Rule discovery in phonological acquisition

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Abstract
Menn has suggested that most early phonological rules have the effect of reducing the variety of the child's phonetic output forms. This proposal is compatible with the Interactionist–Discovery (I–D) theory of phonological acquisition. This paper presents one child's unique phonological rule which increases output variety and yet still yields a mismatch with the adult form. Evidence is presented which indicates that the rule was a stable and productive part of the child's phonology and that it was both phonetically and phonologically motivated. It is argued that an addition to the early strategies described by Menn is needed to account, specifically, for the discovery of this unique rule and, generally, for later stages of phonological development.

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