Дисертації з теми "Sibilanti"

Mestrado em Ciências da Fala e da Audição
The main goal of this study is to analyse the influence of Speech and Sound Disorders, Phonological and Phonetic, associated with the production of sibilant consonants on the performance of reading and writing, as well as their relation with phonological awareness. In order to accomplish this goal, three groups were selected composed by children with Phonological Disorder, Phonetic Disorder and children without articulatory difficulties. Results suggest that children with Phonological Disorder tend to show difficulties in auditory discrimination and perception of sibilant consonants, transposing them to their reading and writing performance, through phonological errors. In contrast, children with Phonetic Disorder revealed average phonological and orthographic errors identical to those of the control group, except for tests involving pseudo-words. It was also possible to verify a correlation between phonological awareness and reading and writing performance, especially on the syllabic and phonemic levels.
O objetivo deste estudo consiste em analisar a influência das Perturbações da Articulação Verbal, fonológicas e fonéticas, associadas à alteração da produção das consoantes sibilantes, no desempenho na leitura e da escrita, bem como a sua relação com os níveis de consciência fonológica. Para o efeito, foram selecionados três grupos constituídos por crianças com Perturbação da Articulação Verbal de origem Fonológica, Perturbação da Articulação Verbal de origem Fonética e por crianças sem dificuldades articulatórias, respetivamente. Os resultados indicam que crianças com Perturbação da Articulação Verbal – Fonológica tendem a manifestar dificuldades de percepção e discriminação auditiva das consoantes sibilantes, transpondo-as para o desempenho na leitura e escrita, através de erros do tipo fonológico. Contrariamente, crianças com Perturbação da Articulação Verbal – Fonética apresentaram médias de erros fonológicos e ortográficos idênticas às do grupo controlo, exceptuando para provas que envolviam pseudo-palavras. O estudo permitiu também verificar a existência de correlação entre a consciência fonológica e o desempenho na leitura e na escrita, principalmente para os níveis silábico e fonémico.

Thèse (M. Sc.) -- Université du Québec à Rimouski, 2008.
Mémoire présenté à l'Université du Québec à Rimouski comme exigence partielle du programme de maîtrise en ingénierie. Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 30 juin 2008). Comprend un résumé. CaQRU CaQRU CaQRU Comprend des réf. bibliogr.: (f. [100]-107) et un index. Publié aussi en version papier. CaQRU

Orientador: Jose Dirceu Ribeiro
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas
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Resumo: Introdução: O desenvolvimento da asma pode ser influenciado pela predisposição genética para respostas imunes específicas. A produção de citocinas com predomínio de resposta Th1 ou Th2 é controlada por diferentes fatores de transcrição, dos quais o Fator de Regulação do Interferon 1 (FRI-1) e o Transdutor de Sinal e Ativador da Transcrição 1 (TSAT-1) são de fundamental importância. A metaloproteinase 9 (MP-9) é uma outra proteína envolvida na degradação do colágeno da matriz extracelular e que pode influenciar o desenvolvimento de doenças pulmonares. O objetivo deste estudo incluiu a pesquisa de variações genéticas nestes genes e o estudo da associação entre polimorfismos e fenótipos relacionados a asma. Métodos: Entre 1995-96, foi realizado um estudo transversal na Alemanha, como parte do protocolo ISAAC para determinar a prevalência de asma e atopia. A genotipagem de polimorfismos nos genes FRI-1, TSAT-1 e MP-9 foi realizada com o método MALDI-TOF. Foram realizadas revisões sistemáticas utilizando a base de dados Genetic Association Database. Resultados: Além de genes indutores de resposta Th2 como interleucina (IL)-13, IL4 e CD14, os fatores de transcrição FRI-1, TSAT-1 foram associados a fenótipos de atopia como IgE elevada e sensibilização a testes cutâneos. Por outro lado, os genes MP-9 e IL-8 estão fortemente associados à sibilância não atópica, e podem ser determinantes para o desenvolvimento de doenças respiratórias na infância. Conclusão: Estes resultados sugerem que os diferentes fenótipos de asma na infância podem ser determinados por polimorfismos genéticos diversos. Pode-se chamar atenção para a necessidade de que os estudos de associação genética levem em consideração os diferentes desfechos e fenótipos em estudo. Além disso, uma análise estratificada para atopia deve ser realizada sempre que este dado estiver disponível.
Abstract: Introduction: It has been speculated that the development of asthma may be influenced by genetic predisposition for specific immune responses. Th1/Th2 balance is influenced by several transcription factors, of which Interferon Regulatory Factor 1 (IRF-1) and Signal Transducer Activator of Transcription 1 (STAT-1) are of special importance. As matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) plays an important role in airway wall thickening and airway remodelling, it may also influence the development of obstructive airway disease in children. To investigate the presence and role of genetic variations in these genes, we performed association studies with asthma-related phenotypes. Methods: Genotyping of tagging SNPs in the IRF-1, STAT-1 and MMP-9 gene was performed using MALDI-TOF in independent cross-sectional study populations of German children phenotyped for asthma and atopic phenotypes according to ISAAC standard procedures in 1995-96. Additionally we performed systematic reviews using Genetic Association Database. Results: Functional polymorphisms in Th2 genes as interleukin (IL)-13, I-L4, CD14, IRF-1 and STAT- 1 were significantly associated with atopy, total or specific IgE levels. On the other hand, SNPs in MMP-9 and IL-8 genes significantly increased the risk for non-atopic wheezing and non-atopic asthma. Conclusion: We have shown evidences that different wheezing disorders in childhood may be affected differently by genetic variations, considering their role on airway inflammation and atopy. Future genetic association studies should consider the different wheezing phenotypes in infancy. Moreover, the analyses stratified for atopy may be useful to clarify the mechanisms of the disease.
Doutorado
Doutor em Saude da Criança e do Adolescente

In an attempt to find a satisfactory and comprehensive explanation for the history of the sibilants in Peninsular Spanish, I explore the causal factors that were instrumental in motivating, promoting and diffusing the merger of voiced and voiceless sibilants. An investigation of these factors includes a discussion of language typology and universals, the acoustic qualities of the sibilant fricatives, issues surrounding phonemic mergers and dialect contact and mixing. In addition, I investigate the history of the sibilants, compare and contrast opposing views regarding that history and set forth those issues that have yet to receive a satisfactory explanation. Furthermore, I attempt to determine the geographical and chronological origins and the diffusion of this sound change by an orthographical investigation of several medieval documents and texts. In the final chapter, I tie together theory and data with the aim of giving a satisfactory and comprehensive exposition of the history of the sibilants in Peninsular Spanish. I conclude that the Spanish sibilants behave in keeping with the ideal observations set forth by the language universals examined in this thesis. The language-internal motivations include the ease in the articulation of voiceless sibilants in comparison to the voiced sibilants and the conditions that made the Old Spanish sibilants ripe for merger. Dialect mixing and contact and the weak ties within the social structure of medieval Spain are the language-external motivations that encouraged and promoted the sound merger and diffusion. With regard to the geographical and chronological history of the Spanish sibilants, I conclude that by the mid-thirteenth century, there is evidence of confusion of the /z/ and /s/ and by the end of the thirteenth century, neutralization of voice in the sibilants is widespread in all parts of Iberian Peninsula. There is possible evidence of seseo in Toledo as early as 1330 and in Soria in 1355. Evidence of the merger of [+voice] sibilants and [-voice] sibilants continues to mount throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In Central Spain, there is strong evidence of seseo in Madrid (1403-06), Peñafiel (1465) and Toledo (1438). and I, therefore, contend that early seseo is not exclusively Andalusian. By the mid-fifteenth century, there is possible evidence of merger of /z/ and /s/ in Southern Spain and by the sixteenth century, there is possible evidence of the merger Of /z/ and /s/ in Northern and Central Spain and possible evidence of zezeo and çeçeo in Southern Spain.

Ce document traite des problèmes liés à l'analyse des sons respiratoires d'une manière générale et à la détection automatique des sibilants en particulier. Le premier chapitre de ce mémoire décrit le système respiratoire et donne les définitions des différents bruits. Dans le second chapitre, nous développons les techniques d'enregistrement des sons respiratoires et les paramètres qui affectent leur analyse. Le troisième chapitre est dédié à la présentation des protocoles de mesure adoptés et les principales techniques d'analyse des signaux utilisées. Le quatrième chapitre est consacré aux problèmes d'élimination des bruits parasites. Nous insisterons sur la méthode basée sur les ondelettes que nous avons proposée. Dans le dernier chapitre, nous décrivons les méthodes classiques de détection automatique des sibilants ainsi que celles récemment publiées. Nous proposons une technique en deux temps, basée sur les paquets d'ondelettes pour minimiser les fausses alarmes.

This work evaluates sequences of (alveolar stop + voiceless alveolar sibilant) - ts, ds - opposed to sequences of (alveopalatal affricate + vowel i + voiceless alveolar sibilant) - tis, dis in Portuguese spoken in Belo Horizonte. This dissertation has as theoretical background Exemplar Models, Usage-Based Phonology and Articulatory Phonology. Thecorpus used for analysis comprises data from 16 participants, all university students 4 male and 4 female aged up to 25 years old and 4 male and 4 female aged over 35 years old. The data were submitted to statistical analysis using Minitab 14 software. The results of statistical analysis relates structural 2 social factors pointing out to a major tendency for the new variant when the alveolar stop is voiceless, that is, t, and when the sequence is at a word-boundary. The results concerning token frequency ratify the proposal of the Usage-Based Phonology which states that in cases of phonetically gradual sound changes, the more frequent words change before than the infrequent words. The analysis of the word factor showed that although token frequency is relevant it does not guarantee that the new pattern will occur. The individual behavior of the words signals that the change is lexically gradual and shows different variation rates in the same group of either frequent or infrequent words. As for the non-structural factors it was observed that the gender factorinfluences the occurrence of the new pattern: women tend to be more conservative concerning the variation under discussion. The results related to the age factor indicate that it may be an on-going change: the younger respondents have a higher rate in the use of the new variant than the older respondents. The individual factor analysis is also developed and shows that an individual behavior is more homogeneous than the group behavior. The data were submitted to acoustic analysis in Praat. The results show that there is a phonetic gradation between the variants tis, dis and the new variants ts, ds which corroborates the proposal of the Usage-Based Phonology and the Articulatory Phonology that sound change is phonologically gradual. The results also point out to the relevance of the variation in speech and the inclusion of the phonetic detail in the linguistic analysis which is one of the Exemplar Model claims.
O presente trabalho avalia a ocorrência de seqüências de (oclusiva alveolar + sibilante alveolar não vozeada) - ts, ds - em contextos concorrentes com as seqüências de (africada alveopalatal + vogal i + sibilante alveolar não vozeada) - tis, dis - no português falado na cidade de Belo Horizonte. Esta dissertação utiliza como base teórica as teorias do Modelo de Exemplares, da Fonologia de Uso e da Fonologia Articulatória. O corpus utilizado para análise é constituído de dados de 16 informantes universitários 4 do sexo masculino e 4 do sexo feminino com idade até 25 anos, 4 do sexo masculino e 4 do sexofeminino com idade acima de 35 anos. Os dados foram submetidos à análise estatística no programa Minitab versão 14. Os resultados da análise estatística com relação aos fatores estruturais apontam para uma maior tendência à ocorrência da variante inovadora quando aoclusiva alveolar é não vozeada, isto é, t, e quando a seqüência avaliada encontra-se nas bordas da palavra. Os resultados referentes ao fator freqüência corroboram a proposta da Fonologia de Uso de que em casos de mudança foneticamente graduais, as palavras maisfreqüentes mudam primeiro. A análise do fator palavra mostrou que, embora o fator freqüência seja importante, ele não garante a realização do padrão inovador. O comportamento individual das palavras indica que a mudança é lexicalmente gradual apresentando diferentes taxas de variação dentro de um mesmo grupo de palavras, sejamfreqüentes ou infreqüentes. Quanto aos fatores não estruturais, observou-se que o fator sexo influencia a realização do padrão inovador: as mulheres tendem a ser mais conservadoras no que diz respeito à variação em questão. Os resultados referentes ao fator idadeapresentam indícios de que pode se tratar de uma mudança em progresso: os participantes mais jovens têm uma maior taxa de realização da forma inovadora que os participantes mais velhos. A análise do fator indivíduo também é realizada e mostra que o comportamento individual é mais homogêneo que o comportamento do grupo. Os dados foram ainda submetidos à análise acústica no programa Praat. Os resultados obtidos mostram que há gradualidade fonética entre a realização das variantes plenas tis, dis e a realização das variantes inovadoras ts, ds, o que condiz com a proposta da Fonologia de Uso e da Fonologia Articulatória. Os resultados também apontam para a importância da variabilidade na fala e da incorporação do detalhe fonético na análise lingüística, um dos pontos do Modelo de Exemplares.

