This research is comprised of three sets of studies on the structure of Hmong and the acquisition of Hmong by children. Hmong is a language spoken in Southeast Asia and by a significant Hmong population in Wisconsin (55,000), Minnesota and California. Each study investigates the acoustic phonetic correlates and phonological structure of Hmong consonants, vowels, tones, and complex initials of syllables. Study 1 is a production study that investigates these phonological units in the speech of adults (10 subjects), with the goals of determining the relationship between laryngeal mechanisms, phonation type and pitch, and the representational structures at the acoustic and phonological levels. Study 2 is comprised of two studies on the language and language abilities of 4;0-5 ;0 year old Hmong children (24 subjects) that investigate (2.1) the end stages of the acquisition of the phonological units of Study 1 and (2.2) how the children segment and represent the complex consonantal initials of Hmong syllables, and the relationship between the ability to segment and learning to read. More specifically, the second goal of this study is to develop a profile of skills that can be used to assess the language abilities and skills correlated with reading in English speaking children to assist teachers and clinicians working with Hmong children. Study 3 is a longitudinal study of the acquisition of Hmong from first words to 2-3 years of age (10 subjects) that investigates the acquisition of the phonological units of Study 1, and the roles of prelinguistic abilities, specific morpho-syntactic complexities, and culture-specific and culture-independent contexts on the acquisition of phonology and on learning strategies. The goals of both Study 2 and Study 3 are to provide specific and general information on normal acquisition of Hmong to aid teachers and clinicians who need to help these children with their second language English in schools and speech clinics.
