Input frequency and lexical variability in phonological development: a survival analysis of word-initial cluster production

What is it about?

Children find it difficult to produce certain sound patterns, such as clusters of consonants at the beginning of words (e.g., 'pl' in 'plane', 'str' in 'straw'). In this paper, we show that children first learn to produce consonant clusters in frequently heard words and then in other words.

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Why is it important?

It is usually thought that when children learn how to produce a sound pattern, they become able to do it with any words. For example, once they can say 'pl' in 'plane', then they can also say 'pl' in 'plate', 'please' and 'plum'. But our findings show that this process does not happen at the same pace for all words. Learning how to produce difficult sound patterns is not only about mastering the sounds, but also about becoming familiar with the words that contain those sounds.