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Twin language or phonological disorder?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Barbara Dodd  and
Sandra McEvoy
Barbara Dodd*
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Sandra McEvoy
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
*
Department of Speech and Hearing, The University of Queensland, 4072, Australia.
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Abstract

The acquisition of language in the preschool years by multiple-birth children is often reported to be atypical. Some researchers have claimed that they use ‘twin language’, i.e. an autonomous language specific to a multiple-birth set. This claim was investigated by describing and comparing the phonological characteristics of the speech of 19 sets of two- to four-year-old multiple-birth children, and by measuring multiple-birth children's understanding of their twins' or triplets' context-free speech. The results indicated that multiple-birth children are prone to phonological disorder and consequently their speech is often unintelligible. Siblings' phonologies evidenced some similarities, although they were not identical. Multiple-birth children were better able to understand their siblings' mispronunciations than were other children of the same age, although that understanding was dependent on how closely the error form resembled the adult form. While these three factors conspire to give the impression that ‘twin language’ is common, none of these findings provided support for the claim that multiple-birth children use an autonomous language.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , June 1994 , pp. 273 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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Footnotes

[*]

We are grateful for the co-operation of the parents and children who participated in this study. The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council provided financial assistance.

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