In:Child Bilingualism and Second Language Learning: Multidisciplinary perspectives
Edited by Fangfang Li, Karen E. Pollock and Robbin Gibb
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 10] 2020
► pp. 249–274
Chapter 12Using Phon to analyze phonological and speech data
An overview
Published online: 1 December 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.10.12ros
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.10.12ros
Abstract
Phon, the software program behind the PhonBank
database, offers a set of functions useful to the analysis of
phonological and acoustic data. In this paper, I provide an
illustrated description of the most central query and reporting
functions currently available within Phon, including a discussion of
how these functions are readily applicable to research on second
language acquisition. I also describe, however with a lesser amount
of detail, how the Phon query functions can be used to obtain
acoustic measurements of audio recordings. Finally, I provide an
overview of pre-defined analyses built into Phon which are commonly
used in research on phonological development and speech disorders.
Throughout the paper, I discuss related topics, which range from
technical issues in data preparation to the larger, community-level
importance of data sharing as a condition for the future of this
software and database development projects.
Article outline
- Introduction
- Background
- PhonBank and Phon
- The study of speech sound development in context
- Data annotation
- Data analysis
- Data queries and reports
- Textual queries
- Phonological queries
- Other, more specific query functions
- Acoustic measurements
- Pre-defined and custom analyses
- Conclusion, and a word about data sharing
Acknowledgements Notes References
References (32)
Arias, J., & Lleó, C. (2014). Rethinking
assessment measures of phonological development and their
application in bilingual
acquisition. Clinical
Linguistics &
Phonetics, 28(3), 153–175.
Beckman, J. N. (1997). Positional
faithfulness, positional neutralisation and Shona vowel
harmony. Phonology, 14(1), 1–46.
Beckman, M. E., & Edwards, J. (2010). Generalizing
over lexicons to predict consonant
mastery. Laboratory
Phonology, 1(2), 319–343.
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2017). Praat:
Doing phonetics by computer (Version 6.0.33)
[Software]. Amsterdam. Retrieved
from <[URL]> (12 June, 2020).
Brittain, J., Dyck, C., MacKenzie, M., & Rose, Y. (2007). The
Chisasibi Child Language Acquisition Study (CCLAS): A
progress
report. In C. Wolfart (Ed.), Proceedings
of the 38th Algonquian
Conference (pp. 1–17). Winnipeg: University of Manitoba.
Bryant, K. (2013). The
development of segmental phonology in a mixed language
environment: A case study from Northern East
Cree (Unpublished Master’s
thesis). Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Chiat, S. (1983). Why
Mikey’s right and my key’s wrong: The significance of stress
and word boundaries in a child’s output
system. Cognition, 14, 275–300.
Dyck, C., Brittain, J., & MacKenzie, M. (2006). Northern
East Cree
accent. In Proceedings
of the 2006 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistics
Association.
Hedlund, G., & O’Brien, P. (2004). A
software system for linguistic data capture and
analysis (B.Sc. Honours
thesis). Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Ingram, D. (2002). The
measurement of whole-word
productions. Journal of Child
Language, 29(4), 713–733.
Inkelas, S., & Rose, Y. (2003). Velar
fronting
revisited. In B. Beachley, A. Brown, & F. Conlin (Eds.), Proceedings
of the 27th annual Boston University Conference on Language
Development (pp. 334–345). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Jongstra, W. (2003). Variable
and stable clusters: Variation in the realisation of
consonant clusters. The
Canadian Journal of Linguistics / La Revue Canadienne de
Linguistique, 48(3–4), 265–288.
Maddocks, K. (2005). An
effective algorithm for the alignment of target and actual
syllables for the study of language
acquisition (B.Sc. Honours
thesis). Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Marshall, C., & Chiat, S. (2003). A
foot domain account of prosodically-conditioned
substitutions. Clinical
Linguistics and
Phonetics, 17(8), 645–657.
Mason, G. K. (2015). Multisyllabic
word production of school aged children with and without
protracted phonological
development (Unpublished
doctoral
dissertation). University of British Columbia.
Masso, S. (2016). Polysyllable
maturity of preschool children with speech sound
disorders (Unpublished
doctoral
dissertation). Charles Sturt University.
McAllister Byun, T. (2009). The
articulatory basis of positional asymmetries in phonological
acquisition (Unpublished
doctoral
dissertation). MIT.
(2011). A
gestural account of a child-specific neutralization in
strong
position. Phonology, 28(3), 371–412.
(2012). Positional
velar fronting: An updated articulatory
account. Journal of Child
Language, 39(5), 1043–1076.
McAllister Byun, T., Buchwald, A., & Mizoguchi, A. (2016). Covert
contrast in velar fronting: An acoustic and ultrasound
study. Clinical Linguistics
&
Phonetics, 30(3–5), 249–276.
McAllister Byun, T., & Rose, Y. (2016). Analyzing
clinical phonological data using
Phon. Seminars in Speech and
Language, 37(2), 85–105.
Munson, B., Edwards, J., Schellinger, S., Beckman, M. E., & Meyer, M. K. (2010). Deconstructing
phonetic transcription: Language-specificity, covert
contrast, perceptual bias, and an extraterrestrial view of
vox humana. Clinical
Linguistics and
Phonetics, 24, 245–260.
Pile, S. (2018). Monolingual
language acquisition in a mixed language community: A case
study of Northern East
Cree (Unpublished Master’s
thesis). Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Rose, Y. (2010). The
PhonBank initiative and second language phonological
development: Innovative tools for research and data
sharing. In A. Henderson (Ed.), English
Pronunciation: Issues and Practices (EPIP) – Proceedings of
the First International
Conference (pp. 223–241). Chambéry: Université de Savoie.
(2012). Multilingual
phonological corpus analysis: The tools behind the PhonBank
project. In T. Schmidt & K. Wörner (Eds.), Multilingual
corpora and multilingual corpus
analysis (pp. 365–381). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Rose, Y. (2017). Child
phonology. In Oxford
Research Encyclopedia of
Linguistics. Retrieved
from <[URL]> (12 June, 2020).
Rose, Y., & MacWhinney, B. (2014). The
PhonBank project: Data and software-assisted methods for the
study of phonology and phonological
development. In J. Durand, U. Gut, & G. Kristoffersen (Eds.), The
Oxford Handbook of Corpus
Phonology (pp. 380–401). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rose, Y., & Stoel-Gammon, C. (2015). Using
Phonbank and Phon in studies of phonological development and
disorders. Clinical
Linguistics &
Phonetics, 29(8–10), 686–700.
Scobbie, J. M., Gibbon, F. E., Hardcastle, W. J., & Fletcher, P. (1996). Covert
contrast as a stage in the acquisition of phonetics and
phonology. In M. B. Broe & J. B. Pierrehumbert (Eds.), Papers
in Laboratory Phonology, V: Acquisition and the
Lexicon (pp. 43–62). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Rose, Yvan
2024. Multilingual data coding and analysis within Phon. In Multilingual Acquisition and Learning [Studies in Bilingualism, 67], ► pp. 169 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 11 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
