Infants are thought to be sensitive to frequency in the input as a cue for phonological development. However, linguistic biases such as phonological markedness have been argued to play a role too. Since frequency and markedness are correlated, the two assertions could be different interpretations of data that confound frequency and markedness. In…

This study investigated the acquisition of word initial s clusters of 3-5 year old Dutch children with phonological disorders. Within these clusters, sl was produced correctly most often, whereas sn and sx were the more difficult clusters. In cluster reductions, s+obstruent and sl clusters reduction patterns followed the Sonority Sequencing…

Previous research has shown that infants begin to display sensitivities to language-specific phonotactics and probabilistic phonotactics at around 9 months of age. However, certain phonotactic patterns have not yet been examined, such as contrast neutralization, in which phonemic contrasts are neutralized typically in syllable- or word-final…

Presents the results of an investigation into the acquisition of syllable structure and stress by a preschool Dutch child. Shows how the structure of the child's output approaches the adult models in stages and discusses a phenomenon called "mutation," in which all continuants are consistently replaced with "n-" in onsets. (51…

Investigated whether children's syllabification of Dutch disyllabic words with a single intervocalic consonant adhered to the universal principles of syllable structure and whether these syllabifications witnessed an overruling of the universal phonological constraints by language-specific ones. Results indicate that universal principles explain…