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Relationships between lexical and phonological development in young children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2010

CAROL STOEL-GAMMON
CAROL STOEL-GAMMON*
Affiliation:
University of Washington
*
[*]Address for correspondence: Carol Stoel-Gammon, Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, 1417 N. E. 42nd Street, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. e-mail: csg@u.washington.edu
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Abstract

Our understanding of the relationships between lexical and phonological development has been enhanced in recent years by increased interest in this area from language scientists, psychologists and phonologists. This review article provides a summary of research, highlighting similarities and differences across studies. It is suggested that the research falls into two categories with different goals and different methodological approaches: (1) child-centered studies that examine the influences active in the prelinguistic and early-word period, emphasizing individual developmental patterns and the active role played by the child; and (2) studies inspired by research on word processing in adults; these focus on the effects of the phonological and lexical characteristics of the ambient language on underlying representations and word learning in children. The article concludes with suggestions for integrating the findings from the two approaches and for future research.

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Type
Review Article and Commentaries
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 1 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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