Do Changes in a <i>Form’s Ratio of Conditioning</i> During Childhood Coincide with Changes in Children’s Lexical Representations?

Child language development unfolds in a piecemeal manner and according to usage patterns. This study tests whether a novel measure of usage that tracks changes in words’ contexts of use during childhood also coincides with piecemeal developmental changes. More specifically, this study examines whether developmental changes in thirty 5- to 15-year-old Spanish-speaking children’s Spanish /b/-initial word pronunciations progress according to how /b/-initial words’ frequency of use in contexts conditioning /b/ spirantization shift during childhood. A Bayesian mixed-effects linear regression provides evidence that /b/-initial words’ trajectories of reduction are guided by words’ shifting frequency of use in contexts conditioning spirantization. These findings indicate that changes in contextualized usage patterns align with changes in children’s lexical representations.