The Phonetics of Cat and Mama

The six-month period following the first use of words by Jessie L. was dominated by two one-word utterances, cat and mama. A near-total record of her use of these words, along with several minor lexical items, is the basis of a detailed analysis of her acquisition of phonetic and phonological capacities. The apparent plateau of the second year is a site of intensive language-learning, which is not reflected in the growth of vocabulary or mean length of utterance.