Speech Reduction in Middle Childhood: the Case of Child–Caregiver Interactions

Reduction, a common phenomenon in everyday speech, affects phonemes, syllables, and words across various languages and speakers. Despite its ubiquity, reduction remains underexplored, particularly in children’s speech. This study addresses this gap by analyzing reduction patterns in French-speaking children aged 7 and 11 during video call interactions with caregivers, focusing on both lexicalized and non-lexicalized reductions. We found that children exhibited similar patterns of lexicalized reductions to adults, based on 11 common French reduction forms, with no significant differences between the two-child groups. However, reduction rates varied by specific items, with some showing high reduction ratios despite low frequency. Non-lexicalized reductions, involving more complex linguistic mechanisms, were rare among children but varied among caregivers, suggesting that children had not yet mastered these advanced forms. There was no correlation between children’s and caregivers’ reduction strategies, indicating that caregivers’ behaviors did not directly influence children’s. Additionally, articulation rates differed significantly across groups, increasing with age and correlating with higher reduction rates. These results suggest that while 7- and 11-year-olds exhibit similar language and reduction patterns, they are still developing the more sophisticated reduction mechanisms seen in adults.