Lexical acquisition and acquisition of initial voiceless stops

The interaction between lexical acquisition and acquisition of initial voiceless stops was studied in two normally developing children, aged 1;9 and 1;10, by acoustically examining the token-by-token accuracy of initial voiceless stop targets in different lexical items. Production accuracy was also examined as it related to the frequency of usage of different words, as well as the time when they entered the children's lexicons. Fewer than half of the words in the children's lexicons had tokens representing the emergence of accurate voiceless stop production prior to the session at which the voicing contrast was achieved. These words were primarily 'old' words that had been in the children's lexicons from the beginning of data collection, as opposed to 'new' words, first produced in later recording sessions. Findings are discussed in reference to the 'lexical diffusion' model of sound change and within the framework of nonlinear underspecification theory.