In early word productions, the same types of errors are manifest in children with cochlear implants (CI) as in their normally hearing (NH) peers with respect to consonant clusters. However, the incidence of those types and their longitudinal development have not been examined or quantified in the literature thus far. Furthermore, studies on the spontaneous speech of Dutch-speaking children with CI are missing. This article compares children with CI and NH children with respect to their use of word-initial two-consonant clusters and the frequency of each type of error. The spontaneous speech of nine Dutch-speaking children with CI and an age-matched cohort of NH children was analysed from word-onset up to age seven. Results showed that accuracy and frequency of consonant clusters increases with age and that the age at implant activation is crucial in children with CI. Cross-sectional comparisons showed that some aspects of consonant cluster production in children with CI lag behind that of their NH peers, but that children with CI catch up by age five.
Adi-BensaidL.Ben-DavidA. (2010). Typical acquisition by atyical children: Initial consonant cluster acquisition by Israeli Hebrew-acquiring children with cochlear implants. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 24, 771–794.
2.
BaayenH. (2008). Analyzing linguistic data: A practical introduction to statistics using R. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
3.
BaudonckN.DhoogeI.D’haeseleerE.Van LierdeK. (2010). A comparison of the consonant production between Dutch children using cochlear implants and children using hearing aids. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 74, 416–421.
4.
BeersM. (1992). Phonological processes in Dutch language impaired children. Scandinavian Journal of Logopedics & Phoniatrics, 17, 9–16.
5.
BlameyP.BarryJ.BowC.SarantJ.PaatschL.WalesR. (2001). The development of speech production following cochlear implantation. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 15, 363–382.
6.
BooijG. (1995). The phonology of Dutch. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
7.
BoonsT.De RaeveL.LangereisM.PeeraerL.WoutersJ.Van WieringenA. (2013). Expressive vocabulary, morphology, syntax and narrative skills in profoundly deaf children after early cochlear implantation. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34, 2008–2022.
8.
CarterA.DillonC.PisoniD. (2002). Imitation of nonwords by hearing impaired children with cochlear implants: Suprasegmental analyses. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 16, 619–638.
9.
ChinS. (2002). Aspects of stop consonant production by pediatric users of cochlear implants. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 33, 38–51.
10.
ChinS. (2006). Realization of complex onsets by pediatric users of cochlear implants. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 20, 501–508.
11.
ChinS. (2007). Variation in consonant cluster production by pediatric cochlear implant users. Ear & Hearing, 28, 7S–10S.
12.
ChinS.DinnsenD. (1992). Consonant clusters in disordered speech: Constraints and correspondence patterns. Journal of Child Language, 19, 259–285.
13.
ChinS.FinneganK. (2002). Consonant cluster production by pediatric users of cochlear implants. The Volta Review, 102, 154–174.
14.
ClementsG. (1990). The role of the sonority cycle in core syllabification. In KingstonJ.BeckmanM. (Eds.), Papers in laboratory phonology I: Between the grammar and physics of speech (pp. 283–333). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
15.
ConnorC.CraigH.RaudenbushS.HeavnerK.ZwolanT. (2006). The age at which young deaf children receive cochlear implants and their vocabulary and speech-production growth: Is there an added value for early implantation?Ear and Hearing, 27, 628–644.
DillonC.ClearyM.PisoniD.CarterA. (2004). Imitation of nonwords by hearing-impaired children with cochlear implants: Segmental analyses. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 18, 39–55.
18.
DoddB.HolmA.HuaZ.CrosbieS. (2003). Phonological development: A normative study of British English-speaking children. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 17, 617–643.
19.
DrennanW. R.RubinsteinJ. T. (2008). Music perception in cochlear implant users and its relationship with psychophysical capabilities. Journal of Rehabilitation and Development, 45, 779–790.
20.
DysonA.PadenE. (1983). Some phonological acquisition strategies used by two-year-olds. Journal of Childhood Communication Disorders, 7, 6–18.
21.
ElffersC.Van BaelC.StrikH. (2005). ADAPT: Algorithm for dynamic alignment of phonetic transcriptions. Nijmegen, The Netherlands: Department of Language & Speech, Radboud University. Retrieved from http://lands.let.ru.nl/literature/elffers.2005.1.pdf
22.
ErnestusM. (2000). Voice assimilation and segment reduction in casual Dutch: A corpus-based study of the phonology-phonetics interface. Utrecht, The Netherlands: LOT (National Graduate School of Linguistics).
23.
FikkertP. (1994). On the acquisition of prosodic structure. The Hague, The Netherlands: Holland Academic Graphics.
24.
FlipsenP.ParkerR. (2008). Phonological patterns in the conversational speech of children with cochlear implants. Journal of Communication Disorders, 41, 337–357.
25.
FulcherA.BakerE.PurcellA.MunroN. (2014). Typical consonant cluster acquisition in auditory-verbal children with early-identified severe/profound hearing loss. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 16, 69–81.
26.
GeirutJ. (1999). Syllable onsets: Clusters and adjuncts in acquisition. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 42, 708–726.
27.
GreenleeM. (1974). Interacting processes in the child’s acquisition of stop-liquid clusters. Papers and Reports on Child Language Development, 7, 85–100.
28.
HealyT.MadisonC. (1987). Articulation error migration: A comparison of single word and connected speech samples. Journal of Communication Disorders, 20, 129–139.
29.
