Asymmetries in the acquisition of word-initial and word-final consonant clusters.
Previous work on the acquisition of consonant clusters points to a tendency for word-final clusters to be acquired before word-initial clusters (Templin, 1957; Lleó & Prinz, 1996; Levelt, Schiller & Levelt, 2000). This paper evaluates possible structural, morphological, frequency-based, and articulatory explanations for this asymmetry using a picture identification task with 12 English-speaking two-year-olds. The results show that word-final stop+/s/ clusters and nasal+/z/ clusters were produced much more accurately than word-initial /s/+stop clusters and /s/+nasal clusters. Neither structural nor frequency factors are able to account for these findings. Further analysis of longitudinal spontaneous production data from 2 children aged 1;1-2;6 provides little support for the role of morphology in explaining these results. We argue that an articulatory account best explains the asymmetries in the production of word-initial and word-final clusters.
Kirk
Cecilia
C
Department of Communication Disorders, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8020, New Zealand. cecilia.kirk@canterbury.ac.nz
Demuth
Katherine
K
D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D014705:Verbal Behavior