Orientador: Antonio Fernando Ribeiro
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas
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Resumo: Com o objetivo de avaliar e correlacionar o estado nutricional e a atividade motora de Lactentes Sibilantes em processo de internação hospitalar, este estudo transversal foi realizado com uma coorte de 28 crianças com diagnóstico de Lactente Sibilante de 03 a 18 meses de vida internadas na enfermaria de pediatria do Hospital Estadual Sumaré/UNICAMP. Um segundo grupo de 28 lactentes saudáveis de escolas municipais de Ribeirão Preto e São Paulo foram igualmente avaliados com a finalidade de promover um pareamento com o primeiro grupo. O critério de pareamento foi o sexo e idade da criança. O período total do estudo compreendeu de 15 de agosto de 2005 a 04 de maio de 2007. Foram colhidos dados pessoais, antropometria e avaliação da função motora no momento da internação hospitalar para os Lactentes Sibilantes e durante período escolar para o grupo controle. A análise antropométrica foi feita por meio da medida de peso e comprimento da criança. Foi calculado o escore z do peso, altura e relação peso/altura e utilizadas as curvas do National Center of Health Statistics (NCHS, 2000). Para avaliação motora foi aplicada a Escala Alberta de Avaliação Motora (AIMS). Para obtenção do escore e percentil da escala, todas as posições assumidas pela criança foram registradas na folha de testes após observação da filmagem da movimentação espontânea nas posições prono, supino, sentado e em pé. Além da pesquisadora, foi solicitada a observação das filmagens por uma profissional especializada na área de neurologia infantil. Somente após a verificação e compatibilidade dos dois pareceres a pontuação foi registrada. Foram observadas a influência do z escore de peso e altura com relação ao escore da avaliação motora e escolaridade materna e nível socioeconômico não apresentaram influencia. Os resultados indicaram que houve atraso na função motora e aspecto nutricional deficitário no grupo de Lactentes Sibilantes
Abstract: The objective was to assess and correlate the motor function and nutritional status from hospitalized ¿wheezing¿ infants. A cross sectional study has been done in 28 children with ages from 03 to 18 months, during their treatment at the children¿s nursery in Sumaré State Hospital/Unicamp, which were diagnosed as ¿childhood wheezing syndromes¿. A second group of 28 healthy infants from Ribeirão Preto and São Paulo¿s schools was evaluated in order to be paired as control group. The criteria used for pairing was the gender and age. This study was conducted from August 15th, 2005 to May 4th, 2007. Personal information and anthropometrical data were collected, and the motor function was assessed. The anthropometrical analysis was performed by the measurements of weight and height of the children. The Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) was used to assess the child motor function. Every positions done by the children were registered on the protocol tests after the observation their spontaneous movements in prone, supine, sit and stand positions through recording of them. Another pediatric neurological professional observed the records too. The points were registered when both opinions were compatible. The influence of the z-score height and z-score weight variables was noted in the motor function score, and the mothers education level and socio-economic status presented no influence. A delay in the motor function development and poor nutritional conditions were observed in the wheezing infants population
Mestrado
Saude da Criança e do Adolescente
Mestre em Saude da Criança e do Adolescente

The systemic and topical therapy with corticosteroids for asthma treatment is a consensual point in the literature and an important topic in the guidelines on disorder management. Currently, it is the medication with the best results in asthma control, with quick symptoms reduction, significant improvement in inflammation and pulmonary function. Moreover, it is associated with the mortality decrease and hospitalization caused by this disorder. However, the asthma diagnosis is extremely difficult to be confirmed in children under five years old. There is no accurate and objective diagnosis resource for distinguishing, in the group of lactents wheezers, the asthmatics from the transient wheezers due to similar symptoms. In this age range, episodic wheezing is common in children who will not contract asthma, mainly in children under 3 years old, and, generally, it is associated with a viral infection. In the estimation, from 60 to 80% of lactents wheezers will not continue to have bronquial obstruction crises in childhood and adolescence. This diagnostic difficulty results in a barrier to propose an efficacious and certain therapy for that age range. Despite this, corticotherapy has been used in lactents wheezers for symptom control and respiratory improvement. Some studies have introduced anti-inflammatory therapy precociously with the purpose of interfering in asthma natural history. Therefore, the aim of this study is to review the literature about corticotherapy use for wheezing in younger children and to evaluate prevalence of it via oral and inhaled in health Units in Belo Horizonte. The dissertation is composed of two cientific articles. The first one is an article which reviews corticotherapy efficacy for wheezing treatment in the early years of life. The review includes the period from 1998 to 2008, in the following databases MEDLINE, LILACS and PubMed. Treatment guidelines, review articles, systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials were selected, and evaluated the efficacy of treatment with oral or inhaled corticosteroids in wheezing children in the first years of life. The result of the studies, which investigated corticosteroids efficacy, are still controversial. A significant part of those studies failed to demonstrate benefits, specially related to the impact in natural history of the disorder. Some studies indicate a better symptom control with the use of inhaled corticotherapy for large periods, but this effect does not seem to remain after discontinuation of the drugs. Additionally, no relevant benefits were observed in treatment for wheezing caused by virus. The second article evaluated the prevalence of corticosteroids use in lactent wheezers related to first year of life and correlated with associated factors such as severity, atopic risk, familiar, environmental and demographic features in the studied population. The use of oral and inhaled corticosteroids was observed in 249 (48,7%) and 296 (51,3%) wheezing children, respectively. In recurrent wheezers, the use of oral corticoid was 63,5% and for the inhaled one was 64,3%. An high rate of corticosteroids via oral and inhaled have been used in lactent wheezer in the first year of life, on the assumption that 60% to 80% of those children will not become asthmatic in the future. In addition, the current state of knowledge and the lack of methodologically comparable data render the use of these medications difficult and uncertain.
A terapia com corticóides, sistêmico e tópico, para o tratamento da asma é ponto, consensual na literatura e ponto de destaque entre os consensos que visam o manejo da, doença. Atualmente é a medicação que proporciona melhor controle da asma, com rápida, redução dos sintomas, melhora significativa da inflamação e função pulmonar. Além disso, está associada ao declínio da mortalidade e das hospitalizações por esta doença. Porém, o diagnóstico de asma em menores de 5 anos de idade é muito difícil de ser firmado. Ainda não existe recurso diagnóstico preciso e objetivo que diferencie no grupo de lactentes sibilantes, aqueles que são asmáticos dos sibilantes transitórios, sendo o quadro clínico muito semelhante. Nesta faixa de idade, sibilância episódica é comum em crianças que não desenvolverão asma, principalmente nas menores de 3 anos de idade, e geralmente está associada a infecção viral. Estima-se que 60 a 80% dos lactentes sibilantes não continuarão a apresentar crises de obstrução brônquica na infância e adolescência. Essa dificuldade diagnóstica se reflete num obstáculo em propor uma terapia eficaz e segura para essa faixa etária. Apesar disso, a corticoterapia tem sido utilizada em lactentes sibilantes para controle dos sintomas e melhora do quadro respiratório. Alguns estudos têm introduzido a terapia antiinflamatória precocemente com a intenção de interferir na história natural da asma. Assim, o objetivo desse estudo foi fazer uma revisão da literatura sobre a utilização da corticoterapia para sibilância na infância e avaliar a prevalência da corticoterapia por via oral e inalatória nas Unidades Básicas de Saúde de Belo Horizonte. A dissertação foi construída em forma de 2 artigos científicos. O primeiro consiste em artigo de revisão de revisão da eficácia da corticoterapia para o tratamento da sibilância nos primeiros anos de vida. A revisão compreendeu o período de 1998 à 2009, nas seguintes bases de dados: MEDLINE, LILACS e PubMed. Os descritores usados foram: infants, asthma, wheezing, bronchoespasm, corticosteroids, glucocorticoids, corticoids. Foram selecionados guias de tratamento, artigos de revisão, meta-análises e revisões sistemáticas, estudos controlados e randomizados que avaliaram a eficácia do tratamento com corticóides orais e inalatórios em crianças sibilantes nos primeiros anos de vida. Os achados dos estudos que investigaram a eficácia do uso de corticóide ainda são controversos. Grande parte dos estudos falharam em demonstrar benefícios, especialmente no que se refere ao impacto na história natural da doença. Alguns estudos mostraram um melhor controle dos sintomas com o uso de corticoterapia inalatória por períodos maiores, mas esse efeito parece não se manter após a suspensão do medicamento. Além disso, para o tratamento de sibilância desencadeada por vírus não foram observados benefícios relevantes. O segundo artigo avaliou a prevalência do uso de corticóides em lactentes sibilantes referente ao primeiro ano de vida e correlacionou com os fatores associados tais como gravidade, risco de atopia, características familiares, ambientais e demográficas da população estudada. Foi observada uma utilização de corticóides orais e inalatórios em 249 (48,7%) e 296 (51,3%) crianças sibilantes, respectivamente. Nos sibilantes recorrentes o uso de corticóide oral foi de 63,5% e inalatório de 64,3%. Uma taxa elevada de corticóides por via oral e inalatória tem sido usada em lactentes sibilantes no primeiro ano de vida, tendo em vista que 60% a 80% dessas crianças não se tornarão crianças asmáticas futuramente. Além disso, na luz dos atuais conhecimentos e na falta de dados metodologicamente comparáveis torna difícil uma utilização clara e segura desses medicamentos.

Este proyecto de investigación fue diseñado para determinar la utilidad de la espirometría forzada y la medida de la resistencia específica de la vía aérea (sRaw) mediante pletismografia, como estudios de la función pulmonar en niños preescolares con bronquitis sibilantes recurrentes. Así cómo, evaluar el valor de la respuesta broncodilatadora en preescolares con asma. Por lo que, se diseñó un estudio observacional, prospectivo, realizado en las Unidades de Neumología Pediátrica del Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron y el Hospital Universitario Donostia, San Sebastián, entre 2010 y 2013, en una cohorte de niños de tres a seis años, con asma del preescolar. En la primera visita se evaluó clínicamente al niño, se realizó una espirometría forzada y la medición de sRaw basal y tras la administración del broncodilatador. A los seis meses se repitieron los estudios. Se incluyeron 126 preescolares, 92 con asma del preescolar y 34 sanos. En la segunda visita participaron 105 (83,3%) niños. 86 (68,6%) preescolares realizaron, en la primera visita, una espirometría basal correcta. 102 (81,0%) realizaron una correcta colaboración para el estudio de sRaw basal. Según la edad, un 38,5% de los preescolares de 3 años realizan correctamente la maniobra basal espirométrica. 57,9% de los 4 años de edad y superior al 86% de los preescolares con 5 y 6 años. Se consideró válida aquella espirometría con inicio correcto, curva correcta y reproducible. Mientras que para sRaw sólo se analizaron las maniobras con 6 puntos de calidad. Un 61,5 % de los preescolares con 3 años consiguieron maniobras sRaw correctas, siendo superior o igual al 84% en el resto de edades. Los preescolares más mayores realizaron significativamente mejores maniobras espirométricas y sRaw. Los preescolares con asma del preescolar obtuvieron valores basales significativamente disminuidos de todas las variables espirométricas menos para FVC, a diferencia de sRaw. Aunque aquellos que presentar peor sintomatología respiratoria según la clasificación pediátrica del asma y la GEMA obtuvieron valores significativamente aumentados de sRaw. Se observó que el grupo con asma del preescolar tras el broncodilatador, presentó un aumento significativo del FEV1, FEV0,75, FEV0,5. El límite de positividad de la PBD fue: FEV1 (+11,2%), FEV0,75 (+13,1%), FEV0,5 (+15,9%), y FEF25-75% (+40,8%). Ningún control obtuvo una PBD positiva. En el grupo de asma el porcentaje de positividades osciló entre el 17,2% para el FEV0,5 y el FEF25-75 hasta el 27,3% para el FEV1. Se encontró una relación entre una PBD positiva y la clínica en el momento de realizar el estudio y un mal control del asma valorado mediante el cuestionario CAN. La prueba broncodilatadora valorada mediante sRaw fue muy poco sensible. Cómo conclusiones, el estudio de la función pulmonar, en el grupo de tres a seis años de edad, es factible mediante la espirometría forzada y sRaw. Los niños preescolares son capaces de realizar correctamente las maniobras espirométricas forzadas permitiendo el uso del FEV1, FEV0,75, FEV0,5. El estudio de la función pulmonar basal y la respuesta broncodilatadora en el asma del preescolar es más sensible a través de las variables espirométricas.
Aim: To assess lung function abnormalities and bronchodilator response (BR) among preschool children with recurrent wheezing using spirometry and specific resistance (sRaw). An observational prospective study was designed with healthy and recurrent wheezing children aged 3 to 6 years, recruited from Vall d’Hebron and Donostia, San Sebastian, Pediatric Pulmonology Units. Children were classified according to wheeze phenotype (ERS Task Force 2008). sRaw was measured using sReff by a single step procedure. Z-scores were calculated with the equations from Asthma UK initiative (Eur Respir J 2010) and GLI (Quanjer, Eur Respir J 2012). BR was assessed as the increase in FEV1, FEV0.75, FEV0,5, FEF 25-75 or decrease in sReff,15 minutes after inhalation of 400 mcg salbutamol. Manoeuvres were repeteated after 6 months. One hundred and twenty six children were tested. Thirty four healthy controls, and 92 wheezers. Eighty six children (68.6%) performed technically acceptable and reproducible spirometry manoeuvres during the first visit and 102 (81.0%) satisfactory sRaw measurements. According to age, 10 (38.5%) 3-year-old preschoolers performed correctly the basal spirometry . 22 (57.9%) 4-year-olds and 54 (86%) preschoolers aged 5 and 6 years did so too. Only the manouevres with correct onset, correct and reproducible curve were considered valid. While for sRaw just the maneuvers with 6 quality points were analyzed. The older preschoolers performed significantly better spirometric and sRaw maneuvers. Preschoolers with wheezing had significantly lower baseline values for all spirometric variables except for FVC, while there was no difference in sRaw values. But those presenting worse respiratory symptoms according to the pediatric and GEMA classification of asthma obtained significantly increased values of sRaw. Preschool wheezing children, presented a significant increase in FEV1, FEV0,75, FEV0,5. We considered significant BR: FEV1 (+ 11.2%), FEV0,75 (+13.1%), FEV0,5 (+ 15.9%), and FEF25-75 (+40.8 %). No control showed significant BD test. In the asthma group, the percentage of positivity ranged from 17.2% for FEV0,5 to 27.3% for FEV1. The bronchodilator test assessed by sRaw did not differentiate children with asthma from controls. Spirometric indices are more sensitive than specific resistance measurement to detect abnormalities in basal lung function and BR in wheezing preschool children. As a conclusion, the study of lung function in the group of three to six years of age is feasible with both forced spirometry and sRaw. Preschool children are able to correctly perform forced spirometric maneuvers allowing the use of FEV1, FEV0,75, FEV0,5. The study of baseline lung function and bronchodilator response in preschool asthma is more sensitive with spirometric variables.

