Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-hvd4g Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-29T06:02:43.928Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Relationships between lexical and phonological development in young children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2010

CAROL STOEL-GAMMON
CAROL STOEL-GAMMON*
Affiliation:
University of Washington
*
[*]Address for correspondence: Carol Stoel-Gammon, Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, 1417 N. E. 42nd Street, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. e-mail: csg@u.washington.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Our understanding of the relationships between lexical and phonological development has been enhanced in recent years by increased interest in this area from language scientists, psychologists and phonologists. This review article provides a summary of research, highlighting similarities and differences across studies. It is suggested that the research falls into two categories with different goals and different methodological approaches: (1) child-centered studies that examine the influences active in the prelinguistic and early-word period, emphasizing individual developmental patterns and the active role played by the child; and (2) studies inspired by research on word processing in adults; these focus on the effects of the phonological and lexical characteristics of the ambient language on underlying representations and word learning in children. The article concludes with suggestions for integrating the findings from the two approaches and for future research.

Type
Review Article and Commentaries
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 1 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anglin, J. (1989). Vocabulary growth and the knowing–learning distinction. Reading Canada 7, 142–46.Google Scholar
Aslin, R., Saffran, J. & Newport, E. (1998) Computation of conditional probability statistics by 8-month-old infants. Psychological Science 9, 321–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, E., Marchman, V., Thal, D., Fenson, L., Dale, P., Reznick, S., Rielly, J. & Hartung, J. (1994). Development and stylistic variation in the composition of early vocabulary. Journal of Child Language 21, 85–123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bavin, E., Prior, M., Reilly, S., Bretherton, L., Williams, J., Eadie, P., Barrett, Y. & Ukoumunne, O. (2008). The Early Language in Victoria Study: Predicting vocabulary at age one and two years from gesture and object use. Journal of Child Language 35, 687–701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beckman, M. & Edwards, J. (2000). Lexical frequency effects on young children's imitative productions. In Pierrehumbert, J. & Broe, M. (eds), Papers in laboratory phonology, 5, 207–217. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Beckman, M., Munson, B. & Edwards, J. (2007). Vocabulary growth and the developmental expansion of types of phonological knowledge. In Cole, J. & Hualde, J. (eds), Laboratory phonology 9, 241–64. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Bernhardt, B. & Stemberger, J. (1998). Handbook of phonological development: from a nonlinear constraints-based perspective. San Diego: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bernhardt, B. & Stoel-Gammon, C. (1996). Underspecification and markedness in normal and disordered phonological development. In Johnson, C. E. & Gilbert, J. H. V. (eds), Children's language, vol. 9, 33–54. Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Bleses, D., Vach, W., Slott, M., Wehberg, S., Thomsen, P., Madsen, T. & Basboll, H. (2008a). Early vocabulary development in Danish and other languages: a CDI-based comparison. Journal of Child Language 35, 619–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bleses, D., Vach, W., Slott, M., Wehberg, S., Thomsen, P., Madsen, T. & Basboll, H. (2008b). The Danish Communicative Developmental Inventories: validity and main developmental trends. Journal of Child Language 35, 651–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bloom, P. (2000). How children learn the meanings of words. Cambridge, MA: MIT press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bybee, J. (2001). Phonology and language use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, K., Hardin-Jones, M. & Halter, K. (2003). The relationship between early speech and later speech performance for children with cleft lip and palate. Clinical Linguistic and Phonetics 17, 173–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chomsky, N. & Halle, M. (1968). The sound pattern of English. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Coady, J. & Evans, J. (2008). Uses and interpretations of non-word repetition tasks in children with and without specific language impairments (SLI). International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 43, 1–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coplan, J. & Gleason, J. (1988). Unclear speech: recognition and significance of unintelligible speech in preschool children. Pediatrics 82, 447–52.Google ScholarPubMed
Corrigan, R. (1978). Language development as related to stage 6 object permanence development. Journal of Child Language 5, 173–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dale, P. S. & Fenson, L. (1996). Lexical development norms for young children. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computer 28, 125–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dinnsen, D. & Gierut, J. (2008). Optimality Theory: a clinical perspective. In Ball, M., Perkons, M., Muller, M. N. & Howard, S. (eds), The handbook of clinical linguistics, 439–51. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, J. & Beckman, M. (2008). Some cross-linguistic evidence for modulation of implicational universals by language-specific frequency effects in phonological development. Language Learning and Development 4, 122–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edwards, J., Beckman, M. & Munson, B. (2004). The interaction between vocabulary size and phonotactic probability effects on children's production accuracy and fluency in nonword repetition. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 47, 421–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis, N. (2002). Frequency effects in language processing: a review with implications of implicit and explicit theories of language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 24, 143–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenson, L., Dale, P., Reznick, J. S., Thal, D., Bates, E., Hartung, J., Pethick, S. & Reilly, J. (1993). MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI). San Diego, CA: Singular Publishing Group.Google Scholar
Fenson, L., Marchman, V., Thal, D., Dale, P., Reznick, S. & Bates, E. (2007). MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories: user's guide and technical manual, 2nd edn.Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. & Farwell, C. (1975). Words and sounds in early language acquisition: initial consonants in the first fifty words. Language 51, 419–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fry, D. (1966). The development of the phonological system in the normal and deaf child. In Smith, F. & Miller, G. A. (eds), The genesis of language, 187–206. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ganger, J. & Brent, M. (2004). Reexamining the vocabulary spurt. Developmental Psychology 40, 621–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garlock, V., Walley, A. & Metsala, J. (2001). Age-of-acquisition, word frequency and neighborhood density effects on spoken word recognition by children and adults. Journal of Memory and Language 45, 267–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, S. (2006). Nonword repetition and word learning: the nature of the relationship. Applied Psycholinguistics 27, 513–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldfield, B. (1993). Noun bias in maternal speech to one-year-olds. Journal of Child Language 20, 85–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldstein, M., King, A. & West, M. (2003). Social interaction shapes babbling: testing parallels between birdsong and speech. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100, 8030–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodman, J., Dale, P. & Li, P. (2008). Does frequency count? Parental input and the acquisition of vocabulary. Journal of Child Language 35, 515–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gopnik, A. & Meltzoff, A. (1992). Categorization and naming: basic-level sorting in eighteen-month-olds and the second year and its relationship to language. Child Development 63, 1091–1103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gros-Louis, J., West, M., Goldstein, M. & King, A. (2006). Mothers provide differential feedback to infants' prelinguistic sounds. International Journal of Behavioral Development 30, 509–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grunwell, P. (1981). The nature of phonological disability in children. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hart, B. & Risley, T. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Hoff, E. (2003). The specificity of environmental influence: socioeconomic status affects early vocabulary development via maternal speech. Child Development 74, 1368–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoff, E., Core, C. & Bridges, K. (2008). Non-word repetition assesses phonological memory and is related to vocabulary development in 20- to 24-month olds. Journal of Child Language 35, 903–916.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jakobson, R. (1968). Child language, phonological universals and aphasia. The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jusczyk, P. (1997). The discovery of spoken language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Jusczyk, P., Luce, P. & Charles-Luce, J. (1994). Infants' sensitivity to phonotactic patterns in the native language. Journal of Memory and Language 33, 630–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kucera, H. & Francis, W. (1967). Computational analysis of present day American English. Providence, RI: Brown University Press.Google Scholar
Leonard, L. & McGregor, K. (1991). Unusual phonological patterns and their underlying representations: a case study. Journal of Child Language 18, 261–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leonard, L., Schwartz, R., Morris, B. & Chapman, K. (1981). Factors influencing early lexical acquisition: lexical orientation and phonological composition. Child Development 52, 882–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lifter, K. & Bloom, L. (1989). Object knowledge and the emergence of language. Infant Behavior and Development 12, 395–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, J. (1993). The emergent lexicon: the child's development of a linguistic vocabulary. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Luce, P. & Pisoni, D. (1998). Recognizing spoken words: the neighborhood activation model. Ear and Hearing 19, 1–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Macken, M. A. (1996). Prosodic constraints on features. In Bernhardt, B., Gilbert, J. & Ingram, D. (eds), Proceedings of the UBC international conference on phonological acquisition, 159–72. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Maekawa, J. & Storkel, H. (2006). Individual differences in the influence of phonological characteristics on expressive vocabulary development by young children. Journal of Child Language 33, 439–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menn, L. & Matthei, E. (1992). The ‘two lexicon’ account of child phonology: looking back, looking ahead. In Ferguson, C. A., Menn, L. & Stoel-Gammon, C. (eds), Phonological development: models, research, implications, 211–47. Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Metsala, J. & Walley, A. (1998). Spoken vocabulary growth and the segmental restructuring of lexical representations: precursors to phonemic awareness and early reading ability. In Metsala, J. L. & Ehri, L. C. (eds), Word recognition in beginning literacy, 89–120. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Moeller, M., Hoover, B., Putman, C., Arbataitis, K., Bohnenkamp, G., Peterson, B., Lewis, D., Estee, S., Pittman, A. & Stelmachowicz, P. (2007). Vocalizations of infants with hearing loss compared with infants with normal hearing: Part II – transition to words. Ear and Hearing 28, 628–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munson, B., Edwards, J. & Beckman, M. (2005). Relationships between nonword repetition accuracy and other measures of linguistic development in children with phonological disorders. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 48, 61–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Munson, B., Edwards, J. & Beckman, M. (in press). Phonological representations in language acquisition: climbing the ladder of abstraction. In Cohn, A. C., Fougeron, C. & Huffman, M. K. (eds), Handbook of laboratory phonology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nusbaum, H. C., Pisoni, D. B. & Davis, C. K. (1984). Sizing up the Hoosier Mental Lexicon: measuring the familiarity of 20,000 words. In Research on Spoken Language Processing Report, No. 10, 357–76. Bloomington, IN: Speech Research Laboratory, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Oller, D. K., Wieman, L., Doyle, W. & Ross, C. (1976). Infant babbling and speech. Journal of Child Language 3, 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ota, M. (2006). Input frequency and words truncation in child Japanese: structural and lexical effects. Language and Speech 49, 261–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paul, R. & Jennings, P. (1992). Phonological behavior in toddlers with specific expressive language delay. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 35, 99–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prather, E., Hedrick, D. & Kern, C. (1975). Articulation development in children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 40, 179–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prince, A. & Smolensky, P. (2004). Optimality Theory: constraint interaction in generative grammar. Malden, MA. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rescorla, L. & Ratner, N. B. (1996). Phonetic profiles of toddlers with specific expressive language impairment (SLI-E). Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 39, 153–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwartz, R. & Leonard, L. (1982). Do children pick and choose? An examination of phonological selection and avoidance in early lexical acquisition. Journal of Child Language 9, 319–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwarz, I-C., Burnham, D. and Bowey, J. (2006). Phoneme sensitivity and vocabulary size in 2-1/2- to 3-year-old children, 142–47. In Warren, P. and Watson, C. (eds), Proceedings of the 11th Australian Conference on Speech Science and Technology. Aukland: Australian Speech Science and Technology Association.Google Scholar
Smith, B. (2006). Precautions regarding nonword repetition tasks. Applied Psycholinguistics 27, 584–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B., McGregor, K. & Demille, D. (2006). Phonological development in lexically precocious 2-year-olds. Applied Psycholinguistics 27, 355–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, N. V. (1973). The acquisition of phonology: a case study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Snow, C. (1977). The development of conversation between mothers and babies. Journal of Child Language 4, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sosa, A. V. (2008). Lexical effects in typical phonological acquisition. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Washington, Seattle.Google Scholar
Sosa, A. V. & Bybee, J. (2008). A cognitive approach to clinical phonology. In Ball, M., Perkins, M., Muller, N. & Howard, S. (eds), The handbook of clinical linguistics, 480–90. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sosa, A. V. & Stoel-Gammon, C. (2006). Patterns of intra-word phonological variability during the second year of life. Journal of Child Language 33, 31–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stampe, D. (1969). A dissertation on natural phonology. New York: Garland.Google Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. (1985). Phonetic inventories, 15–24 months: a longitudinal study. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 28, 505–512.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stoel-Gammon, C. (1987). The phonological skills of two-year-old children. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 18, 323–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. (1991). Normal and disordered phonology in two-year-olds. Topics in Language Disorders 11, 21–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. (1992). Prelinguistic vocal development: measurement and predictions. In Ferguson, C. A., Menn, L. & Stoel-Gammon, C. (eds), Phonological development: models, research, implications, 439–56. Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. (1998a). The role of babbling and phonology in early linguistic development. In Wetherby, A. M., Warren, S. F. & Reichle, J. (eds), Communication and language intervention series vol. 7: transitions in prelinguistic communication, 87–110. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. (1998b). Sounds and words in early language acquisition: the relationship between lexical and phonological development. In Paul, R. (ed.), Exploring the speech–language connection, 25–52. Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes.Google Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. (2008). Lexical acquisition: effects of phonology. Paper presented at the XIth International Association for Study of Child Language, University of Edinburgh, August.Google Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. & Cooper, J. (1984). Patterns of early lexical and phonological development. Journal of Child Language 11, 247–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stoel-Gammon, C. & Dale, P. (1988). Aspects of phonological development of linguistically precocious children. Paper presented at Child Phonology Conference, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.Google Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. & Peter, B. (2008). Syllables, segments, and sequences: phonological patterns in the words of young children acquiring American English. In Davis, B. & Zajdo, K. (eds), Syllable development: the frame/content theory and beyond, 293–323. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. & Sosa, A. V. (2007). Phonological development. In Hoff, E. & Schatz, M. (eds), Handbook of child language, 238–56. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Storkel, H. (2009). Developmental differences in the effects of phonological, lexical and semantic variables on word learning by infants. Journal of Child Language 36, 291–321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swingley, D. & Aslin, R. N. (2002). Lexical neighborhoods and the word-form representations of 14-month-olds. Psychological Science 13, 480–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tamis-LeMonda, C., Bornstein, M. & Baumwell, L. (2001). Maternal responsiveness and children's achievement of language milestones. Child Development 72, 748–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tardif, T., Fletcher, P., Liang, W. & Kaciroti, N. (2009). Early vocabulary in Mandarin (Putonghua) and Cantonese. Journal of Child Language 36, 1115–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tyler, A. & Edwards, J. (1993). Lexical acquisition and the acquisition of initial voiceless stops. Journal of Child Language 20, 253–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Velleman, S., Mangipudi, L. & Locke, J. (1989) Prelinguistic phonetic contingency: data from Down syndrome. First Language 9, 159–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Velleman, S. & Vihman, M. (2002). Whole-word phonology and templates: trap, bootstrap, or some of each? Language and Speech 32, 149–70.Google Scholar
Velten, H. V. (1943). The growth of phonemic and lexical patterns in infant language. Language 19, 281–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Veneziano, E. (1988). Vocal-verbal interaction and the construction of early lexical knowledge. In Smith, M. D. & Locke, J. L. (eds), The emergent lexicon, 109–147. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Vihman, M. (1992). Early syllables and the construction of phonology. In Ferguson, C. A., Menn, L. & Stoel-Gammon, C. (eds), Phonological development: models, research, implications, 393–422. Timonium, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Vihman, M. (1996). Phonological development: the origins of language in the child. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Vihman, M. & Croft, W. (2007) Phonological development: toward a ‘radical’ templatic phonology. Linguistics 45, 683–725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vihman, M., Macken, M., Miller, R., Simmons, H. & Miller, J. (1985). From babbling to speech: a re-assessment of the continuity issue. Language 61, 397–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vihman, M. & Velleman, S. (1989). Phonological reorganization: a case study. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 33, 9–23.Google Scholar
Walley, A. C. (1993). The role of vocabulary development in children's spoken word recognition and segmentation ability. Developmental Review 13, 286–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterson, N. (1971). Child phonology: a prosodic view. Journal of Linguistics 7, 179–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, A., Markman, E. & Fitzsimmons, C. (1994). Rapid word learning in 13- and 18-month-olds. Developmental Psychology 30, 553–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zamuner, T. (2009). The structure and nature of phonological neighbourhoods in children's early lexicons. Journal of Child Language 36, 3–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zamuner, T., Gerken, L. & Hammond, M. (2004). Phonotactic probabilities in young children's speech production. Journal of Child Language 31, 515–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed