Measuring the Whole Word Complexity in Tulu Speaking Children between 3 to 4 Years of Age

Abstract

The utility of whole world complexity measures in studying the phonological acquisition is gaining importance in child language development research. The present study aims to explore phonological whole word complexity measures (PMLU, PWP & PWC) in sixty, 3 - 4 year old Tulu speaking children stratified into four age bands. The whole word complexity measures were estimated on picture naming task. A statistical significant increase in scores was noted amongst the four age groups for all the whole word complexity measures considered for the study. The comparison of scores in Tulu with earlier research in Kannada indicated a lower score, which was attributed to difference in the syllable structure, sample size and variation in the total number of segments attempted by the children. These measures have the potential to discover aspects of phonological acquisition that have been missed due to the focus on segments. Hence, normative data should be established specific to a language for different age groups using larger sample size.