Bulgarian Consonant Acquisition in Preschoolers with Typical versus Protracted Phonological Development

Previous research on Bulgarian consonant acquisition reports earlier acquisition of stops, nasals and glides than fricatives, affricates and liquids. The current study expands the investigation of Bulgarian consonant acquisition. The primary objective was to identify characteristics of protracted versus typical phonological development (PPD versus TD) relative to consonant match (accuracy) levels and mismatch patterns. A native speaker audio-recorded and transcribed single-word productions (110-word list) of sixty 3- to 5-year-olds (30 TD, 30 PPD). Another two transcribers confirmed transcriptions using acoustic analysis for disambiguation. Data generally confirmed previous findings regarding the order of consonant acquisition. Factors characteristic of PPD in comparison with TD were: lower match levels, especially at age 3 for onsets in unstressed syllables: later mastery of laterals; and a greater proportion and range of mismatch patterns, including deletion and more than one feature mismatch per segment (e.g., Manner & Place). The paper concludes with clinical and research implications.