Phonological constraints on the emergence of two-word utterances

Considerable interest has been generated concerning linguistic and cognitive factors influencing the onset of early combinatorial speech. The present diary study provides evidence that, for some children, the transition between the single-word and two-word stages may be governed by phonological cons...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child language 1986-06, Vol.13 (2), p.209-218
Main Author: Donahue, Mavis
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Communication disorders
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Infant
Language
Language Development
Male
Phonetics
Production and perception of spoken language
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Semantics
Verbal Learning
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Summary:Considerable interest has been generated concerning linguistic and cognitive factors influencing the onset of early combinatorial speech. The present diary study provides evidence that, for some children, the transition between the single-word and two-word stages may be governed by phonological constraints. The presence of a phonological selection strategy and consonant harmony rule in one child's developing phonological system is described. Evidence is presented suggesting that this consonant harmony constraint operated across morpheme boundaries. This had the effect not only of delaying the onset of two-word utterances, but also of influencing the selection of words that could occur in word combinations. The implications of these findings for explaining individual variation in the transition from single-word to combinatorial speech are discussed.
ISSN:0305-0009
1469-7602
DOI:10.1017/S0305000900008011