Word-initial rhotics in Slovenian 4-year-olds with typical versus protracted phonological development

This paper describes word-initial (WI) rhotic cluster development in Slovenian 4-year-olds. Data for /l/ and WI singleton /r/ serve as comparisons. Participants were 19 children with typical development (TD) and 13 with more protracted phonological development (PPD). A single-word list included 15 WI /r/-clusters, 9 /l/-clusters and 3 singleton /r/s and /l/s each. Results showed significantly higher match (accuracy) levels for rhotics in the TD group. Among rhotic clusters, TD children showed highest match levels for labial clusters, and the PPD group, for /dr/. Match levels did not differ significantly between singletons and clusters or targets in stressed versus unstressed syllables. Substitutions were more frequent than deletions, and children with PPD had more frequent and varied mismatch patterns; for the PPD group, [l] was the most frequent substitution for /r/ and for the TD group, other rhotics. The study provides additional criterion reference data on Slovenian phonological development.