The present study investigates the appearance of certain phonetic, phonological, and prosodic aspects of Italian in the early language of native speakers; a longitudinal analysis of babbling and word production in 11 Italian children ranging in age from 0;10 to 2;0 is reported. It focuses in particular on the syllabic frequency of babbling utterances and the distribution of consonant sounds in relation to their place of articulation in babbling and first words. It analyzes also the role of phonotactic characteristics and accentual patterns of word targets in production correctness and word shape constraints. Results show that the relationships with the frequency characteristics of the Italian lexicon become increasingly evident in language production from age 0;11 on. The data also provide substantiation for the role of phonotactic characteristics and accentual patterns in influencing correct word production. Finally, a continuity between babbling and words emerged from an analysis of individual differences. The discussion focuses on the role of ambient characteristics of language versus universal articulatory constraints in early phonological development.
Barca, L., Burani, C., & Arduino, L.S. ( 2002). Word naming times and psycholinguistic norms for Italian nouns. Behavioural Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers , 34, 424-434.
2.
Bortolini, U., & Leonard, L.B. ( 2000). Phonology and children with specific language impairment: Status of structural constraint in two languages. Journal of Communication Disorders, 33, 131-150.
3.
Camaioni, L., Caselli, M.C., Longobardi, E., & Volterra, V. ( 1991). A parent report instrument for early language assessment . First Language, 11, 345-359.
4.
Caselli, M.C., & Casadio, P. ( 1995). Il primo vocabolario del bambino. Milano: Franco Angeli.
5.
Coady, J.A., & Aslin, R.N. ( 2003). Phonological neighbourhoods in the developing lexicon . Journal of Child Language, 30, 441-469.
6.
Davis, B.L., & MacNeilage, P.F. (1990). Acquisition of correct vowels production: A quantitative case study. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 33, 16-27.
7.
Davis, B.L., & MacNeilage, P.F. (2000). An embodiment perspective on the acquisition of speech perception. Special Issue. Phonetica , 57, 229-241.
8.
De Boysson-Bardies, B., & Vihman, M.M. ( 1991). Adaptation to language: Evidence from babbling and first words in four languages. Language, 67, 330-350.
9.
Dinnsen, D.A., Chin, S.B., Elbert, M., & Powell, T.W. ( 1990). Some constraints on functionally disordered phonologies: Phonetics inventories and phonotactics. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 33, 28-37.
10.
D’Odorico, L., & Jacob, V. ( 2006). Prosodical and lexical aspects of maternal linguistic input to late-talking toddlers. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 41, 293-311.
11.
D’Odorico, L., Salerni, N., Cassibba, R., & Jacob, V. ( 1999). Stability and change of maternal speech in Italian infants from 7 to 21 months of age: A longitudinal study of its influence on early stages of language acquisition. First Language, 19, 313-346.
12.
Hoff, E., & Naigles, L. ( 2002). How children use input to acquire a lexicon. Child Development, 73, 418-433.
13.
Ingram, D. ( 2002). The measurement of whole-word productions. Journal of Child Language, 29, 713-733.
14.
Keren-Portnoy, T., Majorano, M., & Vihman, M.M. ( 2009). From phonetics to phonology: The emergence of first words in Italian. Journal of Child Language, 36, 235-267.
15.
Keren-Portnoy, T., Vihman, M., & DePaolis, R. ( 2005). Output as input: Effects of production practice on referential word use. Paper presented at the 10th International Congress for the Study of Child Language.
16.
Levelt, W.J.M., & Wheeldon, L. ( 1994). Do speakers have access to a mental syllabary? Cognition, 50, 239-269.
17.
Lewedag, V., Oller, D.K., & Lynch, M.P. ( 1994). Infant vocalization patterns across home and laboratory environments. First Language, 14, 49-65.
18.
MacNeilage, P.F. ( 1998). The frame/content theory of evolution of speech production . Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 21, 499-546.
19.
MacNeilage, P.F., & Davis, B. ( 2000). On the origin of the internal structure of word forms . Science, 288, 527-531.
20.
MacNeilage, P.F., Davis, B.L., Kinney, A., & Matyear, C.L. ( 1999). Origin of serial-output complexity in speech. Psychological Science, 10, 459-460.
21.
Majorano, M., & D’Odorico, L. (2006). Characteristics of early lexical and phonological development in children acquiring Italian. Paper presented at Labphon 10: Variation, Detail and Representation , Paris, 29 June-1 July.
22.
McCune, L., & Vihman, M.M. ( 2001). Early phonetic and lexical development: A productivity approach. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research , 44, 670-684.
23.
Mehler, J., Jusczyk, P.W., Lambertz, G., Halsted, G., Bertoncini, J., & Amiel-Tyson, C. (1988). A precursor of language acquisition in young infants. Cognition, 29, 143-178.
24.
Menn, L. ( 1998). A multi-modal, emergent view of the development of syllables in early phonology (Commentary on P. MacNeilage, The frame/content theory of evolution of speech production). Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 21, 523-524.
25.
Olswang, L., Stoel-Gammon, C., Coggins, T., & Carpenter, R. ( 1987). Assessing prelinguistic and early linguistic behaviours in developmentally young children. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
26.
Perea, M., & Carreiras, M. ( 1998). Effects of syllable frequency and syllable neighbourhood frequency in visual word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 24, 134-144.
27.
Stella, V., & Job, R. ( 2001). Le sillabe PD/DPSS. Una base di dati sulla frequenza sillabica dell’italiano scritto. Giornale Italiano di Psicologia, 3, 633-639.
28.
Stoel-Gammon, C. ( 1989). Prespeech and early speech development of two late-talkers . First Language, 9, 207-224.
29.
Stoel-Gammon, C. ( 2002). Intervocalic consonants in the speech of typically developing children: Emergence and early use. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 16, 155-168.
30.
Stoel-Gammon, C., & Cooper, J.A. ( 1984). Patterns of early lexical and phonological development . Journal of Child Language, 11, 247-271.
31.
Thal, D.J., Oroz, M., & McCaw, V. ( 1995). Phonological and lexical development in normal and late-talking toddlers. Applied Psycholinguistics, 16, 407-424.
32.
Vihman, M.M. ( 1991). Ontogeny of phonetic gestures. In I. Mattingly & M. Studdert-Kennedy (Eds.), Modularity and the motor theory of speech perception (pp. 69-84). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
33.
Vihman, M.M. ( 1993). Variable paths to early word production. Journal of Phonetics, 21, 61-82.
34.
Vihman, M.M. ( 1996). Phonological development: The origins of language in the child. Oxford: Basil Blackwell .
35.
Vihman, M.M., & Croft, W. ( 2007). Phonological development: Toward a ‘radical’ templatic phonology. Linguistics, 45, 683-725.
36.
Vihman, M.M., DePaolis, R., & Davis, B.L. ( 1998). Is there a ‘trochaic bias’ in early word learning? Evidence from infant production in English and French. Child Development, 69, 935-949.
37.
Vihman, M.M., Ferguson, C.A., & Elbert, M. ( 1986). Phonological development from babbling to speech: Common tendencies and individual differences. Applied Psycholinguistics , 7, 3-40.
38.
Vihman, M.M., Macken, M.A., Miller, R., Simmons, H., & Miller, J. ( 1985). From babbling to speech: A reassessment of the continuity issue. Language, 61, 395-443.
39.
Vihman, M., & McCune, L. (1994). When is a word a word? Journal of Child Language, 21, 517-542.
40.
Vihman, M.M., Nakai, S., DePaolis, R.A., & Hallé, P. (2004). The role of accentual pattern in early lexical representation. Journal of Memory and Language, 50, 336-353.
41.
Vihman, M.M., & Velleman, S.L. (2000). The construction of a first phonology. Phonetica, 57, 255-266.
42.
Westermann, G., & Miranda, E.R. ( 2004). A new model of sensorimotor coupling in the development of speech. Brain and Language, 89, 393-400.
43.
Zmarich, C., & Bonifacio, S. ( 2005). Phonetic inventories in Italian children aged 18-27 months: A longitudinal study. In Interspeech’2005 - Eurospeech, 9th European Conference on Speech Communication and Technology , Lisbon, 4-8 September, pp. 757-760.
