Child acquisition in Morphology & Phonology linguistics

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1. CHILD
ACQUISITION OF
PHONOLOGY

2. CONTENTS
Infant’s speech perception01
Proto-words02
Problem-solving theoryChildren’s phonological
rules(processes)
04
CONTENT
S
03

3. 01
INFANT´S SPEECH
PERCEPTION
Voice Onset Time(VOT) refers to the time between the
beginning of the pronunciation of the word and the onset
of vibration of the vocal cords.

/b/ /d/Vibrating /p/ /t/ not Vibrating

4. Categorical perception:
A range of voice onset times are perceived as “ba” and a different
range of voice onset times are perceived as “pa”. This phenomenon is
called categorical perception.
Therefore, it is not a question of whether one
consonant has voice and one does not, But of
one where in the syllable the voice starts.
Voice starts as soon as tt /p/ has finished for
/pa/ , but starts as the consonant /b/ is
released for /ba/
Conclusion: Children are innately capable of
distinguishing the voice onset time.

5. 02
PROTO-WORDS
(FIRST WORD)
Definition: First words emerge before the end babble period and are often
idiosyncratic to the child. The vey first attempts, which are not really true
words at all are often sequences of sounds which children decide to use for
various communicative purposes.
Example
•General marker
[di:] That’s interesting
[diduba] stop that barking
•Same vowel of different tones
Mid-low to falling tone: Yes, we’re together.
•French
Low-pitched utterance: attempt to label things
mid-pitched: give or show things to someone
high pitched: demand

6. Exploitation of favarite sound e.g. a preference for
monosyllables over longer strings and stops (b, p, t, d, k,
g) over all other type of consonant production.
Problem Solving Theory
Problem-solving Theory (Cognitive Theory) :the child is seen
as a somewhat intelligent creature actively trying to solve a
difficult problem, i.e. how to talk people around her/him. 03
General strategies children may adopt to solve a problem:
Avoidance of difficult sounds or sound sequences, like
/l/,/r/ or /spr/, /st/.
Systematic replacement or less systematic rearrangement
of the sounds in the target word, such as /noun/ for down
and baT for baD.

7. Children´s Phonological Rules (Processes)
04
First Preference for CVCV1. final consonant omission early (process)
Noise
Back
Cat
Bib
ADULT
TARGET
Noiz
Bak
Kat
bib
CHILD’S
VERSION
Noi
Ba
Ka
Bi

8. 2.Consonant cluster reduction (sk, pl, str, etc.Spill
School
Bread
Adult target
Spil
Skul
Bred
Child's Version
pil/fil
kul
Bed
3. Addition/ substition of vowel soundsEgg
Pig
Blue
Adult target
eg
pig
blu
Child's Version
egǝ
pigǝ
bǝlu

9. CONCLUSION
ADULT TARGET
CCV(glu)
CVC(pig)
CVC(bib)
CHILD'S VERSION
CV(gǝ)
CVCV(pigǝ)
CV(bi)
Rule: Preference for simple CVCV sound structure is found in a
variety of languages, not english.

10. Second, Stopping process
How to distinguish consonant?Place of articulation
Labial
voiced | voiceless
b p
v f
m
Velar
voiced | voiceless
g k
Aveolar
voiced | voiceless
d t
z s
n
Manner of
articulation
Stops
Frecative
Nasal

11. Observe the following phenomena carefully and tell the
deference between adult target and child version
Sundar
Hus
Zebra
Fuzik
Supa
CHILD'S VERSIONADULT TARGETTunder
Hut
Debra
Pazik
Topa
LANGUAGEHindi
Norweigian
English
Hungarian
Spanish

12. ADULT TARGET
Zip
Sip
Mis
CHILD'S VERSION
Dip
Tip
Mit
Zip
Sip
Miss
ADULT TARGET
Bed
kik
bag
Third, voicing/devoicing of consonant sounds
CHILD'S VERSION
Bet
Gik
Bak
Bed
Kick
Bag

13. Fourth, simulation process
ADULT TARGET
Dog
Tub
Sam
CHILD'S VERSION
Gog
Bub
Nam
Dog
Tub
Sam
Sometimes, children can carry the simulation process even further in
two-syllable words by simmulating whole syllables.
Water— wawa
Bottle— baba

14. Fifth, Suprasegmental-segmental interaction
In early period of development, word pronounciations are often
affected by length of the word and its stress patterns.
ADULT TARGET
Be'hind
Su'pozd
To'mato
Wi'thout
CHILD'S VERSION
Hind
Pozd
mato
out
Behind
Supposed
Tomato
Without

15. THANKS
https://youtu.be/CfYmXuLNq0Q?si=vQKEjs4j8C4j4U1
p
References:
https://www.grin.com/document/116203https://www.scitepress.org/Papers/2018/99159/99159.pdf