Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T23:44:01.944Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Early phonological and lexical development and otitis media: a diary study*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Mavis L. Donahue*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois at Chicago
*
Address for correspondence: College of Education, m/c 147, 1040 W. Harrison St, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL 60607, USA. Email: mavis.donahue.@UICVM.edu.

Abstract

This diary study describes early phonological and lexical development in a child with chronic otitis media with effusion. Equipped with the tools of a referential/analytic language-learner, the child solved the problem of reduced and fluctuating auditory input with phonological selection and avoidance strategies that capitalized on prosodie cues. This ‘tone-language’ approach resulted in a lexical inventory that would be categorized as an extreme expressive style. Having ‘boot-strapped’ her lexical learning, the child continued to rely on phonological constraints and selection strategies to fuel lexical and syntactic growth, i.e. cross-domain interactions leading to a vocabulary spurt and the onset of two-word utterances. These findings illustrate the need to consider interactions among performance, input and linguistic constraints in order to explain individual variation in language learning.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

A version of this paper was presented at the American Speech/Language/Hearing Association Convention, Boston, 1988. The author wishes to thank Lise Menn for her invaluable comments.

References

REFERENCES

Bates, E., Bretherton, I. & Snyder, L. (1988). From first words to grammar: individual differences and dissociable mechanisms. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Bishop, D. & Edmundson, A. (1986). Is otitis media a major cause of specific developmental language disorders? British Journal of Communication Disorders 21, 321–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Churchill, J., Hodson, B., Jones, B. & Novak, R. (1988). Phonological systems of speech-disordered clients with positive/negative histories of otitis media. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 19, 100107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodd, B. (1976). The phonological systems of deaf children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 41, 185–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Donahue, M. (1986). Phonological constraints on the emergence of two-word utterances. Journal of Child Language 13, 209–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fenson, L., Dale, P., Reznick, J. S., Thal, D., Bates, E., Reilly, J. & Hartung, J. (1991). Technical manual for the Mac Arthur Communicative Development Inventories: Preliminary version. San Diego, CA: San Diego State University.Google Scholar
Ferguson, C. & Farwell, C. (1975). Words and sounds in early language acquisition. Language 51, 419–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, C. (1979). Phonology as an individual access system: some data from language acquisition. In Fillmore, C., Kempler, D. & Wang, W. (eds), Individual differences in language ability and language behavior. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Finitzo, T., Roland, P., Friel-Patti, S., Hieber, J., Brown, K. & Formby, E. (1988). Incidence, prevalence, and duration of otitis media in infants. In Lim, D., Bluestone, C., Klein, J. & Nelson, J. (eds), Recent advances in otitis media: Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium. Philadelphia: Decker.Google Scholar
Friel-Patti, S. & Finitzo, T. (1990). Language learning in a prospective study of otitis media with effusion in the first two years of life. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 33, 188–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goad, H. & Ingram, D. (1987). Individual variation and its relevance to a theory of phonological acquisition. Journal of Child Language 14, 419–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldfield, B. (1987). The contributions of child and caregiver to referential and expressive language. Applied Psycholinguistics 8, 267–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldfield, B. & Reznick, S. (1990). Early lexical acquisition: rate, content and the vocabulary spurt. Journal of Child Language 17, 171–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grunwell, P., March, E. & Russell, J. (1990). Facilitating speech development: a case study. Child Language Teaching and Therapy 6, 113–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoek, D., Ingram, D. & Gibson, D. (1986). Some possible causes of children's early word over-extensions. Journal of Child Language 13, 477–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ingram, D. (1986). Phonological development: production. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (eds), Language acquisition (2nd edition). Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Locke, J. (1988). Variation in human biology and child phonology: response to Goad and Ingram. Journal of Child Language 15, 663–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Macken, M. & Ferguson, C. (1983). Cognitive aspects of phonological development: model, evidence, and issues. In Nelson, K. E. (ed.), Children's language, Vol. 5. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Matthei, E. (1989). Crossing boundaries: more evidence for phonological constraints on early multi-word utterances. Journal of Child Language 16, 4154.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Menyuk, P. (1986). Predicting speech and language problems with persistent otitis media. In Kavanagh, J. (ed.), Otitis media and child development. Parkton, MD: York Press.Google Scholar
Menyuk, P., Menn, L. & Silber, R. (1986). Early strategies for the perception and production of words and sounds. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (eds), Language acquisition (2nd edition). Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Nelson, K. (1973). Structure and strategy in learning to talk. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 38 (12), Serial no. 149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, L. & Bauer, H. (1991). Speech and language production at age 2: evidence for tradeoffs between linguistic and phonetic processing. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 34, 879–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paden, E., Matthies, M. & Novak, M. (1989). Recovery from OME-related phonologic delay following tube placement. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 54, 94100.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paden, E., Novak, M. & Beiter, A. (1987). Predictors of phonologic inadequacy in young children prone to otitis media. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 52, 232–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pinker, S. (1987). The bootstrapping problem in language acquisition. In MacWhinney, B. (ed.), Mechanisms of language acquisition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Robb, M. & Saxman, J. (1988). Phonetic inventories of pre-word, single-word and multiword vocalizations. Paper presented at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association National Convention, Boston, MA.Google Scholar
Roberts, J., Burchinal, M., Koch, M., Footo, M. & Henderson, F. (1988). Otitis media in early childhood and its relationship to later phonological development. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 53, 424–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, J., Sanyal, M., Burchinal, M., Collier, A., Ramey, C. & Henderson, F. (1986). Otitis media in early childhood and its relationship to later verbal and academic performance. Pediatrics 78, 423–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwartz, R. & Leonard, L. (1982). Do children pick and choose? An examination of phonological selection and avoidance in early lexical acquisition. Journal of Child Language 9, 319–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwartz, R., Leonard, L., Frome Loeb, D. & Swanson, L. (1987). Attempted sounds are sometimes not: an expanded view of phonological selection and avoidance. Journal of Child Language 14, 411–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scollon, R. (1976). Conversations with a one-year-old: a case study of the developmental foundations of syntax. Cambridge: C.U.P.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shriberg, L. & Smith, A. (1983). Phonological correlates of middle-ear involvement in speech-delayed children: a methodological note. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 26, 292–7.Google ScholarPubMed
Stoel-Gammon, C. (1988). Prelinguistic vocalizations of hearing-impaired and normally hearing subjects: a comparison of consonantal inventories. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 53, 302–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stoel-Gammon, C. & Cooper, J. (1984). Patterns of early lexical and phonological development. Journal of Child Language 11, 247–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stoel-Gammon, C. & Stone, J. (1991). Assessing phonology in young children. Clinics in Communication Disorders 1, 2539.Google ScholarPubMed
Teele, D., Klein, J. & Rosner, B. (1980). Epidemiology of otitis media in children. Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology 89, 56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teele, D., Klein, J., Rosner, B. & The Greater Boston Otitis Media Study Group (1984). Otitis media with effusion during the first three years of life and development of speech and language. Pediatrics 74, 282–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vihman, M., Ferguson, C. & Elbert, M. (1986). Phonological development from babbling to speech: common tendencies and individual differences. Applied Psycholinguistics 7, 340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wallace, I., Gravel, J., McCarton, C. & Ruben, R. (1988). Otitis media and language development at 1 year of age. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 53, 245–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waterson, N. (1978). Growth of complexity in phonological development. In Waterson, N. & Snow, C. (eds), The development of communication. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar