title: Factors Influencing Consonant Acquisition in Brazilian Portuguese-Speaking Children.
abstract: We sought to provide valid and reliable data on the acquisition of consonant sounds in speakers of Brazilian Portuguese.
  
  
  
  The sample comprised 733 typically developing monolingual speakers of Brazilian Portuguese (ages 3;0-8;11 [years;months]). The presence of surface speech error patterns, the revised percentage consonants correct, and the age of sound acquisition were evaluated using phonological assessment software. The normative values for these variables were reported using means and standard deviations.
  
  
  
  Age had a significant impact on phoneme production. Increasing age was generally associated with an increase in correct phoneme production, a reduction in error patterns, and an increase in scores on revised percentage consonants correct. Phonological error patterns persisted for a longer time in consonants and consonant clusters acquired later in development. The 2 youngest age groups differed from the remainder of the sample on the frequency of the following phonological patterns: cluster reduction, liquid gliding, fricative deletion-coda, and weak-syllable deletion. Performance was similar between groups starting at 5;0 years old.
  
  
  
  This study confirmed that nasal and stop consonants are acquired first, followed by fricatives and, finally, liquids. We suggest that future studies replicate our investigation in larger samples and younger age groups.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marizete Ilha
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Ceron
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marileda Barichello
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Gubiani
authors.affiliation: Faculdade Meridional - IMED, Passo Fundo, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Camila Rosa
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: de Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil.
authors.forename: Márcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Keske-Soares
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002663:Child Language; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010700:Phonetics; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012574:Schools; D012984:Software; D013068:Speech Production Measurement