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 proceeds in a similar order and discrimination of any particular pair implies the ability to discriminate all others in order before it. Objects were given nonsense names differing only in initial consonants, and when the experimenter called one name, the children were requested to perform an action with the proper object to prove they could discriminate the consonants. Selection of subjects, experiment materials, scoring and testing procedures are detailed. Results show that Shvachkin's method is valid with American children, and an ordered sequence similar to the Russian order of classes of oppositions emerged. The acquisition orders are charted. Findings appear to justify a full replication study for English. (CHK)