Phonological Reorganization: A Case Study

Various types of phonological behavior have been identified as evidence of the systematization which is said to occur in the course of the transition from early, “whole-word” phonology to later, segment-based phonology. However, we have a limited understanding of the role of such early phonological behavior in facilitating — or initiating — the emergence of segmental phonology. Furthermore, there has been little acoustic verification of such changes in children's phonological systems. in this study, the lexical production of one child is analyzed in detail from the onset of word use at 10 months to 16 months, when she had a cumulative lexicon of over 70 words. A period of phonological experimentation and the emergence of productive “word recipes” are documented, using both perceptual and acoustic analysis. Implications of such systematization for the later development of segmental phonology are discussed.