This course will explore the question of emergent systematicity in early phonological development. We will draw on both observational and experimental data from several languages to introduce new approaches to currently debated questions, e.g., with what knowledge, if any, does the child begin? How and when do speech perception and vocal production become linked? How does the emerging ability to produce and represent words interact with prosodic development? how can the child gain knowledge of linguistic structure? what learning mechanism(s) could account for both similarities and differences in early word production across languages?
We will review the similarities and differences found in early word forms in different languages, and will focus on the practical question of identifying children?s word production patterns, or ?word templates?, given the considerable individual differences in timing, volubility and patterning, even among children learning the same language. The course will include hands-on analysis of early word forms from individual children, with the goal of identifying emergent systematicity. Students are encouraged to bring to the course any data that they may have collected from children just beginning to speak, so that we may address these issues on the basis of early word forms from Brazilian Portuguese.
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Velleman, S. L. & Vihman, M. M. (2006). Phonology in infancy and early childhood: Implications for theories of language learning. In M. C. Pennington (Ed.), Phonology in Context (pp. 25-50) Luton: Macmillan.
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Vihman, M. M. & Croft, W. (in press). Phonological development: Toward a 'radical' templatic phonology. Linguistics.
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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.
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McCune, L. & Vihman, M. M. (2001). Early phonetic and lexical development: A productivity approach. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research 44, 670-684.
Vihman, M. M. (1996). Phonological development: The origins of language in the child. Oxford: Basil Blackwell
Vihman, M. M. & Kunnari, S. (2006). The sources of phonological knowledge: A cross-linguistic perspective. Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes, 35, 133-164.
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