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Individual variation and its relevance to a theory of phonological acquisition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

Heather Goad  and
David Ingram
Heather Goad
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
David Ingram*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
*
Department of Linguistics, The University of British Columbia, 6369–1866 Main Mall, Vancouver, B.C., CanadaV6T 1W5.
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Abstract

Stoel-Gammon & Cooper (1984) have recently presented phonological analyses in this journal of three children acquiring English. Their general conclusion is that the three children are each following their own unique pattern of acquisition. This paper is a response to that conclusion. We first point out that such research needs to distinguish different possible causes of variation. We then go on to criticize the method of analysis they used, arguing that it disposes the results towards individual variation. Next, we present an alternative analysis, using a different methodology, and show that the children's patterns of acquisition are actually relatively similar. Lastly, we conclude that both their and our results provide evidence for early phonological processing in opposition to the biological model presented in Locke (1983).

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , October 1987 , pp. 419 - 432
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

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