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Introdução: As técnicas fisioterapêuticas de higiene brônquica removem secreção das vias aéreas em lactentes com infecção no sistema respiratório. A observação da efetividade dessas técnicas em criança é limitada e a medição da função pulmonar durante a sua execução pode ser uma forma de avaliá-las. A técnica de expiração lenta e prolongada (ELPr) é técnica passiva realizada em lactentes, entretanto, os estudos sobre o assunto é escasso e suposições sobre a técnica precisam ser confirmadas. Objetivo: Avaliar alterações na dinâmica respiratória durante e após a realização da técnica fisioterapêutica ELPr em lactentes, incluindo avaliação do volume de reserva expiratório (VRE), mecânica respiratória passiva, presença de suspiros. Métodos: Foram avaliados lactentes encaminhados ao Laboratório de Função Pulmonar no Lactente da UNIFESP para realização de prova de função pulmonar. Foram incluídos lactentes com história de sibilância recorrente e idade inferior a 24 meses, excluídos os com doença do refluxo gastroesofágico e cirurgias abdominais e/ou torácicas. Os lactentes foram sedados com hidrato de cloral (via oral, dose entre 60 e 80 mg/Kg) seguindo-se a colocação de máscara facial conectada a pneumotacógrafo. As variáveis da respiração corrente (pico de fluxo expiratório [PFE], volume corrente [VC] e frequência respiratória [f]) e mecânica respiratória passiva (complacência, resistência e constante de tempo do sistema respiratório) foram mensuradas antes e após a realização da ELPr. Foram realizadas três sequências de ELPr na fase expiratória (A, B e C). A técnica foi realizada prolongando a fase expiratória do lactente. O aumento no VC em mais de 100% foi considerado suspiro, durante, ou antes, da ELPr. A técnica de compressão torácica com volume pulmonar aumentado foi feita para identificar o VRE. Resultados: Foram avaliados 18 lactentes com média de idade de 32,2 ± 11,4 semanas, com média de 4,8 ± 1,9 crises de sibilância. Na comparação das fases antes e após a ELPr, observamos mudança significante no VC de 79,3 ± 15,6 ml para 82,7 ±17,2 ml (p = 0,009); da frequência respiratória de 40,6 ± 6,9 rpm para 38,8 ± ,9 rpm (p = 0,042); e manutenção do PFE:140,5 ± 19,2 ml/seg para 143,5 ± 20,6 ml/seg (p = 0,264). Não houve alteração nos parâmetros da mecânica respiratória passiva antes e após a ELPr (p > 0,05). Durante a realização da ELPr, observamos redução do VC: de 82,3 ± 16,5 ml para 48,5 ± 10,8 ml (p < 0,001). Houve maior frequência de suspiros durante a realização da ELPr, comparada à fase sem realização da mesma (p = 0,035). Houve maior eliminação no VRE a cada compressão realizada (32 ± 17,8% na sequência A, 40,9 ± 23,9% na B e 53 ± 19,6% na C; p = 0,035). Conclusões: confirmamos algumas suposições sobre a ELPr em lactentes sibilantes, aumenta o VC e reduz a freqüência respiratória ao final da sua realização. Não há aumento no PFE, confirmando ser técnica lenta. O VC é reduzido durante a ELPr. Predispõe a indução de suspiros. O VRE a cada compressão foi quantificado e é mais exalado quanto mais compressões sucessivas forem realizadas.
Introduction: Chest physiotherapy techniques may assist in the removal of airways secretions. Infants suffering from pulmonary infections can be benefit from these techniques. A limited number of studies has already evaluated the efficacy of these techniques in children. Lung function measurements could improve the evaluation of such techniques. Prolonged slow expiration technique (PSET) is a passive physiotherapy technique used for the removal of expectorated secretions in infants. Although widely employed, some doubts remain regarding its effectiveness. Objective: To evaluate changes in respiratory parameters during and after the performance of PSET in infants, including expiratory reserve volume (ERV), passive respiratory mechanics and the presence of sighs. Methods: Infants attending the Infant Pulmonary Function Testing Laboratory (UNIFESP) for lung function testing participated in the study. Infants under two years of age and with history of recurrent wheezing were chosen for the study. Infants suffering from gastric reflux disease or recovering from abdominal or thoracic surgery were excluded. Infants were sedated with chloral hydrate (60 – 80 mg/Kg, orally). Measurements were performed during sleep, after sedation, with a mask sealed adapted to the child’s face and connected to a pneumotachometer. Several parameters from normal breathing (peak expiratory flow [PEF], tidal volume [TV], respiratory rate [RR]) and from passive respiratory mechanics (compliance, resistance and time constant of respiratory system) were recorded before, during and after the PSET. Three thoracic compressions (PSET), executed to prolong the expiratory phase, were carried out: A, B and C. Increase in TV over 100% was considered sighs, before, during or immediately after the PSET. Raised volume rapid thoracic compression technique was performed at the end of the test to measure ERV. Results: 18 infants were evaluated. Their mean age was 32,3 ± 11,4 weeks and they had, on average, 4,8 ± 1,9 previous wheezing exacerbations. After PSET, significant changes were observed for TV (79,3 ± 15,6 ml vs 82,7 ± 17,2 ml; p = 0,009) and for RR (40,6 ± 6,9 bpm vs 38,8 ± 5,9 bpm; p = 0,042). PEF and passive respiratory mechanics parameters did not change significantly after the PSET. An expressive reduction in TV was measured during PSET compressions (82,3 ±16,5 ml vs 48,5 ± 10,8 ml; p < 0,001). Increased frequency of sighs was noted during and immediately after PSET (p = 0,035). Progressively exhalation of ERV was observed in each thoracic compression (32 ± 17,8% in A, 40,9 ± 23,9% in B, and 53 ± 19,6% in C; p = 0,035). Conclusions: We could document several PSET assumptions in wheezing infants, we observe an increase in TV and reduce in RR after application. It acts as a slow technique because there was no change in PEF. The TV was reduced during PSET. The technique facilitates the induction of sighs. There was a progressively reduces ERV and it is higher when more compressions were done.
TEDE
BV UNIFESP: Teses e dissertações

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Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico - CNPq
This thesis deals with the production and perception of voiceless sibilant fricatives [s] and [?] in syllable onset and coda in the varieties of Brazilian Portuguese spoken in Porto Alegre/RS and Florian?polis/SC under the perspective of Sociophonetics (FOULKES, DOCHERTY, 2006; FOULKES; SCOBBIE; WATT, 2010; THOMAS, 2011). This research aims: i) to provide the acoustic description of the sibilant fricatives produced in Porto Alegre/RS and Florian?polis/SC in onset and coda; ii) to investigate the effects of the linguistic bias (contrastive and non-contrastive function of sibilant fricatives) on the phonetic perception of sibilant fricatives in onset and coda; and iii) to investigate the effects of the cognitive bias on the perception of phonetic variation of sibilant fricatives in coda. The corpus of this study consists of two samples of production data, one referring to data from 16 informants from Florian?polis and another sample referring to data from 24 informants from Porto Alegre. Regarding the perception data, the sample collected in Florian?polis consists of 30 participants, while the sample collected in Porto Alegre consists of 10 participants. The acoustic analysis of the sibilant fricatives partially confirmed the predicted coarticulatory effects of the surrounding vowel contexts and the effects of syllable stress on the spectral characterization of the sibilant fricatives, except for the vowels [u] and [o] preceding the fricative sibilant in coda and the unstressed pretonic syllable in the case of the alveolar fricative in onset. It seems that the variability of the phonetic production correlates with the gender of the speakers in the two cases indicated. The gender of the speakers also seems to interfere in the production of the alveolar fricative in onset by more educated people from Porto Alegre, with men tending to increase the Centroid, while women tend to reduce it. The temporal parameter examined showed a constant effect, namely the increase of frequencies as a function of the duration of the sibilants in onset and coda. The increase in frequencies due to the monitored speech style has also been confirmed and it is suggested to be an articulatory behavior associated specifically to women. Concerning the analysis of perception data, contrast and noncontrast relations of sibilant fricatives do affect the perception of men and women from Florian?polis and men from Porto Alegre, but not in the perception of women from Porto Alegre. Regarding the perception of phonetic variation, the results suggest that automatic associations between the stereotype of native/local resident and the palatoalveolar fricative in Florian?polis and the association between the stereotype of portoalegrense and the alveolar fricative in Porto Alegre are activated during perception. Moreover, the implicit association tends to become stronger as participants overtly report a greater difference between alveolar and palato-alveolar stimuli. However, the fact that some participants associate this difference to linguistic aspects other than the sibilant fricative in coda shows that the perception of socially structured phonetic variation occurs unconsciously. It is therefore concluded that the production of voiceless sibilant fricatives in Brazilian Portuguese is phonetically gradient and varies according to the gender of the speakers and that the perception of these sounds is mediated by linguistic and cognitive biases.
Esta tese trata da produ??o e percep??o das fricativas sibilantes n?o-vozeadas [s] e [?] em ataque e coda sil?bica nas variedades de portugu?s brasileiro faladas em Porto Alegre/RS e Florian?polis/SC sob a perspectiva da Sociofon?tica (FOULKES; DOCHERTY, 2006; FOULKES; SCOBBIE; WATT, 2010; THOMAS, 2011). A pesquisa teve como objetivos: i) realizar a descri??o ac?stica das fricativas sibilantes produzidas em Porto Alegre/RS e Florian?polis/SC em ataque e coda sil?bica; ii) investigar os efeitos do vi?s lingu?stico (fun??o contrastiva e n?o-contrastiva das fricativas sibilantes) sobre a percep??o fon?tica das fricativas sibilantes em ataque e coda sil?bica; e iii) investigar os efeitos do vi?s cognitivo sobre a percep??o da varia??o fon?tica das fricativas sibilantes em coda sil?bica. O corpus deste estudo contou com duas amostras de dados de produ??o, a saber, uma amostra referente a dados de 16 informantes florianopolitanos e outra amostra referente a dados de 24 informantes porto-alegrenses. Quanto aos dados de percep??o, a amostra florianopolitana ? constitu?da por 30 participantes, ao passo que a amostra portoalegrense conta com 10 participantes. A an?lise ac?stica das fricativas sibilantes confirmou parcialmente os efeitos coarticulat?rios dos contextos voc?licos circundantes e da tonicidade sobre a caracteriza??o espectral das fricativas sibilantes, exceto pelas vogais [u] e [o] em contexto precedente ? sibilante em coda e pela tonicidade pret?nica no caso da fricativa alveolar em ataque. Ao que parece, a produ??o fon?tica vari?vel se correlaciona com o g?nero dos falantes nos dois casos indicados. O g?nero dos falantes tamb?m parece interferir na produ??o da fricativa alveolar em ataque pelos porto-alegrenses que possuem n?vel Superior de escolaridade, sendo que os homens tendem a aumentar o Centroide, enquanto as mulheres tendem a reduzi-lo. O par?metro temporal examinado apresentou um efeito constante, a saber, o aumento das frequ?ncias em fun??o da dura??o das sibilantes em ataque e coda. O aumento das frequ?ncias em fun??o do estilo de fala monitorado tamb?m se confirmou e sugere se tratar de um comportamento articulat?rio associado especificamente ?s mulheres. No que diz respeito ? an?lise dos dados de percep??o, as rela??es de contraste e de n?o-contraste das fricativas sibilantes de fato interferem na percep??o dos homens e mulheres florianopolitanos e dos homens portoalegrenses, mas n?o na percep??o das mulheres porto-alegrenses. Em rela??o ? percep??o da varia??o fon?tica, os resultados sugerem que associa??es autom?ticas entre o estere?tipo de morador nativo e a fricativa palato-alveolar em FLN e entre o estere?tipo de porto-alegrense e a fricativa alveolar em POA s?o ativadas durante a percep??o. Mais do que isso, a associa??o impl?cita tende a se tornar mais forte conforme os participantes reportam explicitamente uma diferen?a maior entre os est?mulos alveolar e palato-alveolar. Todavia, o fato de que alguns participantes relacionam essa diferen?a a outros aspectos lingu?sticos que n?o ? fricativa sibilante em coda evidencia que a percep??o da varia??o fon?tica socialmente estruturada ocorre de modo inconsciente. Conclui-se, portanto, que a produ??o das fricativas sibilantes n?o-vozeadas do portugu?s brasileiro ? foneticamente gradiente e varia em fun??o do g?nero dos falantes e que a percep??o desses sons ? mediada por vieses lingu?sticos e cognitivos.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Linguística
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Nesse trabalho, apresentamos um estudo sobre o processo de palatalização da sibilante coronal em coda e de ditongação em sílabas travadas por /S/, com base em dados de um corpus lido. Os dados foram coletados na localidade do Ribeirão da Ilha. O método usado para a escolha dos informantes foi o aleatório estratificado, envolvendo um total de 24 pessoas. O nosso corpus foi montado de modo a abranger contextos estruturais diversos, totalizando 68 frases. Com enfoque na sociolingüística laboviana e na Fonologia da Geometria dos Traços, analisamos o papel das variáveis estruturais e sociais nos dois fenômenos. Além disso, comparamos os resultados acerca da palatalização com um estudo anterior, feito na mesma localidade com um corpus de fala espontânea (Brescancini, 1996), a fim de verificar em que medida a questão do estilo afeta o fenômeno. Nossos resultados mostraram que os contextos em que houve retração e elevação do corpo da língua (consoantes dorsais e vogais labiais e dorsais) favoreceram o uso da variante palato-alveolar. Os resultados referentes às variáveis sociais apontam para um indício de influências externas no sentido de não-palatalização, considerando que Florianópolis vem recebendo muitas pessoas de outras cidades e estados. A comparação com o estudo feito com fala espontânea nos mostrou que o estilo mais formal (corpus lido) afeta a aplicação da regra, especialmente entre as mulheres mais escolarizadas. Em relação à ditongação, vimos que o processo não é muito recorrente em Florianópolis, sendo favorecido em contexto de consoante alveolar.

OBJETIVOS: Determinar la incidencia de bronquitis sibilantes y bronquitis sibilantes recurrentes a los 6 y 12 meses de vida en la población de Alzira. Analizar los factores de riesgo asociados. PACIENTES Y MÉTODOS: Estudio longitudinal prospectivo en una cohorte de nacimiento de 636 niños. Revisión de historias clínicas a los 6 y 12 meses de vida y envío de cuestionarios por correo, con encuesta telefónica si no hubo contestación. Análisis multivariante de los distintos factores de riesgo registrados mediante regresión de Cox. RESULTADOS: A los 6 meses, el 25,2% de los niños había presentado al menos un episodio de bronquitis sibilante, y el 5,6% había presentado 3 ó más. El 11,6% fue atendido en urgencias en alguna ocasión, el 6,6% recibió corticoides orales y el 4% precisó hospitalización. Se comportaron como factores de riesgo de bronquitis sibilantes el sexo masculino (razón de tasas [HR]: 2,1; intervalo de confianza del 95% [IC 95%]: 1,5-2,9), el nacimiento en el tercer trimestre del año (HR: 3,5; 2,0-5,9) y en el cuarto (HR: 2,0; 1,1-3,6), tener hermanos mayores (HR: 3,1; 2,2-4,5), la exposición al tabaco (HR: 1,4; 1,0-2,0) y el antecedente de asma materno (HR: 1,7; 1,0-3,0); lo hicieron como factores protectores la lactancia materna durante un mínimo de 3 meses (HR:0,6; 0,4-0,8), el origen inmigrante de los padres (HR: 0,6; 0,4-0,9), la mayor edad gestacional (HR: 0,9; 0,8-0,9) y la mayor edad de la madre (HR: 0,9; 0,9-1,0). A los 12 meses, el 37,1% de los niños había presentado al menos 1 episodio de bronquitis sibilante, y el 10,6% había presentado 3 o más. El 17,6% fue atendido en urgencias en alguna ocasión, el 13,4% recibió corticoides orales y el 5,4% precisó hospitalización. Se comportaron como factores de riesgo de bronquitis sibilantes el sexo masculino (HR: 1,8; IC 95%:1,4-2,4), la asistencia a guardería (HR: 1,5; 1,0-2,3), el nacimiento en el tercer trimestre del año (HR: 2,2; 1,5-3,4), tener hermanos mayores (HR: 2,6; 2,0-3,5), la exposición al tabaco (HR: 1,6; 1,2-2,1) y el antecedente de asma materno asociado a atopia (HR: 2,3; 1,3-4,3); lo hicieron como factores protectores la lactancia materna durante un mínimo de 3 meses (HR:0,7;0,5-0,9) y la mayor edad de la madre (HR: 0,9; 0,9-1,0). Se comportaron como factores de riesgo de bronquitis sibilantes recurrentes a los 12 meses de edad el sexo masculino (HR: 2,4; IC 95%: 1,4-4,1), la asistencia a guardería (HR: 2,4; 1,4-4,1), tener hermanos mayores (HR: 4,5; 2,5-8,1) y el antecedente de asma materno (HR: 3,3; 1,4-8,1); lo hicieron como factores protectores la lactancia materna durante un mínimo de 3 meses (HR:0,4; 0,2-0,7), la mayor edad de la madre (HR: 0,9; 0.9-1,0) y la mayor edad gestacional (HR: 0,8; 0,7-0,9). CONCLUSIONES: La incidencia acumulada de bronquitis sibilantes en el primer año de vida en nuestra población es elevada, y supera la descrita en otros estudios. La mayor parte de los factores de riesgo coinciden con los señalados por otros autores. Destacan como más importantes la existencia de hermanos mayores y el nacimiento en el tercer trimestre del año. En el caso de bronquitis sibilantes recurrentes, la incidencia es algo inferior a la reflejada en el estudio internacional de las sibilancias del lactante para otras poblaciones españolas. Destacan como principales factores de riesgo de bronquitis sibilantes recurrentes la existencia de hermanos mayores y el antecedente materno de asma. La lactancia materna durante al menos 3 meses es un factor protector de bronquitis sibilantes recurrentes. La promoción de la lactancia materna, la evitación del tabaquismo pasivo y la intensificación de las normas de higiene en las guarderías, podría disminuir considerablemente la incidencia de las bronquitis sibilantes en nuestra población.

This thesis examines phonetic variation of /s/ in bilingual French and German gay and straight men. Previous studies have shown sibilant variation, specifically the voiceless sibilant /s/, to correlate with constructions of gay identity and 'gay sounding voices' in both production and perception. While most of this work concerns English, researchers have also explored /s/ variation and sexual orientation or non-normative masculinity in Afrikaans, Danish, Hungarian, and Spanish. Importantly, with the exception of only a small number of studies, this body of work has largely left the realm of /s/ variation and sexual orientation in bilingual speakers unexplored, and furthermore there is very little work which examines these voices in the context of French and German. The analyses show that some gay French and German men produce /s/ with a higher centre of gravity (CoG) and more negative skew than the straight speakers of the study, a result which dovetails with previous studies in languages such as English. Unlike English however, French and German listeners do not appear to associate /s/ variation with sexual orientation or (non)normative masculinities. I argue that the gay speakers who produce /s/ with a higher CoG than the other speakers of the study are doing so as a way to distance themselves from hegemonic masculinity. This thesis is structured into three stand-alone journal articles bookended with introductory and conclusion chapters which tie them together in the broader picture of /s/ variation and French/German speakers and listeners. The first of the three articles expands upon the previously established linguistic framework of indexing gayness by exploring /s/ variation in native and non-native speech, examining how the linguistic construction of gay identity interacts between their English production and the constraints of their native language. The data draws on read speech of 19 gay and straight French and German men across their L1 and L2 English to explore the social meaning of /s/. Results show that some gay speakers produce /s/ with a higher centre of gravity (CoG) and more negative skew than the straight speakers. These results are consistent with previous findings, which show sibilant variation to index sexual orientation in monolingual gay men's speech, and provide evidence of this feature correlating with sexual orientation in French and German. Furthermore, the results presented here call for a greater level of inquiry into how the gay speakers who employ this feature construct their gay identities beyond a purely gay/straight dichotomy. The second study reports the results of a cross-linguistic matched guise test examining the role of /s/ variation and pitch in judgements of sexual orientation and non-normative masculinity in English, French, and German listeners. Listeners responded to manipulations of /s/ and pitch in their native language and all other stimuli languages (English, French, German, and Estonian). All listener groups rate higher pitch stimuli as more gay and more effeminate sounding than lower pitch guises. However, only the English listeners hear [s+] guises as sounding more gay and more effeminate than the [s] or [s-] guises. This effect is seen not only in their native language, but across all stimuli languages. French and German listeners, despite previous evidence showing /s/ to vary according to sexual orientation in men's speech, do not hear [s+] guises as more gay or more effeminate in any of the stimuli languages including their native French or German. The final of the three articles takes the findings of the first two papers and attempts to reconcile the production/perception mismatch seen when comparing the results of the first two papers. The first article in this thesis revealed two groups of speakers which form the basis for analysis for this paper. The first group is a heterogeneous group of gay and straight speakers whose average /s/ productions are below 7,000 Hz ([s] speakers) and the second is a homogeneous group of gay speakers producing average /s/ CoG above 7,000 Hz ([s+] speakers). The analysis shows style shifting across task type with both groups of speakers producing higher /s/ CoG productions in L1 read speech contexts than any of the L2 speech contexts. Style shifting across conversation topic reveals that the [s+] speakers are producing higher /s/ CoG when discussing their coming out stories and topics of LGBT involvement. I argue that these [s+] speakers are employing these higher frequency /s/ variants to construct a very specific and identifiable gay persona, that of a counter-hegemonic effeminate gay man. This thesis is among the first to examine phonetic qualities of gay bilingual speakers and the ways in which they may index their sexual orientation. The inclusion of bilingual French and German speakers adds to our growing knowledge of ways in which these individuals navigate and construct their identities within both their L1 and, specifically, within an L2. In this regard, this thesis contributes to the growing body of knowledge concerning socioindexicality in L2 production more generally. This work thus speaks to these gaps within the sociolinguistic literature and provides strong evidence that /s/ variation is a valuable resource for some French and German men in the construction of a certain type of gay identity.

