Some Phonological Acquisition Strategies Used by Two-Year-Olds

Abstract

Forty normal two-year-olds, seen at three-week intervals over a seven-month period, were observed to reduce their usage of three phonological processes: Fronting of velars, Stopping, and Final consonant de letion, to less than 10 percent of the possible occurrences. Their use of Gliding and Cluster reduction, which initially were more prevalent, also diminished but these processes still remain frequent. Use of all five processes varied in occurrence among classes of phonemes and in different phonetic environments. While some ordering of strategies could be identified in the progress toward suppression of the processes, there was a considerable amount of vacillation among strategies. Some generalizations can be drawn about the acquisition of phonemes and the use of processes by these young children.