Four studies have yielded eight variables that are related to Greenberg and Jenkins' (1964) concept of language distance. These values for each of the 24 CCVCs of Greenberg and Jenkins' (1964) list 1 were correlated. The correlations were subjected to a principal components analysis with a varimax rotation. Three factors that account for 96% of the variance are reported. These are: (1) the perception and production of speech sounds, (2) language distance, and (3) the effort involved in pronouncing sounds subvocally.
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References
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GreenbergJ. H., & JenkinsJ. J.Studies in the psychological correlates of the sound system of American English. Word, 1964, 20, 157–177.
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KoutstaalC. W., & SmithO. W.Relation of phonetic contrasts to Greenberg and Jenkins' S scale. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1969, 29, 187–190.
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SmithO. W.KoutstaalC. W., & KepkeA. N.Relation of language distance to learning to pronounce Greenberg and Jenkins' list 1 CCVCs. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1969, 29, 868–870.