Psammophis sibilans is a taxonomically problematic snake species. The wide distribution and phenotypic variation led to the description of several “varieties” that comprise the sibilans species complex, resulting in a confusing and unstable taxonomic history. While some problems have been solved in previous revisions, the status of populations from West and Central Africa remains uncertain. Morphological data for more than 700 specimens of the sibilans complex was analyzed, together with available molecular data, to better understand species delimitation and diagnosis. A combination of color pattern, scalation and geographic location is the best method to diagnose species of the sibilans complex. Morphological and molecular data support the distinction of West African populations as a new species, and populations from Central Africa are assigned to P. mossambicus. We clarify and summarize the taxonomic history of the group, providing updated descriptions and distribution maps. A tentative key to problematic taxa is presented; Contribuições para a revisão taxonómica das serpentes-chicote africanas (Squamata: Lamprophiidae) pertencentes ao complexo de espécies Psammophis sibilans-mossambicus-phillipsii Resumo: Psammophis sibilans é uma espécie taxonomicamente problemática. A ampla distribuição e variedade fenotípica conduziram à descrição de inúmeras “variedades” que constituem o complexo de espécies sibilans, resultando numa história taxonómica confusa e instável. O estatuto das populações da África Ocidental e Central permanece incerto. Foram analisados dados morfológicos de mais de 700 espécimes do complexo sibilans, a par com os dados moleculares disponíveis, de modo a compreender melhor a delimitação e diagnose das espécies envolvidas. A combinação do padrão de coloração, merística e distribuição geográfica é a melhor forma de diagnosticar as espécies do complexo. Dados morfológicos e moleculares suportam a distinção das populações da África Ocidental como uma espécie nova, e as populações da África Central são atribuídas a P. mossambicus. A história taxonómica do complexo é clarificada e sumarizada, e são apresentadas descrições e mapas de distribuição actualizados. É ainda apresentada uma chave provisória para as espécies problemáticas.

Antecedentes y objetivos: Las bronquitis sibilantes de repetición en niños menores de 4 años constituyen una patología muy frecuente. En un 60% de ellos las bronquitis serán transitorias, y desaparecerán antes de los 3 años y en un 40% persistirán más allá. Dentro de este último grupo, solo la mitad serán atópicos, y los no atópicos, generalmente cederán antes de a la pubertad. Clínicamente los niños de estos 3 grupos son indistinguibles en edades tempranas.
El fenotipo asmático se caracteriza por la triada: obstrucción bronquial reversible, hiperrespuesta e inflamación bronquial. La medida de estos parámetros en niños no colaboradores requiere habitualmente técnicas complejas con sedación.
Objetivos: Determinar la respuesta bronquial normal a la metacolina en niños sanos menores de 4 años de edad, mediante el método de la auscultación traqueal modificado (Springer, et al; AJRCCM 2000;162:857-860), que no requiere sedación, analizando la eficacia y seguridad del método. Valorar la presencia de hiperrespuesta bronquial en niños de este grupo de edad con bronquitis de repetición. Analizar las variables que puedan afectar esta hiperrespuesta bronquial. Asimismo, se pretende determinar los valores normales de óxido nítrico exhalado en niños sanos < 4 años de edad, mediante un método de recogida off-line, con respiración a volumen corriente. Valorar la presencia de inflamación bronquial en niños menores de 4 años de edad con bronquitis de repetición, mediante la determinación de óxido nítrico exhalado, en fase intercrisis y analizar las variables que puedan influir en los niveles de óxido nítrico exhalado (FENO) en estos niños.
Métodos: Se incluyeron 63 niños de 6 meses a < 4 años que hubieran presentado 3 episodios de sibilantes en último año (recién nacidos a término;< 1/3 tratados con GCI o montelukast) y un grupo control de niños sanos: (n=16) sin antecedentes de atopia ni tabaquismo familiar. Se requería que no hubiesen presentado sibilancias ni infección de vías altas en las 3 semanas previas a las pruebas. El estudio fue aprobado por el Comité de ética
Se realizó una prueba de provocación bronquial (PPB) con metacolina (Provocholine®) mediante el protocolo de inhalación a volumen corriente durante 2 minutos (ATS; AJRCCM 2000; 161:309), usando una variedad acortada. Se consideró positiva la prueba a una determinada concentración de metacolina (PCw) si se auscultaban sibilantes en tráquea, disminuía la SaO2  5% o aumentaba la frecuencia respiratoria más del 50%. Se compararon los grupos mediante el test no paramétrico de la U de Mann Whitney, asumiendo un valor de 16 mg/ml en los casos de prueba negativa. Asimismo se determinó el óxido nítrico exhalado mediante la técnica de recogida off- line, con respiración espontánea a volumen corriente (ERS-ATS Task Force - AJRCCM 2002) con mascarilla con tabique nasal y un sistema de recogida en bolsa de Mylar, efectuándose la medición posterior de en un aparato de quimioluminiscencia.
Resultados: De los niños sanos, 10 no reaccionaron a la metacolina y 6 lo hicieron a las concentraciones máximas de 8 mg/ml. De los del grupo de bronquitis hubo 10 que no respondieron, 10 que reaccionaron a la concentración máxima y 43 que reaccionaron a concentraciones inferiores a la del grupo control. La diferencia entre los 2 grupos fue estadísticamente significativa (5,8 versus 13,3 mg/ml) (p< 0,001). La positividad de la prueba se manifestó en 48 casos por la auscultación de sibilantes, y en 10 por el descenso de la SaO2. En total en 30% de los pacientes se observó una desaturación que en ningún caso fue inferior a 88%, y en todos los casos la auscultación y la SaO2 se normalizaron tras la administración de salbutamol
En cuanto a las variables que podían influir en el grupo de bronquitis sobre la PCw, se observó que sólo la edad a la que habían presentado la 1ª bronquitis era estadísticamente-significativa No influía la edad a la que se había realizado la PPB
Los resultados del estudio del óxido nítrico exhalado muestran que el grupo con bronquitis presenta como media una FENO más elevada que el grupo control, aunque hay superposición de datos con el grupo control.
Por otro lado si distinguimos dentro del grupo de pacientes entre los que llevan tratamiento y los que no, observamos que también hay diferencias significativas entre el grupo no tratado y el control, pero no entre el grupo tratado con corticoides inhalados y el control.
Asimismo dentro del grupo de pacientes con bronquitis sibilantes de repetición analizamos la influencia de las diferentes variables sobre el FENO. Hubo relación con el nº de eosinófilos en sangre de forma que los que tenían un mayor nivel de eosinófilos en sangre (> 400/mm3), presentaban FENO más elevados. Probablemente ello refleje que el FENO es un marcador de inflamación eosinofílica
Hubo una tendencia estadísticamente no significativa de que los niños con IgE >100 UI/ml, presentasen como grupo, FENO más elevadas. En cambio, no existió relación entre el FENO y los niños con PPB positiva a metacolina ni con el nº de episodios de bronquitis presentadas por los niños en el año previo
Conclusiones:
El método de la auscultación traqueal modificado es efectivo y seguro para valorar la hiperrespuesta bronquial en niños menores de 4 años de edad, y no requiere sedación. Un porcentaje elevado de ellos presentan hiperrespuesta bronquial; 68% reaccionan a concentraciones inferiores respecto a los niños sanos.
La medición del óxido nítrico exhalado mediante la recogida off-line a volumen corriente es sencilla y no precisa sedación ni colaboración activa de los niños
Los niños menores de 4 años afectos de bronquitis sibilantes de repetición en fase asintomática, presentan inflamación bronquial, reflejada por un incremento en la concentración de FENO Sin embargo, el resultado no discrimina adecuadamente los niños sanos de los niños con bronquitis, existiendo una amplia zona de superposición
Los pacientes que recibían tratamiento corticoides inhalados presentaban un valor de FENO igual a los niños sanos, mientras que los que no lo recibían presentaban un aumento del FENO
Son necesarios estudios longitudinales para valorar si el FENO ayuda a discriminar asma de sibilantes transitorios.
Recuurently wheezy bronchitis is a very common illness in infancy. We require complex techniques and sedation to evaluate bronchial responsiveness and bronchial inflammation at this age.
Aims: To determine the efficacy and safety of the chest auscultation method. To assess bronchial reactivity to inhaled metacholine in young children and to evaluate its prevalence in children under 4 years of age with recurrent bronchitis. To determine the normal values of FENO in such young children using the tidal breathing method (off line). To assess bronchial inflammation in children under 4 years old, with recurrent bronchitis, without crisis at the time of the exploration, through the FENO determination.
Methods: 63 wheezy children (6 months to 4 years old) with ≥3 wheezing episodes over the last year and age matched healthy control children (n=16) were studied. A metacholine bronchial challenge test was performed with a two minute dosing protocol and the chest auscultation method (ATS;AJRCCM 2000;161:309;162:857). End point (PCw) was defined as wheezing heard over trachea , oxygen desaturation of ≥5% from baseline or an increase in respiratory rate of ≥50% from baseline. Data were compared using the non parametric U Mann-Whitney test , assuming a PCw of 16 mg/ml for negative tests.
We also measured the FENO in 80 infants. We followed the tidal breathing method (off line)(ATS-ERS Task Force-AJRCCM 2002). Infant tidal breaths were collected into an inert gas sampling bag , via a nonrebreathing valve attached to a special face mask with nasal dettachment. ENO was measured using a chemoanalyser.
Results: Out of the healthy children, 10 had a negative test and 10 showed a PCw= 8 mg/ml (the maximum concentration). Among the wheezy group, 53 had a positive test, 43 had a PCw ≤4 mg/ml (68,2%). Mean PCw for wheezy children was lower than that in the control group. (5,8 versus 13,3 mg/ml)(p<0,001). There were no adverse effects. 30% had a desaturation (>88%), but it was reversed inmediately after the inhalation of salbutamol. The only factor studied that showed any influence on the PCw was the age of the fist bronchitis.
The main results show that the wheezy group has a greater FENO than the control group (p=0,0406), although there is some overlap between results from both groups.
The only factor that showed any influence on FENO was the eosinophilia (>400/mm³), there was a direct relationship between both factors. Probably this would mean that FENO is a marker of eosinophilic inflammation.
There was also a possible relationship (statistically not significant) between high IgE levels and higher FENO levels. There was no relationship between FENO and bronchial hyperresponsiveness.
Conclusions: The auscultation method is effective and safe in the assessment of bronchial reactivity in young children ant it requires no sedation. Airway responsiveness to metacholine was increased in the majority of our recurrently wheezy children. The measurement of FENO through the tidal breathing (off line ) method is easy and does not require sedation neither active cooperation.. Wheezy assympthomatic children under 4 years old, show some degree of bronchial inflammation demonstrated through an elevation of the FENO levels when compared with the healthy control group, although there is some overlap between both groups. The patients who received IGC showed similar values to those of the healthy group.
Further longitudinal studies are needed to assess the value of FENO in distinguishing asthma fron transitory wheezing.

La regularización ortográfica del castellano se inicia en la época del reinado de Alfonso X en el s.XIII y tiene como consecuencia lo que tradicionalmente se ha denominado como la norma alfonsí. El objeto de la presente investigación es evaluar la continuación de esta norma gráfica en la representación de las grafías sibilantes de dos textos: la primera parte del Flos Sanctorum de Alonso de Villegas, impreso en Toledo (España); y el Libro de la vida y milagros de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo (La Vita Christi), impreso en Juli (Perú) de Ludovico Bertonio. Para esto, es importante reconocer la labor normalizadora de la imprenta: la búsqueda de uniformidad en los usos gráficos de los textos. Es necesario entonces rescatar el origen toledano del texto de Villegas, que representa -según nuestra hipótesis- rezagos del centro histórico normativo y, por lo tanto, mantiene la norma impuesta siglo atrás por el rey sabio. Por otro lado, es importante considerar si esta norma se conserva en La Vita Christi de Bertonio, que es la traducción de la primera parte del Flos Sanctorum de Villegas. Se realizará un análisis de la variación interna de las grafías sibilantes de cada obra para evaluar la continuación de esta norma en la imprenta toledana y la imprenta peruana (a partir del caso de Juli). Al mismo tiempo, esto nos permitirá ver si la desviación de la norma alfonsí es hecho revelador de alguno de los dos cambios más importantes que sufrió el paradigma inicial de seis sibilantes: el ensordecimiento de los pares sonoros y la fricatización de las sibilantes africadas.

Questa tesi descrive in modo completo cosa sono le sibilanti da un punto di vista fonetico come fonologico, e analizza in che modi possono coesistere con altre sibilanti per formare un'inventario sibilantico. Basandosi su dati empirici, diverse tipologie di sibilanti vengono create, maggiormente negli ambiti dell'OT e BiPhon-NN. Questa tesi non centralizza solo le conoscenze sulle sibilanti, ma predice anche quali inventari sono possibili e spiega perché.
This dissertation describes in a comprehensive way what sibilants are from a phonetic and phonological perspective, as well as in which ways they pattern as sibilant inventories in natural languages. Based on empirical evidence, several typologies of sibilants are constructed predominantly in OT and BiPhon-NN. This dissertation not only centralises the existing knowledge about sibilants, but predicts also what inventories are possible and explains why.

Martin Vančura - Diplomová práce (2012) Evolution of phonological contrat in sibilants - typological analysis Abstract: The goal of this paper is to employ the paradigm of Greenbergian language typology to process diachronic data originating in the field of historical linguistics. In the first few chapters, I discuss both disciplines and identify some of the pitfalls of such an endeavour. The substance of this paper lies in chapter 4 where I try to demonstrate a real utilization of this diachronic typology on a specific set of data, represented by documented cases of the evolution of sibilants. Then I analyse the precise articulatory and evolutionary character of the sibilants in selected branches of the Indo- European language family and selected languages of the world and I attempt to uncover the common evolutionary tendencies of their sibilant systems. At the end of this chapter, I construct a map of sibilants' evolutionary trajectories and I propose some remarks on the general phonetics and phonology of sibilants.

Dissertação de Mestrado em Português Língua Estrangeira/Língua Segunda, apresentada à Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra.
Tendo em conta a opacidade que caracteriza, no caso das unidades sibilantes em Português, as relações entre fonemas e grafemas, é nosso objetivo verificar quais as principais dificuldades sentidas pelos aprendentes no seu registo gráfico e apurar eventuais fenómenos de transferência a partir das línguas maternas (LM) dos aprendentes. Partindo da descrição das relações complexas entre fonemas e grafemas quer na LA, quer das diferentes LM dos aprendentes (espanhol, italiano, alemão e chinês), procede-se, então, à análise dos desvios recolhidos de um conjunto de textos escritos por aprendentes de PLNM, estudantes de diferentes níveis (A1 a C1) dos cursos de Português para Estrangeiros na Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Coimbra entre maio de 2009 e maio de 2010. Desta forma, procura-se verificar o comportamento deste grupo de aprendentes na representação gráfica das sibilantes, atendendo à LM e ao nível de proficiência em que os aprendentes estão inseridos. Esta análise permitir-nos á confirmar as conclusões de Leiria (2006: 246), segundo a qual “também a nível da ortografia, quanto mais afastada é a L1 menos ela interfere na L2”, pois os aprendentes de LM espanhola são os que produzem mais desvios e os aprendentes de LM chinesa menos. Permitir-nos-á, ainda, verificar que é na posição de ataque silábico e no nível A2 e A2+ que se concentra a maioria dos desvios. Finalmente, poderemos ainda concluir que a representação gráfica das sibilantes apicodentais, com destaque para a [-voz], oferece mais dúvidas do que a das palatais, sendo que a palatal [-voz] é aquela que gera menos dificuldades. Da análise dos dados recolhidos, conclui se que: i) os desvios surgem por desconhecimento das estruturas fonológicas e por causa da opacidade das relações entre grafemas e fonemas da LA; ii) ao contrário do esperado, só pontualmente os aprendentes recorrem ao conhecimento linguístico que têm da sua própria LM para os orientar na representação gráfica das sibilantes.
Given the non-linear relationship between Portuguese sibilant phonemes and the graphemes used to represent them, the purpose of this study is to identify the main difficulties experienced by non-native learners and to verify possible native language (NL) transfer effects. The description of the complex relationships between sibilant phonemes and graphemes, both in the target language (TL) and in each of the students' NL (Spanish, Italian, German and Chinese), was followed by the analysis of relevant spelling errors found in texts produced by subjects. These were students of Portuguese as a Foreign Language (PFL), who attended, between May 2009 and May 2010, different levels (A1 to C1) of the University of Coimbra PFL courses. Data was thus analysed according to students' NL and their level of TL proficiency. Our study confirms Leiria's conclusions (2006: 246), according to which "also in what regards orthography, the more distant the L1 is the less it interferes with the L2", since we observed more errors in texts written by Spanish students than in those produced by Chinese students. Our study also reveals that most of the relevant misrepresentations occur in syllable onset position and are produced by A2/A2+ level students. Furthermore, the written representation of the alveolar sibilants, especially if [-voiced], is more challenging for PFL learners than that of the palatal consonant. The palatal [- voiced] segment is the one that generated less difficulties. From the analysis of the collected data we can conclude that: i) errors arise from subjects' non-target representations of the TL phonological structures and are also attributable to the opacity of the relationships between phonemes and graphemes in the TL; ii) contrary to the initial hypothesis, only occasionally did the students turn to their own NL in order to guide them in the written representation of the TL sibilants.

The dissertation describes a change in apparent time in the pronunciation of sibilants in the consonant cluster /str/. The empirical investigation of this feature in interviews from Austin shows a lower frequency profile for the sibilant in this cluster when compared to other sibilant productions. This acoustic characterization is indicative of the retraction of the tongue in the production of the sibilant. The further sociophonetic investigation provides statistical evidence for a change in apparent time that is affected mostly by sibilant duration and ethnic identification of the speaker. Additional qualitative analyses further support the interpretation of this process as a change from below.

This thesis studies the role of contrast distinctiveness in sound changes. Perceptual experiments are conducted to investigate the distinctiveness between Mandarin sibilants (dental s ts ts{02B0}, palatal {0255} t{0255} t{0255}{02B0}, and retroflex {0282} t{0282} t{0282}{02B0}). The experiment results are then adopted to account for the diachronic developments of Mandarin sibilants and the apical vowels {027F}, {0285} (syllabic approximants homorganic to the preceding dental/retroflex sibilants).
In Mandarin CV syllables, the apical vowels {027F}, {0285} are in complementary distribution with the vowel i: {027F} follows the dental s ts ts{02B0}; {0285} follows the retroflex {0282} t{0282} t{0282}{02B0}h (and the approximant {0279}); i follows the palatal {0255} t{0255} t{0255}{02B0} and other consonants. As reconstructed in previous studies, this distribution was developed from a series of sound changes since Middle Chinese (MC, circa the 7th century), when MC had dental, palatal, and retroflex sibilants but no apical vowels. Part of MC syllables, whose onsets were these sibilants, merged their rimes into -i. In these syllables, MC palatals merged into MC retroflexes, while the rimes -i developed into / after the dental/retroflex sibilants. In a later stage, palatal sibilants re-emerged before the vowel i in the palatalization of dental sibilants and velar obstruents. Through these developments came Mandarin 'sibilant+i/{027F}/{0285}' syllables. In these changes, a diachronic pattern can be observed, i.e. the avoidance of contrastive dental vs. palatal sibilants before the vowel i. This thesis argues that, this pattern can be attributed to the tendency for human languages to enhance contrast distinctiveness, in addition to the articulatory accounts given in previous studies.
Conducting two experiments, this thesis examines the perceptual distinctiveness between Mandarin sibilants, in isolation and in CV sequences. The results generally support the claim that apical {027F} and {0285} enhance the distinctiveness between the sibilants. Applying these results to the diachronic sound changes, this thesis argues that speech perception has interacted with articulation to ensure contrast distinctiveness of the sound system.
This thesis provides experimental evidence for sibilant distinction, and supplies a case study on diachronic sound changes, where speech perception and articulation interacted to achieve contrast distinctiveness.
本文通過對普通話音[si字形為: '口'在左, '絲'在右] (齒音 s ts ts{02B0}、齶音{0255} t{0255} t{0255}{02B0}和捲舌音 {0282} t{0282} t{0282}{02B0})的聽覺實驗研究，探討對比清晰性 (contrast distinctiveness)在歷時語音變化中的作用，用聽覺實驗的結果來解釋普通話[si字形為: '口'在左, '絲'在右]音和舌尖元音 {027F}, {0285} (注:與齒音、捲舌音同部位的元音 )的歷史發展。
在普通話 CV音節中，舌尖元音 {027F}, {0285} 和前高元音 i呈現互補分佈：舌尖元音{027F}出現在齒音 s ts ts{02B0}後面，舌尖元音{0285} 出現在捲舌音{0282} t{0282} t{0282}{02B0} (以及捲舌通音 {0279})後面，前高元音 i出現在齶音 {0255} t{0255} t{0255}{02B0}和其他輔音後面。根據以往的漢語歷史音韻研究，這個互補分佈是從漢語中古音 (Middle Chinese)經歷一系列語音變化發展而來。部分以中古音的齒音、齶音、捲舌音為首音(onset)的音節中，原本不同的韻 (rime)合併為 -i，並最終發展為普通話中的"[si字形為: '口'在左, '絲'在右]音 +i{027F}/{0285}音節。從中古音開始，這些音節中，齶音併入捲舌音，同時一部分齒音和捲舌音後面的 -i韻音變為舌尖元音。在接下來的發展階段中，軟齶阻塞音 (velar obstruents)和齒音都在元音 -i的前面齶化爲 {0255} t{0255} t{0255}{02B0}。在這些歷時音變中，有一個的規律的模式，即：在元音-i之前，齒音與齶音不形成對立。本文認爲，除去前人研究中的語音發音作用之外，這個發展模式也是由語音系統傾向於清晰對立的趨勢造成的。
通過聽覺實驗，本文研究了普通話[si字形為: '口'在左, '絲'在右]音(單獨音段和 CV音節)之間的聽覺對比清晰度。實驗結果總體上支持舌尖元音加強了普通話音間的對比清晰度的觀點，並發現不同類型的音之間顯示出不同的對比清晰程度。本文將這些實驗結果應用於歷時音變的分析，認爲聽覺感知和言語發音相互作用，保證了歷時音變中語音系統的對比清晰性。
本文希望能夠為對比清晰度的研究提供聽覺實驗依據，並為對比清晰性在歷時音變中的作用和聽覺與發音的交互提供一個個案研究。
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Li, Mingxing.
"Dec., 2011."
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 110-120).
Abstracts in English and Chinese; appendixes includes Chinese.
Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1
Chapter 1.1 --- Mandarin sibilants and apical vowels --- p.2
Chapter 1.2 --- The reconstructed historical development --- p.3
Chapter 1.3 --- The role of contrast distinctiveness in sound change --- p.5
Chapter 1.4 --- The contents of this thesis --- p.6
Chapter 2 --- Previous studies on Mandarin sibilants and apical vowels --- p.7
Chapter 2.1 --- The phonetics of sibilants and apical vowels --- p.7
Chapter 2.1.1 --- Sibilants --- p.7
Chapter 2.1.1.1 --- Articulation --- p.7
Chapter 2.1.1.2 --- Acoustic properties --- p.8
Chapter 2.1.2 --- Apical vowels --- p.8
Chapter 2.1.2.1 --- Articulation --- p.8
Chapter 2.1.2.2 --- Acoustic properties --- p.9
Chapter 2.1.2.3 --- The phonetic status of apical {027F}/{0285} --- p.9
Chapter 2.2 --- The phonology of apical vowels --- p.11
Chapter 2.2.1 --- Apical {027F},{0285} as underspecified and derived --- p.11
Chapter 2.2.2 --- Apical {027F} {0285} as a phoneme different from the vowel i --- p.13
Chapter 2.2.3 --- Apical {027F}, {0285} and the vowel i as in one phoneme --- p.14
Chapter 2.3 --- Sibilants and apicals: The reconstructed diachrony --- p.15
Chapter 2.3.1 --- The historical development: An overview --- p.15
Chapter 2.3.1.1 --- The sibilants in Middle Chinese --- p.15
Chapter 2.3.1.2 --- The MC syllables developing into Mandarin 'sibilant+{027F}/i/{0285}' --- p.16
Chapter 2.3.1.3 --- The rime merge into -i --- p.17
Chapter 2.3.1.4 --- The three sound changes --- p.18
Chapter 2.3.2 --- Palatal Retroflexion --- p.19
Chapter 2.3.3 --- Apical vowel formation --- p.21
Chapter 2.3.3.1 --- The formation of apical vowels --- p.21
Chapter 2.3.3.2 --- Apical vowels as place assimilation --- p.22
Chapter 2.3.3.3 --- Apical vowels as loss of rime -i --- p.24
Chapter 2.3.4 --- Dental and velar palatalization --- p.25
Chapter 2.3.4.1 --- Velarpalatalization as articulatory assimilation --- p.26
Chapter 2.3.4.2 --- Dental palatalization as articulatory assimilation --- p.27
Chapter 2.3.5 --- A summary of the sound changes --- p.28
Chapter 2.4 --- A summary --- p.29
Chapter 3 --- Contrast distinctiveness in sound changes --- p.30
Chapter 3.1 --- Thediachronic pattern from MC to Mandarin --- p.30
Chapter 3.1.1 --- Thedisfavor on dental vs. palatal sibilants --- p.30
Chapter 3.1.2 --- Typologyofdentalvs.palatalsibilantsamong Chinesedialects --- p.31
Chapter 3.2 --- Distinctiveness of contrast between Mandarin sibilants --- p.33
Chapter 3.2.1 --- Dental vs. palatal sibilants: Distinctiveness of contrast --- p.33
Chapter 3.2.2 --- Distinctiveness of contrast in phonology --- p.35
Chapter 3.2.2.1 --- Distinctiveness between segments --- p.35
Chapter 3.2.2.2 --- Distinctiveness in phonotactics --- p.36
Chapter 3.2.2.3 --- Distinctiveness in phonological alternation --- p.36
Chapter 3.2.3 --- Distinctiveness between Mandarin sibilants --- p.37
Chapter 3.3 --- Contrast distinctiveness in the diachrony: The hypotheses --- p.38
Chapter 3.3.1 --- Palatal Retroflexion --- p.39
Chapter 3.3.2 --- Contrast distinctiveness in apical vowel formation --- p.40
Chapter 3.3.2.1 --- Apical vowels conditioned by contrast --- p.41
Chapter 3.3.2.2 --- Dentals vs. retroflexes: Distinctiveness before the vowel i --- p.43
Chapter 3.3.2.3 --- Contrastive dentalsvs. retroflexes before the vowel i --- p.45
Chapter 3.3.2.4 --- More on place assimilation --- p.45
Chapter 3.3.3 --- Contrast distinctiveness in dental palatalization --- p.46
Chapter 3.3.3.1 --- Contrast distinctiveness in Dental Palatalization --- p.47
Chapter 3.3.3.2 --- Distinctiveness vs. assimilatory palatalization --- p.48
Chapter 3.3.3.3 --- Implicational relation and dental/palatal distinctiveness --- p.49
Chapter 3.4 --- A summary --- p.50
Chapter 4 --- Distinctiveness between sibilants: The perceptual experiments --- p.51
Chapter 4.1 --- Distinctiveness between sounds: Previous experiments --- p.51
Chapter 4.1.1 --- Previous studies on consonant distinctiveness --- p.51
Chapter 4.1.2 --- Perceptuality of Mandarin sibilants --- p.52
Chapter 4.2 --- Experiment I: Distinctiveness between sibilants --- p.53
Chapter 4.2.1 --- Objective --- p.53
Chapter 4.2.2 --- Method --- p.53
Chapter 4.2.2.1 --- Stimuli --- p.53
Chapter 4.2.2.2 --- Subjects --- p.55
Chapter 4.2.2.3 --- Procedure --- p.55
Chapter 4.2.3 --- Results --- p.55
Chapter 4.2.3.1 --- The effect of stimuli order --- p.56
Chapter 4.2.3.2 --- Distinctiveness between sibilants --- p.56
Chapter 4.3 --- Experiment II: Distinctiveness between 'sibilant+i' sequences --- p.58
Chapter 4.3.1 --- Objective --- p.58
Chapter 4.3.2 --- Method --- p.59
Chapter 4.3.2.1 --- Stimuli --- p.59
Chapter 4.3.2.2 --- Subjects --- p.61
Chapter 4.3.2.3 --- Procedure --- p.61
Chapter 4.3.3 --- The results --- p.61
Chapter 4.3.3.1 --- The presentation order --- p.61
Chapter 4.3.3.2 --- ‘Sibilant+i' sequences --- p.63
Chapter 4.3.3.3 --- ‘Sibilant+i' pairs vs. isolated sibilant pairs --- p.64
Chapter 4.3.3.4 --- ‘Sibilant+{027F}/i/{0285}' sequences --- p.64
Chapter 4.3.3.5 --- ‘Sibilant+i’ pairs vs. ‘sibilant+{027F}/i/{0285}’ pairs --- p.65
Chapter 4.4 --- Summarizing the experimental results --- p.66
Chapter 4.4.1 --- The four hypotheses --- p.66
Chapter 4.4.2 --- Distinctiveness between different types of stimuli --- p.67
Chapter 5 --- Contrast distinctiveness and articulation in sound change --- p.68
Chapter 5.1 --- Contrast distinctiveness in Mandarin diachrony --- p.68
Chapter 5.1.1 --- Palatal Retroflexion --- p.68
Chapter 5.1.2 --- Apical Vowel Formation --- p.69
Chapter 5.1.2.1 --- Apical {027F}/{0285} as induced by contrast distinctiveness --- p.69
Chapter 5.1.2.2 --- Apical {027F}/{0285} as enhancement of dental retroflex contrast --- p.70
Chapter 5.1.3 --- Dental palatalization --- p.70
Chapter 5.2 --- Sound changes triggered by contrast distinctiveness --- p.72
Chapter 5.2.1 --- Enhancement of distinctiveness through merge --- p.72
Chapter 5.2.2 --- Sacrifice of contrast to avoid less distinctiveness --- p.73
Chapter 5.2.3 --- Vowel allophony for consonant distinctiveness --- p.73
Chapter 5.3 --- The interaction of speech perception and articulation --- p.74
Chapter 5.4 --- A summary --- p.76
Chapter 6 --- Conclusions --- p.77
Chapter 6.1 --- A summary of the contents --- p.77
Chapter 6.2 --- Limitations and directions of future research --- p.78
Chapter Appendix I: --- Development of sibilants and apical vowels --- p.80
Chapter Appendix II: --- Typology of apical vowels in 124 Chinese dialects: A summary --- p.81
Chapter Appendix III: --- Typology of apical vowels in 124 Chinese dialects: Full list --- p.83
Chapter Appendix IV: --- Waveforms and spectrograms of the stimuli --- p.95
Chapter Appendix V: --- List of stimuli pairs in the record --- p.103
Chapter Appendix VI: --- Marking sheet for the experiments --- p.104
References --- p.110

