A Case Study Of Consonant Acquisition Of Mandarin Speaking Children

This paper is a study of a Mandarin speaking child’s acquisition of syllable initial consonants. Syllable-Initial consonant error is a common phenomenon during the phonological acquisition process of Mandarin-speaking children. Based on the experimental data of a child after age three, the study not only confirms the previous conclusions but also explores the causes of syllable initial consonant error from physiological and linguistic points of view. The study is aimed to support conclusions from a synchronic perspective through analyzing the patterns of initial consonant error produced by another Mandarin-speaking child aged03;10. According to the data, there are two main patterns of syllable-initial consonant error produced by the subject, including substitution and deletion. Substitution contains seven ways:stopping, affrication, X-velarization, fronting, backing, de-aspiration and semi-vocalizing. It is believed that the laws expressed by the syllable-initial consonant error produced by the subject are as following. First, the patterns and quantity of syllable-initial consonant error at various stages of development have different characteristics; second, the patterns and quantity of initial consonant error have a certain degree of correlation with the sequence of syllable-initial consonant acquisition; third, the appearances of syllable-initial consonant error patterns are different in frequency. On the restrictive factors, the constraint of Physiological factors for the phonological development of the subject is mainly embodied in an order of physical domination, and the linguistic factor is also one of the causes for the output of syllable-initial consonant error.This thesis can be a supplement for studies of syllable-initial consonant acquisition of Mandarin speaking children.