Longitudinal changes in phonological whole-word measures in 2-year-olds

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to describe changes in whole-word productions in the speech of children as they aged from 24 to 36 months. Spontaneous language samples were obtained from 12 participants during parent–child interactions every 3 months, beginning with each participant's second birthday. Fifty different words from each sample were analysed to determine changes in a variety of whole-word measures including phonological mean length of utterance (PMLU) for target words and words produced, proportion of whole-word proximity (PWP), and proportion of words produced correctly (PWC). Significant changes in whole-word measures were evidenced by the participants over the course of the investigation, and those scores did not show stabilization by the age of 36 months.

Keywords::

• Phonological development
• whole-word measures
• phonology
• speech sounds
• assessment
• analysis

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge the statistical assistance provided by Paul Hoffman, PhD, Shevaun Stocker, PhD, and Nathan Wetzel, PhD.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.