Drawing on data from children with typically developing and disordered phonological systems, this volume presents a wealth of research that addresses issues in phonological theory, language acquisition, and the remediation of phonological disorders. Although some of the chapters have previously been published elsewhere, a substantial portion of this work is found here in print for the first time.

This book is divided into four main sections, each comprising three to five related chapters. Part 1, “Background to the Study,” begins with a useful primer on Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky, 1993/Reference Prince and Smolensky2004), which should be accessible to, and useful for, those who are interested in questions of phonological acquisition but who have limited familiarity with this theoretical approach. This introduction of the theoretical framework is followed by chapters that describe the Indiana University developmental phonology archive and the single-subject experimental approach, which, together, form the basis for much of the authors’ work.

Part 2 focuses on opacity effects in acquisition. Morrisette and Gierut present a typical case of opaque phonology: a chain shift where target /s/ surfaces as the interdental fricative [θ] and where target /θ/ surfaces as [f]. Opacity is generally not easily analyzed in Optimality Theory, and the spontaneous emergence of patterns of this type in developing phonologies presents a particular challenge. The three chapters in this section compare two theoretical proposals for the analysis of opacity in Optimality Theory and test them against child language data. Dinnsen’s chapter also provides an account of second language (L2)–derived environment effects as discussed in the work of Eckman, Elreyes, and Iverson (Reference Eckman, Elreyes and Iverson2003).

Part 3 addresses specific changes in children’s phonologies that occur during the course of acquisition. Gierut and Dinnsen test children’s evolving perception of the similarity between segments that differ in place of articulation, manner of articulation, or both, through a series of experiments. Dinnsen considers the persistent nature of certain error patterns in children’s speech and provides novel insight into the connection between chain shifts and overgeneralization patterns. Dinnsen and Farris-Trimble examine apparent changes in what constitutes a privileged phonological position during the course of acquisition.

Part 4 presents five chapters that deal with the acquisition of consonant clusters. Gierut’s chapter is likely of most interest to L2 researchers, as it attempts to replicate with phonologically delayed children Archibald and Vanderweide’s (Reference Archibald and Vanderweide1997) L2 finding of an implicational relationship between the existence of consonant plus liquid clusters and a /l/-/r/ contrast. Gierut notes that both L2 learners and children with phonological delays receive explicit instruction, and so the failure to replicate here must be attributed to other factors, such as the participant’s age. Direct comparisons between child first language and adult L2 acquisition are often complicated by the fact that learners differ in both age and exposure to explicit instruction; Gierut argues that comparisons with phonologically delayed children are thus preferable in L2 research.

Although the contributions of this volume are unarguably substantial, there are a few areas that would benefit from more attention. There is relatively little consideration here of the precise mechanisms of learning, despite the fact that the chapters are generally concerned with longitudinal development. The effects of specific errors are not always fully represented, and, at times, the availability of the required evidence seems questionable. This is a particular concern in Part 2, in which models for representing opacity are explicitly compared. All of the chapters here assume a version of the constraint demotion algorithm (Tesar & Smolensky, Reference Tesar and Smolensky1998), which has no generally accepted way of representing gradual change between stages of development; certain conclusions would likely be altered if a different approach to learning were adopted. Interested readers could consult Boersma and Levelt (Reference Boersma and Levelt2003) and the chapters in Kager, Pater, and Zonneveld (Reference Kager, Pater and Zonneveld2004) for additional perspectives on phonological acquisition in Optimality Theory that address some of these issues. Nonetheless, this volume should be of significant interest to researchers for the insight it provides into the connections between linguistic theory and language acquisition data. Anyone engaged in phonological acquisition research would do well to spend some time with this book.