonetic variants peculiar to each accent (e.g.,

It has been proposed that cochlear implant users may develop robust categorical perception skills, but that they show limited precision in perception. This article explores if a parallel contrast is observable in production, and if, despite acquiring typical linguistic representations, their early words are inconsistent. The participants were eight Spanish-learning deaf children implanted before their second birthday. Two studies examined the transition from babbling to words, and the one-word period. Study 1 found that the participants used the same sound types in babbling and in words, indicating that production is guided by stored motor patterns. No clear evidence of inconsistent production was observed. Study 2 found that in the one-word period CI users develop typical prosodic representations, but that their productions are highly unstable. Results are discussed in terms of the role of auditory feedback for the development of productive language skills.