Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T20:33:37.884Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Do children pick and choose? an examination of phonological selection and avoidance in early lexical acquisition*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Richard G. Schwartz  and
Laurence B. Leonard
Richard G. Schwartz
Affiliation:
Purdue University
Laurence B. Leonard
Affiliation:
Purdue University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The influence of phonological selection and avoidance upon early lexical acquisition was examined within an experimental paradigm. During 10 bi-weekly experimental sessions, 12 children (1;0.21 to 1;3.15 at the outset) were presented with 16 contrived lexical concepts, each consisting of a nonsense word and four unfamiliar referents. For each child, eight words involved phonological characteristics which had been evidenced in production (in) and eight had characteristics which had not been evidenced in production or selection (out), in words were produced imitatively and non-imitatively in greater numbers and in earlier sessions than OUT words, providing evidence for the influence of selection and avoidance. The degree of phonetic accuracy of these two types of productions did not differ. These findings are discussed in terms of a proposal concerning early phonological representation and acquisition.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 1982 , pp. 319 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1982

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

Portions of this paper were presented at the Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, 1979. Address for correspondence: Richard G. Schwartz, Audiology and Speech Science, Heavilon Hall, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907.

References

REFERENCES

Bush, C., Edwards, M., Luckau, J., Stoel, M., Macken, M. & Petersen, J.(1973).Onspecifying a system for transcribing consonants in child language: a working paper with examples from American English and Mexican Spanish. Unpublished paper, Stanford University, Department of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Dore, J., Franklin, M., Miller, R. & Ramer, A. (1976). Transitional phenomena in early language acquisition. JChLang 3. 13–28.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. A. (1976). Learning to pronounce: the earliest stages of phonological development in the child. PRCLD 11. 1–27.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. A. & Farwell, C. (1975). Words and sounds in early language acquisition: English initial consonants in the first 50 words. Lg 51. 419–39.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. A., Peizer, D. B. & Weeks, T. E. (1973). Model-and-replica phonological grammar of a child's first words. Lingua 31. 35–65.Google Scholar
Ingram, D. (1974). Phonological rules in young children. JChLang 1. 49–64.Google Scholar
Ingram, D. (1976). Phonological disability in children. New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Kiparsky, P. & Menn, L. (1977). On the acquisition of phonology. In MacNamara, J.. (ed.), xybLanguage learning and thought. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Klein, H. (1978). The relationship between perceptual strategies in learning the phonology of early lexical items. Unpublished dissertation, distributed by the Indiana University Linguistics Club, Bloomington.Google Scholar
Leonard, L., Fey, M. & Newhoff, M. (1981). Phonological considerations in children's early imitative and spontaneous speech. JPsycholingRes. 10. 123–33.Google Scholar
Leonard, L., Schwartz, R., Folger, M. & Wilcox, M. (1978). Some aspects of child phonology in imitative and spontaneous speech. JChLang 5. 403–17.Google Scholar
Leopold, W. (1949). Speech development of a bilingual child. Vols. 1–4. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press.Google Scholar
Menn, L. (1976). Pattern, control and contrast in beginning speech: a case study of word form and word function. Unpublished dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Menn, L. (in press). Towards a psychology of phonology: child phonology as a first step. Proceedings of the Third Annual Michigan State University Conference on Metatheory: Applications of Linguistic Theory in the Human Sciences.Google Scholar
Piaget, J. (1970). Piaget's theory. In Mussen, P.. (ed.), Carmichael's manual of child psychology. 3rd edition. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Rosch, E. (1977). Principles of categorization. In Rosch, E. & Lloyd, B.. (eds), Cognition and categorziation. Potomac, Md: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Schwartz, R. (forthcoming). Schemes and schemas: early phonological representation and acquisition.Google Scholar
Schwartz, R. & Leonard, L. (1980). Words, objects and actions in early lexical acquisition. PRCLD 19. 29–36.Google Scholar
Shibamoto, J. & Olmsted, D. (1978). Lexical and syllabic patterns in phonological acquisition. JChLang 5. 417–56.Google Scholar
Uzgiris, I. & Hunt, J. (1975). Assessment in infancy: ordinal scales of psychological development. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Warner, W., Meeker, M. & Eells, K. (1960). Social class in America: the evaluation of status. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Waterson, N. (1971). Child phonology: a prosodic view. JL 7. 179–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar