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Phonetic development in early infancy: a study of four Swedish children during the first eighteen months of life*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2009

L. Roug*
Affiliation:
University of Stockholm
I. Landberg*
Affiliation:
University of Stockholm
L.-J. Lundberg
Affiliation:
University of Stockholm
*
Department of Linguistics, University of Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Linguistics, University of Stockholm, Sweden.

Abstract

The present paper presents data on the phonetic development of four normal Swedish infants, who were audiorecorded bi-weekly in their homes from 0;1 to 1;5. Our results show five distinct stages in the development of early vocalizations: the glottal stage, the velar/uvular stage, the vocalic stage, the reduplicated consonant babbling stage and the variegated consonant babbling stage. The results are based on auditory analysis of selected parts of the material. A comparison is made of this developmental pattern with studies of infants raised in other linguistic communities. The results of this comparison support the claim that babbling follows a universal developmental pattern.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

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Footnotes

*

The authors are greatly indebted to Björn Lindblom, Marilyn M. Vihman and Olle Engstrand for helpful comments on the manuscript. We thank the parents and the infants who participated in this project for their patience and enthusiasm, without which this project would never have been possible. We would also like to thank our associates, Professor Rolf Zetterström, Docent Birgitta Jailing, Doctor Göran Aurelius and Doctor Ann-Sofie Ericsson at Sankt Göran's Children's Hospital, for fruitful collaboration. This research project has been sponsored by Förstamajblommans Riksförbund (First of May Flower Annual Campaign for Children's Health).

References

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