The articulation of consonant clusters in a foreign language in people with Down Syndrome

Research on second language learning in people with Down syndrome has thus far largely focused on aspects such as syntax and vocabulary in the L2 as opposed to pronunciation, with studies on the latter generally being limited to the speakers’ L1. The articulation of speech sounds in the L2 of people with Down syndrome therefore remains largely under-investigated. This study aims to elucidate potential phenomena concerning the pronunciation of consonant clusters in an L2. To this end, a case study was conducted on a 20-year-old L1 speaker of Austrian German with Down syndrome, whereby 8 German words and 12 English words containing word-initial clusters beginning with /s/ or /ʃ/ were elicited, transcribed and analysed acoustically. The aim of the study was to investigate how, if at all, the consonant clusters were simplified or complicated in their articulation, and how the pronunciation of words from the L1 compares with that of words from the L2. It was found that clusters were not readily reduced to singleton consonants, and that clusters were not only simplified, but also complicated in both the L1 and the L2 by means of plosive insertion. Intra-speaker consistency in this regard was shown to be relatively low.