Consonant cluster development in two-year-olds: General trends and individual difference

A holistic view of phonological development can be attained only through ex ploration of the relationship between universal developmental sequences, to establish a general pattern of development and individual learning and to provide information regarding variability. This study examined consonant cl uster production, looking specifically at the relationship between general trends and individual differences as children acquire these sounds. The spo ntaneous speech of 16 normally developing Anglo-Australian 2-year-olds was elicited monthly for 6 months, and the corpus of 96 samples was examined us ing independent and relational phonological analyses. Data demonstrated tha t 2-year-olds were able to produce a range of consonant clusters in word-in itial and word-final position, but few of the younger participants could pr oduce consonant clusters correctly. Only half of the participants showed an increase in the percent of consonant clusters produced correctly over the 6-month period; however, their developing phonological maturity was reveale d in the increase in the range and diversity of their repertoire of consona nt clusters and by their closer approximations to the adult target. Specifi c findings of the study were compared to 10 trends for children's acquisiti on of consonant clusters emerging from the literature over the lost 70 year s.