Research on First Language Acquisition of Spanish Phonology

Abstract

Abstract This paper deals with research on acquisition of Spanish phonology by young children. The beginnings of this discipline are placed within the model of Generative Grammar, at the end of the 1960s. The two main areas of phonology are considered: on the one hand segments, and certain chronological sequences of segment acquisition, and on the other hand prosody, i.e. syllables, stress, intonation and rhythm. The most important issues of acquisition research are presented, including the relationship between perception and production, the role of prosody in acquisition, underlying representations, and the dependency of morphology on prosody. The main models of the field are also discussed, namely rules, parameters and constraints. The beginnings of morphological development and its dependence on phonology are briefly discussed as well. Finally, the acquisition of Spanish phonology in bilingual contexts is also described. The paper deals exclusively with normal first language acquisition, and does not refer to speech language impaired children nor to second language acquisition.