HeislerL.GoffmanL.YoungerB. (2010). Lexical and articulatory interactions in children’s language production. Developmental Science, 13, 722–730.
30.
HuaZ.DoddB. (2000). The phonological acquisition of Putonghua (Modern Standard Chinese). Journal of Child Language, 27, 3–42.
31.
JongstraW. (2003). Variation in reduction strategies of Dutch word-initial consonant clusters (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Toronto University, Canada.
32.
LandisJ. R.KochG. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 39, 159–174.
33.
LeighJ.DetmmanS.DowellR.BriggsR. (2013). Communication development in children who receive a cochlear implant by 12 months of age. Otology & Neurotology, 34, 443–450.
34.
LiuH.LiuS.KirkK. I.ZhangJ.GeW.ZhengJ.… NiX. (2015). Longitudinal performance of spoken word perception in Mandarin pediatric cochlear implant users. International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, 79, 1677–1682.
35.
MacWhinneyB. (2000). The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
36.
McLeodS.HewittS. (2008). Variability in the production of words containing consonant clusters by typical 2- and 3-year-old children. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 60, 163–172.
37.
McLeodS.Van DoornJ.ReedV. (2001a). Consonant cluster development in two-year-olds: General trends and individual differences. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 44, 1144–1171.
38.
McLeodS.Van DoornJ.ReedV. (2001b). Normal acquisition of consonant clusters. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 10, 99–110.
MolemansI. (2011). A longitudinal investigation of aspects of the prelexical speech repertoire in young children acquiring Dutch: Normally hearing children and hearing-impaired children with a cochlear implant (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Antwerp, Belgium.
41.
Moreno-TorresI.Moruno-LopezE. (2014). Segmental and suprasegmental errors in Spanish learning cochlear implant users: Neurolinguistic interpretation. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 31, 1–16.
42.
NikolopoulosT.DyarD.ArchboldS.O’DonoghueG. (2004). Development of spoken language grammar following cochlear implantation in prelingually deaf children. Archives of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, 130, 629–633.
43.
OhalaD. (1999). The influence of sonority on children’s cluster reductions. Journal of Communication Disorders, 32, 397–422.
44.
PhoonH. S.MaclaganM.AdbdullahA. C. (2015). Acquisition of consonant clusters and acceptable variants in Chinese-influenced Malaysian English-speaking children. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 24, 517–532.
45.
R Core Team. (2013). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienne, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Retrieved from http://www.R-project.org/
46.
SchauwersK. (2006). Early speech and language development in deaf children with a cochlear implant: A longitudinal investigation (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Antwerp, Belgium.
47.
SchauwersK.TaelmanH.GillisS.GovaertsP. (2008). Phonological proficiency and accuracy of young hearing-impaired children with a cochlear implant. In KernS.GayraudF.MarsicoE. (Eds.), Emergence of linguistic abilities (pp. 156–171). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
48.
SerryT.BlameyP. (1999). A 4-year investigation into phonetic inventory development in young cochlear implant users. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 141–154.
49.
SmitA. B. (1993). Phonological error distribution in the Iowa-Nebraska articulation norms project: Word-initial consonant clusters. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 36, 931–947.
50.
SpencerL.GuoL. (2013). Consonant development in pediatric cochlear implants users who were implanted before 30 months of age. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 18, 93–109.
51.
SundströmS.SamuelssonC.LyxellB. (2014). Repetition of words and non-words in typically developing children: The role of prosody. First Language, 34, 428–449.
52.
TylerR.Fryauf-BertschyH.KelsayD.GantzB.WoodworthG.ParkinsonA. (1997). Speech perception by prelingually deaf children using cochlear implants. Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, 117, 180–187.
53.
Van den BergR. (2012). Syllables inside out: A longitudinal study of the development of syllable types in toddlers acquiring Dutch: A comparison between hearing impaired children with a cochlear implant and normally hearing children (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Antwerp, Belgium.
54.
Van SeverenL. (2012). A large-scale longitudinal survey of consonant development in toddlers’ spontaneous speech (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Antwerp, Belgium.
55.
VennemannT. (1988). Preference laws for syllable structure and the explanation of sound change. New York, NY: Mouton de Gruyter.
56.
VerhoevenJ.HideO.De MaeyerS.GillisS.GillisS. (2016). Hearing impairment and vowel production: A comparison between normally hearing, hearing-aided and cochlear implanted Dutch children. Journal of Communication Disorders, 59, 24–39. doi:J.JCOMDIS.2015.10.007
57.
Von MentzerC.LyxellB.SahlénB.DahlströmO.LindgrenM.OrsM.… UhlénI. (2015). Segmental and suprasegmental properties in nonword repetition: An explorative study of the associations with nonword decoding in children with normal hearing and children with bilateral cochlear implants. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 29, 216–235.
58.
Willstedt-SvenssonU.LöfqvistA.AlmqvistB.SahlénB. (2004). Is age at implant the only factor that counts? The influence of working memory on lexical and grammatical development in children with cochlear implants. International Journal of Audiology, 43, 506–515.
59.
WoltmanH.FeldstainA.MacKayC.RocchiM. (2012). An introduction to hierarchical linear modeling. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 8, 52–69.
60.
Wyllie-SmithL.McLeodS.BallM. (2006). Typically developing and speech-impaired children’s adherence to the sonority hypothesis. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 20, 271–291.
61.
YavasM. (2013). Acquisition of #sC clusters: Universal grammar vs. language-specific grammar. Letras De Hoje, 48, 355–361.
