title: Variation in consonant cluster production by pediatric cochlear implant users.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To provide an account of variation in the production of consonant clusters by pediatric cochlear implant users.
  
  
  METHODS
  Productions of consonant clusters by pediatric cochlear implant users were analyzed for variation in number of segments, reduction patterns, and segmental substitutions within the framework of Optimality Theory.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A finite set of faithfulness and markedness constraints and variable constraint ranking can account for much of the variation in the production of consonant clusters by pediatric cochlear implant users.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Variation in consonant cluster production by pediatric cochlear implant users is not structurally random but subject to the same principles of phonological organization that govern other linguistic systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-5119, USA. schin@iupui.edu
authors.forename: Steven B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Chin
mesh_terms: D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D010700:Phonetics; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013068:Speech Production Measurement