Book Review: Phonological development in specific contexts: Studies of Chinese-speaking children

This book examines the phonological development and impairment of Chinese-speaking children. It contains a series of studies of phonological acquisition and development of children in specific contexts (Putonghua or Modern Standard Chinese, the language variety promoted by the Chinese government, and normally developing children, children with speech disorders, children with hearing impairments, and twins). Chapter 1 reviews existing cross-linguistic studies of language acquisition from a cross-populational perspective. Chapter 2 describes the phonological structure of Putonghua, highlighting aspects relevant to the subsequent discussion of phonological acquisition in various conditions. Chapter 3 reports a normative, cross-sectional study of normally developing Putonghua-speaking children age 1-4 years. Chapter 4 includes a longitudinal study of children at their early stage of phonological acquisition and provides information on the sequential development of suprasegmental and segmental features which are acquired either in an early stage of within a short period of time. Chapter 5 examines characteristics of the phonological systems of Putonghua-speaking children with speech disorders. Chapter 6 documents the development and change in phonology of Putonghua-speaking children with speech difficulties. Chapter 7 investigates the phonological system of a set of identical Putonghua-speaking twins. Chapter 8 presents a longitudinal case study of the phonological development of a Putonghua-speaking child with a prelingual hearing impairment. Chapter 9 summarizes study findings.