The present investigation examines three hypotheses concerning the development of temporal coordination of consonant clusters in the speech of children at four age levels. Results reveal that five and seven-year-olds can be separated from older children and adults on the basis of absolute duration of consonants. (CHK)

This paper represents a partial condensation of the results of a study covering 14 months in a Russian-speaking child's phonological development. Evidence supports a theory of phonological acquisition formulated by Olmsted (1971), and offers detailed information on the child's acquisition of specific phones. (CHK)

Teachers should not try to impose on children the language of adults, but they can provide models for them to grow naturally into as they become adults. The child knows his language when he comes to school, and the teacher should try to build on what he knows, not blunder into opposition to it. (Author)

This paper reports data for voice onset time (VOT) for /d/ and /t/, from six children at average age 3;0. Values for /d/ clearly achieve the short voicing lag category of adults, reported previously. Values for /t/, however, are much more varied, although falling within the category long voicing lag. (CHK)

Speech discrimination by 12 children aged about 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 years was tested, using the discrimination learning procedure of Shvachkin's 1948 Russian study. Recent work on the acquisition of syntax and semantics shows an ordered acquisition for linguistic items; this pilot study was to test whether the ability to discriminate between consonants…

A discussion of word acquisition rates and strategies is based upon a 6-month case study of an Estonian-speaking child who gradually and systematically relaxed phonotactic constraints to allow greater complexity in word production. In addition to the cognitive tools of assimilation and accomodation as described by Piaget, the child used a further…