“Early Perceptual Strategies for the Replication of Consonants from Polysyllabic Lexical Models” by Harriet B. Klein investigated and discusses the ways in which particular word factors such as stress level and serial position of the syllable facilitate the production of polysyllabic words. The article also presents investigation of “perceptual processing strategies or the selection and organization of consonants for early replicas of polysyllabic mode” as a study related to the classification of productive strategies. Originally the study was conducted through collecting a language sample from four children, yet in present article the author focuses on only two of them. “Each child’s perceptual strategy is described on the basis of the proportion of instances that his/her consonant replicas could be related with the occurrence of specific word factors”.

The results of the study presented by the author demonstrate that primary stress plays an important role in the choice of consonant from two- or more syllable words, and that there is a close connection between number of syllables that a child usually produces and preferences for specific interactions of processing cues (stress and serial position) when two main stress level appear.

The author states that the main purposes of the investigation is to describe how syllabic factors provide cues for selection and arrangement of consonant production in early stages of lexical/phonological development, as well as to observe the connection between the way children modify their words and the way their modifications are influenced by particular input factors. Klein also recommends considering supra-segmental influence when determining “strength hierarchies between and among consonants during phonological acquisition and for planning intervention goals for children who are somehow impaired in developing production skills”.

The analysis provided by the author is based on more detailed observation of Klein (1981) and is related to the conceptual framework provided in the works of Smith (1973), Ingram (1974b), and Shriberg and Kwiatkowski (1980). The study is also based on part of a doctoral dissertation completed by the author at Teachers College, Columbia University, 1977.