Rights Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License 1 Phonological Characteristics of Children's Early Lexicon Production: Six Case Studies

The relationships between phonetic inventories, phonemic inventories and lexicon size were examined in emerging language systems. In addition, selectivity of word production, characteristics of "OUT " words and patterns of featural development were investigated. Six typically developing Cantonese-speaking children aged from 1;04 to 2;06 were recruited as subjects in a longitudinal study. Results shows that no cross language differences were present in the relationship between the size of the phonetic inventory and lexicon size as proposed by Schwartz & Leonard (1981). Cantonese-speaking children do demonstrate word selectivity in their early word production. A matrix of segment complexity was used to show that "OUT " word phonemes were composed of later-developing segments and features, and less frequently used segments in the Cantonese language. The interaction of manner features and place of articulation was explored. Implications for further research on the interaction between manner and place of articulation and featural development are discussed.