A phonological complexity measure (PCM) for children's productions: Evidence from Hebrew-acquiring children.

The current study presents the development of a Phonological Complexity Measure for children (PCM), which employs a graded coding and provides a structured approach for assessing phonological complexity. The measure evaluates the phonological units in the child's productions without comparisons to target words, reflecting the degree of complexity at each phonological level (word, syllable, and segment) according to the order of acquisition. Speech productions of 16 Hebrew-speaking children aged 21-51 months were collected during play interactions. From each interaction, 100 words were analysed. Results indicated that children produced more complex words, syllables, and segments with age, as seen by increasing scores of total PCM, and scores at each phonological level. It is suggested that the PCM reflects the development of phonological complexity of Hebrew-speaking children and can provide a useful cross-linguistic framework for assessing phonological development in young children.