ABSTRACT
Within the past few years researchers have begun to examine children’s early word productions as a source of evidence regarding how and when linguistically meaningful prosodic representations are constructed (Demuth, 1992, 1994; Fee, 1992; Fikkert, 1992, 1994; Wijnen, Kirkhaar, & den Os, 1994). In this chapter I show that children’s early productions, while often ill formed from a segmental, syllabic, or morphological point of view, are nonetheless prosodically well-formed minimal words. In so doing I draw on recent developments in phonological theory, specifically those dealing with the prosodic organization of words (e.g., Selkirk, 1984; Nespor & Vogel, 1986; Hayes, 1987; McCarthy & Prince, 1986, 1990). I conclude by showing that children exploit different levels of prosodic structure, using these to organize their early speech productions.
