The Word Complexity Measure: description and application to developmental phonology and disorders

Miccio's work included a number of articles on the assessment of phonology in children with phonological disorders, typically using measures of correct articulation, using the PCC, or analyses of errors, using the framework of phonological processes. This paper introduces an approach to assessing phonology by examining the phonetic complexity of children's productions. Unlike most current measures of phonological development and disorders, this approach does not assess accuracy, but focuses exclusively on the complexity of segments, syllables, and words. Using independent analyses, the Word Complexity Measure is based on the phonetic complexity of a child's productions, with later acquired sound classes, syllable shapes, and word patterns coded as more complex. The Word Complexity Measure allows researchers and clinicians to compare the phonetic and phonological aspects of productions across children and over time. The measure can also be used to compare the complexity of a child's productions with that of the target words.