Initial voicing contrast acquisition in normal and phonologically disordered children

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Abstract
Speech sound production changes that occurred during acquisition of the initial voicing contrast induced through treatment in phonologically disordered children were compared to those that occurred during normal acquisition of the contrast. Target stop productions from three normally developing children and six phonologically disordered children were analyzed acoustically along the temporal measure of VOT. The phonologically disordered subjects displayed different patterns of voicing contrast acquisition, none of which replicated the normally developing children's pattern. The phonologically disordered children's patterns of acquisition were characterized by larger and more variable VOT values in comparison to those of the normally developing children. Different patterns of voicing contrast acquisition observed in VOTs are discussed with regard to the nature of linguistic change and the source of breakdown in children's speech sound errors.