Dissertação de Mestrado em Português como Língua Estrangeira e Língua Segunda (PLELS) apresentada à Faculdade de Letras
Tendo por base o contexto multilinguístico e de contacto de línguas em Timor-Leste, onde o português assume um papel de língua cooficial e de ensino, a par do tétum, mas se afigura, ainda assim, como língua não materna para a maioria da população, este estudo pretende proceder à análise das dificuldades sentidas por aprendentes do Ensino Superior timorense na representação gráfica das sibilantes. Além disso, este trabalho pretende, ainda, indicar as possibilidades descritivas e interpretativas que poderão estar na base dos desvios apresentados, tendo se para esse efeito considerado também as diferentes posições silábicas em que as consoantes sibilantes ocorrem. Partindo da descrição das relações entre fonemas e grafemas sibilantes quer na língua alvo, quer no tétum, procede-se, então, à análise dos desvios recolhidos de um conjunto de textos produzidos por um grupo de estudantes do Ensino Superior timorense que frequentam a Licenciatura em Formação de Professores dos 1.º e 2.º Ciclos do Ensino Básico no INFORDEPE.
Bearing in mind language contact and the multilingual setting in East Timor, where Portuguese, a non native language of the majority of the population, is one of the co-official languages of the country, alongside with Tetun, the present study aims at analysing the difficulties encountered by Timorese Higher Education students regarding the orthographic representations of sibilants. This study also aims at identifying descriptive and interpretative possibilities that might explain the orthographic errors presented by learners, considering, to this effect, the different syllabic positions in which the sibilants occur. Starting with the description of the relationships between sibilant phonemes and graphemes both in the target language and in Tetun, we then analyse the errors collected from a corpus of texts written by a group of Higher Education students who attend the Degree in Teacher Education of the 1st and 2nd Cycles of Basic Education at the INFORDEPE.

L'asthme est une maladie inflammatoire chronique des voies respiratoires. Il se manifeste par des crises de dyspnée sifflantes durant lesquels les sons émis sont appelés sibilants. Ces crises sont souvent nocturnes et réversibles, spontanément ou sous l'effet du traitement. Les sibilants caractérisant l'asthme se superposent aux sons respiratoires normaux et apparaissent le plus souvent à l'expiration. Notre projet de recherche consiste à réaliser un détecteur automatique des sibilants. Cette problématique sera traitée comme un processus de reconnaissance de formes. Le processus de reconnaissance de formes se compose de deux modules indissociables : 1) l'extraction des caractéristiques des signaux, et 2) la modélisation permettant la discrimination des classes. Des étapes de prétraitement ou de post traitement des données peuvent s'ajouter pour perfectionner le système. Les performances du système de reconnaissance dépendent des combinaisons des types de modules adoptés dans ce système. Pour ce projet, nous avons testé plusieurs combinaisons de techniques d'extraction des caractéristiques et de modélisation. Nous avons aussi analysé l'effet du prétraitement et du post traitement des données. Les résultats ont été comparés à l'aide de Faire sous la courbe (AUC - Area Under Curve) de tracés de type (ROC - Receiver Operating Characteristic). Le meilleur résultat a été obtenu en utilisant, comme caractéristiques, 16 coefficients de type (MFCC - Mel Frequency Cepstrum Coefficients) extraits d'un signal échantillonné à 6000 Hz sur des segments du signal sonore de 1024 échantillons. Ces paramètres ont été modélisés par la technique (GMM - Gaussian Mixture Model) h 8 regroupements en utilisant des matrices de covariance de type diagonale. Aucun prétraitement, effectué sur les paramètres, ne s'est avéré efficace. Par contre, une technique de post traitement, effectuée sur les mesures obtenues lors de l'étape de classification, s'est avérée bénéfique.

The beet-boot and said-shed continua were created in 2001. Each continuum has 13 stimuli and there are a total of four continua (one each of beet-boot and said-shed for a female and a male speaker). There are two kinds of files in this archive, parameter and audio. The parameter files have the .doc extension, but they are text files that serve as input to a Klatt synthesizer rather than Microsoft Word files. The audio files are Microsoft .wav files that have the .wav extension.
NIDCD (No. DC003007)

碩士
國立交通大學
外國語文學系外國文學與語言學碩士班
107
Due to the lack of the retroflex sounds in Min, Min-Mandarin bilingual speakers in Taiwan often show alveolar-retroflex sibilant merger. This thesis explored the nature of sibilant merger implemented by young bilingual speakers in Taiwan using varying experimental paradigms. A (non-primed) regular production study was conducted to establish the patterns of sibilant production in read speech. Forty young Taiwan Mandarin speakers were recruited according to their dominant languages (20 Taiwanese-fluent vs. 20 Taiwanese-weak speakers) and read disyllabic words in Chinese characters containing target sibilants in word-initial position in a frame sentence. Based on whether speakers carried clear retroflexes, they were divided into three groups: Merger (11F/10M), Intermediate (3F/4M), and Contrast (6F/6M) groups. The results of the acoustic analyses were consistent with the perceptual judgment and showed a gradient increase in the distance between the two sibilants (∆CoG) from the Merger to the Intermediate, and to the Contrast group. There were many sibilant merger speakers in the TW-weak group (8 out of 20 speakers) as well as in the TW-fluent one (13 out of 20 speakers), indicating that sibilant merger is no longer regionally bound and has spread to a wider speech community in Taiwan. Gender effects were not obvious, but within Merger speakers, male speakers tended to merge more than female speakers. In a subsequent backward masked priming study, stimuli contained primes and targets of minimal pairs as well as of homophone pairs. For the homophone pair condition, the target words were paired with congruent primes (e.g. /tʂan51li51/ ‘stand still’ ⎼ /tʂan51li51/ ‘combat capability’; /si55yi35/ ‘(TV)show host’ ⎼ /si55yi35/ ‘personal relationship’). For the minimal pair condition, targets were coupled with incongruent primes (e.g. /tsi51li51/ ‘self-reliance’ ⎼ /tʂi51li51/ ‘Chile’; /ʂan55jiao214/ ‘hillside’ ⎼ /san55jiao214/ ‘triangle’), differing in the place of articulation of the target sibilants. The results showed that all three groups showed large enhancement of the alveolar-retroflex contrasts, compared to the production in read speech. In particular, the male merger speakers showed large contrast enhancement only in the minimal pair condition. They showed dissimilation of the sibilant targets from the incongruent primes; alveolars become more alveolarized (higher CoG) when primed with retroflexes, whereas retroflexes become more retroflexed (lower CoG) when primed with alveolars. These result are consistent with previous studies showing phonological neighborhood density effects in speech processing (e.g. Baese-Berk and Goldrick 2009). Such phonological effects in on-line word processing were obtained in the current study wherein all the visual stimuli in Chinese characters lack direct phonological information. Moreover, the merger speakers of both genders exhibited a case of ‘near merger’ in read speech; they made small but consistent differences of the two sounds in production, but the small differences were not perceivable by the listeners (Yu 2007). This covert contrast may be enhanced under certain conditions such as the priming experiment containing minimal pairs as in this study. The results suggest that the speakers showing alveolar-retroflex near merger, in fact, have fully distinct representations of the contrasting sibilants which may be implemented explicitly when primed with directly contrasting sounds. In a regular read speech, however, the contrast may remain covert – being realized as near merger – presumably due to the social prestige associated with non-full-retroflexion for the retroflex sibilants in Taiwan. The current study contributes to the literature a novel dataset from Mandarin sibilants based on both reading and priming experiments.

