Phonological development in Norwegian children aged 14-25 months

I will study the development of the articulation of the first words that Norwegian children acquire with data from 8 children, 4 girls and 4 boys, aged 14 to 25 months. I will analyze the child data within the framework of usage-based phonology, more prec isely from the perspective of word templates (Vihman & Croft 2007), the differentiation and tuning of gestures as well as their relative timing within words (Browman & Goldstein 1989 & Studdert Kennedy & Goodell 1995) and analogical formation (Bybee 2001) . Within usage-based theories on phonological acquisition it is assumed that children acquire gestures within words, and that language acquisition is a gradual process from pre-linguistic babbling via child language to adult language. The project will add to the body of knowledge of Norwegian children's early phonology as well as testing the usefulness of usage-based theories in analyses of Norwegian child language. I will draw on the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory studies on Norwegia n by Kristoffersen et al. 2008. Preliminary results from this study indicate that phonological development should be studied from 14 months. The parents of the children in my study will fill out CDI forms when the children are tested, and I will analyze m y data with regards to the vocabulary size of each child as well as the results from Kristoffersen et al. 2008.