Consonant-vowel interactions in early phonological development

Abstract

Existing data suggest that consonant and vowel acquisition do not occur independently in young children, but instead interact during a period of normal phonological development. The purpose of this study was to assess consonant-vowel (CV) interactions in meaningful words, in particular to determine if labials were associated with central vowels, alveolars with front vowels, and velars with back vowels. A total of nine normally-developing children provided cross-sectional and longitudinal data for 18-, 21-, and 24-month age groups. Vowel inventories and frequencies of front, central, and back vowels following different consonantal places of articulation, without regard to accuracy, are reported. Accuracies as compared with the adult target and the frequency with which front, central, and back vowels were achieved within category in each consonantal context are also reported. Results did not provide support for a bilabial-central vowel association or for an alveolar-front vowel association. There was some evidence of an association between velars and back vowels. It is suggested that CV interactions may hold for only the earliest period of lexical acquisition and with differing strengths in individual phonological systems.