Contiguity in Phonological Acquisition

Abstract

"This paper compares two typical phenomena in phonological development: Onset Selection in Truncation (OST) and Onset Cluster reduction (OC-red). Motivation for this comparison is that in both cases target onset segments compete for preservation in the child form. As hypothesised by among others Bernhardt and Stemberger (1998: 460) ‘[w]e expect to see the same reduction patterns in consonant clusters and in syllable deletion.’ Previous reports show that sonority and place of articulation affect both processes in similar ways. On the other hand, the notion of contiguity implies a mismatch. Contiguity guides OST when sonority or place effects are indecisive (Stemberger et al. 1990), but contiguity effects are ‘rare at best’ in OC-red (Goad & Rose 2004). The aim of this study is to investigate this alleged mismatch under controlled circumstances. An experiment is reported upon designed to evaluate preservation patterns in OST. Results are compared with findings on OC-red for the same participants acquiring Dutch. It is shown that contiguity not only plays a key role in OST, but contrary to assumptions made so far, also in OC-red"