The contribution of part-word phonological factors to the production of regular noun plural –s by children with and without specific language impairment

Abstract

Potential phonological contributions to the inconsistent use of regular noun plural – s were examined in two groups of children who were inconsistent in their use of plural – s: 26 children with specific language impairment and 26 younger, typically developing children with comparable mean lengths of utterance. The children’s degree of plural – s use in spontaneous speech was examined according to the stem-final phoneme type (vowel, consonant, or consonant cluster), and the type of context that immediately followed the obligatory context for – s in the child’s utterance (vowel-initial word, consonant-initial word). Both groups of children had greater inflection accuracy when noun stems ended in a vowel as compared to a consonant or in a consonant cluster.