碩士
國立臺灣大學
語言學研究所
97
The present study investigated the realizations of voiceless retroflex and dental sibilants in Taiwan Mandarin. Past studies on this issue are mainly of two tracks – sociolinguistic studies on spontaneous speech and acoustic studies on experimental data. In this study we would like to examine sibilant realizations in spontaneous speech from the acoustic perspective. Fifteen speakers of both genders from two regions, Taipei and Kaohsiung, were recruited and each speaker contributed 30-minute-long speech data. All retroflex and dental sibilant tokens were labeled, and the centroid frequency of each sibilant was measured to determine its realization. Effects of four factors were looked into, including two social factors, region and gender, and two linguistic factors, prosodic prominence and word class. Results showed that both region and gender played determinant roles. Females generally made larger sibilant contrasts than males, but inconsistency was observed for cross-regional comparisons. While Taipei females distinguished sibilants better than Kaohsiung females, the opposite was observed for male speakers. As for the effects of linguistic factors, it was also found that sibilant realizations in Taiwan Mandarin were indeed subject to both prosodic prominence and word class. In particular, the strengthening effect was shown in linguistically prominent conditions – prosodically prominent and content word conditions, in which speakers tended to make greater sibilant distinctions. Our results further implicated distinctive functions for the processes of retroflexion and dentalization in Taiwan Mandarin. Retroflexion characterized speaker group discrepancies, while dentalization reflected different levels of linguistic prominence. In this regard, degrees of retroflexion were sensitive to extra-linguistic differences, whereas degrees of dentalization were sensitive to language-internal categorization.

Como todos sabemos, a fala é um dos meios de comunicação mais importante. Por vezes nos primeiros anos de vida das crianças podem surgir desvios na fala que poderão prejudicar a sua integração no seu meio (ex: escola). Quando isso acontece pode ser essencial frequentar terapia da fala para atenuar esses desvios. Durante as sessões de terapia da fala, as crianças podem apresentar dificuldade em manter o foco nas atividades de terapia, já que muitas consistem em exercícios repetitivos, que os podem tornar monótonos. Este fator pode ser particularmente critico quando as crianças, devido a idade, não entenderem a importância destes treinos. Devido a isso, é essencial criar formas de manter o interesse da criança no seu treino. Para chegar a esse objetivo, muitos terapeutas da fala optam por criar jogos que englobem principalmente a componente terapêutica e sejam suficientemente apelativos para manter o foco da criança no treino. Nesta dissertação proponho um jogo terapêutico para crianças com sigmatismo que se foca na produção das sibilantes. Este jogo tem como objetivo ser suficientemente apelativo para que as crianças se sintam motivadas a treinar, tanto nas sessões de terapia como fora delas e é uma contribuição para a resolução do problema do sigmatismo das crianças. Para resolver estas dificuldades, o jogo que criei é para sistema Android, o que permite ser jogado em qualquer local. O canhão do jogo é controlado pela voz da criança, para que esta treine as palavras com sons sibilantes. Para que a criança se sinta motivada a melhorar o seu desempenho, na pronunciação das palavras, quando um nível acaba, a criança é recompensada com pontos de acordo com o seu desempenho. Os pontos são usados para desbloquear novas personagens, o que vai ajudar a motivar a criança a jogar mais tempo. Por fim, existe um modo de treino que permite o terapeuta adaptar o jogo às dificuldades de cada criança.
As we all know, speech is one of the most important means of communication. Sometimes in the children’s first years of life, speech deviations may appear that may impair their integration in their environment (eg: school). When this happens, it may be essential to attend speech therapy to mitigate these deviations. During speech therapy sessions, children may find it difficult to stay focused on ther apy activities, as many consist of repetitive exercises, which can make them monotonous. This factor can be particularly critical when children, due to their age, do not understand the importance of these training. Because of this, it is essential to create ways to keep the child’s interest in their training. To reach this goal, many speech therapists choose to cre ate games that mainly include the therapeutic component and are sufficiently appealing to keep the child’s focus on training. In this dissertation I propose a therapeutic game for children with sigmatism that fo cuses on the production of wheezers. This game aims to be appealing enough for children to feel motivated to train, both in therapy sessions and outside, and is a contribution to solving the problem of children’s sigmatism. To solve these difficulties, the game I created is for the Android system, which allows it to be played anywhere. The cannon in the game is controlled by the child’s voice, so that the child trains words with hissing sounds. In order for the child to feel motivated to improve their performance, in the pronunciation of words, when a level ends, the child is rewarded with points according to their performance. Points are used to unlock new characters, which will help motivate the child to play longer. Finally, there is a training mode that allows the therapist to adapt the game to the difficulties of each child.

Celem przeprowadzonych badań było określenie frekwencji oraz wyjaśnienie przyczyn modyfikowania cech fonetycznych sybilantów dziąsłowo-palatalnych przez studentów UW. Badania były trzyetapowe i obejmowały ocenę wpływu uwarunkowań: 1) socjolingwistycznych, 2) wewnątrzjęzykowych, 3) indywidualnych (biologicznych) na frekwencję występowania nieprawidłowości wymowy badanych spółgłosek. Pierwszy etap stanowiło przesiewowe badanie artykulacji 770 studentów UW, połączone z ankietą socjalną zawierającą pytania o płeć, wiek, region pochodzenia, wielkość ośrodka pochodzenia, kierunek studiów, znajomość języków obcych oraz wykształcenie rodziców. Podczas badania artykulacji oceniano wymowę 20 kolejnych spółgłosek dziąsłowo-palatalnych w swobodnej wypowiedzi oraz 20 wybranych spółgłosek w tekście czytanym. Następnie liczba zniekształconych sybilantów [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ] została zestawiona z danymi socjalnymi. W drugiej części badań wzięło udział 60 osób z tendencją do nienormatywnej wymowy spółgłosek [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ]. Badani odczytywali listę zdań z nagromadzeniem sybilantów dziąsłowo-palatalnych. Przeanalizowano wpływ rodzaju głoski, kontekstu fonetycznego oraz miejsca w wyrazie i frazie na prawidłowość realizacji badanych spółgłosek. Trzeci etap stanowiło szczegółowe badanie logopedyczne 30 studentów dobranych ze względu na nasilenie tendencji do zniekształcania spółgłosek [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ]. Zbadano wpływ czynników anatomicznych, sprawności aparatu artykulacyjnego, prawidłowości przebiegu czynności prymarnych, sprawności realizacji połączeń głosek, percepcji i samoświadomości wymowy oraz poprawności artykulacji pozostałych głosek języka polskiego na realizację sybilantów dziąsłowo-palatalnych. Badanie ujawniło duże rozpowszechnienie tendencji do zniekształcania sybilantów [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ] wśród studentów UW. W mowie spontanicznej 87% badanych odnotowano co najmniej jedną nieprawidłową realizację (na 20 wymówień). Nasilenie nieprawidłowości w wymowie poszczególnych studentów było jednak bardzo zróżnicowane, liczba zdeformowanych dźwięków wahała się od 1 do 18. Dużo mniej deformacji wystąpiło w tekście czytanym, co świadczy o zdolności większości badanych do częściowego kontrolowania realizacji. Analiza audytywna pozwoliła wyodrębnić trzy typy zaburzonej wymowy [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ] – spółgłoski percepcyjnie zbliżone do [sʲ], [zʲ], [t͡sʲ], [d͡zʲ], bliskie [ʃʲ], [ʒʲ], [t͡ʃʲ], [d͡ʒʲ] oraz realizacje odsłuchowo niemal tożsame z [s], [z], [t͡s], [d͡z]. Dystrybucja poszczególnych wariantów była istotnie związana z płcią badanego – u kobiet dominował typ [sʲ], [zʲ], [t͡sʲ], [d͡zʲ], u mężczyzn [ʃʲ], [ʒʲ], [t͡ʃʲ], [d͡ʒʲ]. Analiza uwarunkowań socjolingwistycznych ujawniła istotną statystycznie zależność liczby zniekształconych sybilantów od płci, wieku, wielkości ośrodka pochodzenia oraz poziomu znajomości języków obcych badanych studentów. Wśród wewnątrzjęzykowych uwarunkowań częstotliwości zniekształceń istotne statystycznie okazały się: dźwięczność głoski (sybilanty bezdźwięczne były deformowane częściej), pozycja w wyrazie (zaburzeniom ulegały wyraźnie łatwiej spółgłoski w wygłosie) oraz sąsiedztwo samogłoskowe (mniej zniekształconych sybilantów zanotowano przed samogłoskami wysokimi – [i], [u]). Badanie logopedyczne ujawniło silne oddziaływanie czynników biologicznych na prawidłowość wymowy [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ]. Osoby z większą liczbą nieprawidłowości w budowie anatomicznej narządów mowy oraz obniżoną sprawnością aparatu artykulacyjnego popełniały istotnie więcej zniekształceń w wymowie badanych sybilantów. Porównanie wyników trzech części przeprowadzonego badania wykazało, że modyfikowanie wymowy sybilantów dziąsłowo-palatalnych przez studentów UW ma wyraźne podłoże anatomiczno-funkcjonalne, jednak istotny wpływ na nasilenie tendencji do nienormatywnej realizacji [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ] mają również czynniki społeczno-kulturowe.
The research aimed at determining the frequency and explaining the reasons behind modifications of the phonetic features of alveolo-palatal sibilants by students of the University of Warsaw. The study included an assessment of the impact conditions: 1) sociolinguistic, 2) intra-linguistic and 3) individual (biological) have on the frequency incorrect pronunciation of the tested consonants occurred among the students. In the first stage, articulation screening was combined with a social survey among 770 students. The survey contained questions about gender, age, region of origin, size of the center of origin, field of study, knowledge of foreign languages and parents' education. Articulation screening assessed 20 subsequent alveolo-palatal sibilants in spontaneous speech and 20 selected consonants in reading. Afterwards, the number of incorrect realizations was collated with the social data. The second part of the study involved 60 people with a tendency to non-normative pronunciation of [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ]. Respondents read a list of sentences with an accumulation of alveolo-palatal sibilants. The next part consisted in an analysis of the influence the type of sound, the phonetic context and the place of the consonant in a word and phrase have on the correct realization of the studied consonants. The third stage of the study was a detailed speech therapy assessment of 30 students. The influence of anatomical factors, efficiency of the articulation apparatus, correctness of primary functions, speech efficiency, pronunciation perception and self-awareness as well as correct pronunciation of other sounds was examined in the context of the students' tendency to modify the consonants [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ]. The study revealed the tendency to deform the sibilants [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ] proves highly prevalent among students. In spontaneous speech, 87% of the respondents reported at last one incorrect realization (out of 20). However, the severity of abnormalities in the pronunciation presented by individual students varied widely, with the number of deformed sounds ranging from 1 to 18. Deformations occurred far less frequently in the read text, which proves the majority of respondents prove able to partially control sibilant realization. Auditory analysis allowed to distinguish three types of deformed [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ] pronunciation: perceptually close to [sʲ], [zʲ], [t͡sʲ], [d͡zʲ], to [ʃʲ], [ʒʲ], [t͡ʃʲ], [d͡ʒʲ] and almost identical to [s], [z], [t͡s], [d͡z]. Distribution of individual variants was significantly related to the sex. The type [sʲ], [zʲ], [t͡sʲ], [d͡zʲ] dominated among women whereas the type [ʃʲ], [ʒʲ], [t͡ʃʲ], [d͡ʒʲ] proved more frequent among men. The analysis of sociolinguistic determinants revealed a statistically significant correlation between the number of deformed sibilants and the sex, age, size of the center of origin and the level of knowledge of foreign languages among the surveyed students. Among intra-linguistic conditions of deformation frequency, the following proved to be significant: voicing (voiceless sibilants were deformed often), position in the word (consonants in the onset of the word were modified more easily) and adjacent vowel (less deformed sibilants were noted before high vowels). The speech therapy examination revealed biological factors proved to have a strong influence on the correctness of [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ]. People with a greater number of anomalies of their speech organ anatomy and reduced efficiency of the articulation apparatus made significantly more mistakes in the pronunciation of the examined sibilants. The comparison between the results of the three parts of the study showed that while the modified pronunciation of alveolo-palatal sibilants presented by students has a clear anatomical and functional background, socio-cultural factors also have a significant impact on the severity of the tendency to abnormal realization of [ɕ], [ʑ], [t͡ɕ], [d͡ʑ].