由於幼兒早期發音與字彙在音節結構與語音廣度上有極大的相似性(Vihman & Miller, 1988; Stoel-Gammon & Cooper, 1984)，本文旨在觀測九項參數於牙牙學語至初期字彙的長期變化，並藉由五項指標及子音使用來探討牙牙學語與初期字彙之間的連續性。此九項參數包括平均音節數、非喉音子音數、重複音數、單句發音時間長度、平均音數、單音發音時間長度、平均發音速度、字彙量、字彙類。五項指標則為總音節數、總非喉音子音數、總音數、平均每句非喉音子音與母音音節組合數、平均每音節非喉音子音與母音音節組合數。本研究從四位幼兒6至18個月的音檔中每兩個月為一間隔選取一捲音檔分析，並改編、套用Fagan (2009) 及Chen (2015) 的編碼紀錄每位幼兒音檔中前50個可辨識的發音。本文共有四項發現。第一、此九項參數於牙牙學語階段及初期字彙階段前後皆有明顯變化。第二、此五項指標於牙牙學語階段與初期字彙階段皆有顯著相關。第三、牙牙學語中使用的子音仍會在初期字彙中出現。第四、與傳統標音系統相比，自然編碼可更快速、有效地標記幼兒發音。此結果顯示牙牙學語階段與初期字彙階段為幼兒語言發展的重要轉捩點。此外，牙牙學語與初期字彙不論在宏觀的角度 (音節量/字彙量)，或微觀的角度(子音使用)上皆具連續性。未來的研究可著墨於如何利用自然編碼從早期發音推測到更晚期的字彙發展。

Given the similarities between children’s babbling and first words in terms of syllable structure and phonetic inventory (Vihman & Miller, 1988; Stoel-Gammon & Cooper, 1984), the present study aimed to investigate the longitudinal change of children’s utterances in relation to the onset of canonical babbling (hereafter CB) and the first word stage through nine parameters: number of CV syllables; number of supra-glottal consonants; number of repetitions; seconds per utterance; number of sounds; seconds per sound; syllables per second; number of words; and, type of words. The researcher also explored the continuity between CB and the first word stage through five variables: total number of CV syllables; total number of supra-glottal consonants; total number of sounds; number of SGCV syllables per utterance; number of SGCV syllables per syllable, and consonant repertoire. The first 50 utterances of four typically developing children’s recordings taken once every two months from 6 to 18 months constituted the data in the present study. In addition, Fagan’s (2009) and Chen’s (2015) coding system were revised into 12 coding categories to transcribe the children’s early speech. Major findings include: 1) the developmental trend of the nine parameters displayed obvious changes in relation to CB and the first word stage; 2) the five variables correlated significantly between CB and the first word stage; 3) consonant inventories that occurred in babblings were continuously used within early words; 4) compared with the traditional International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the naturalistic coding system was a feasible, fast and effective tool in marking the children’s early vocalizations. These findings suggest that CB and the first word stage serve as critical turning points within children’s early speech development. Moreover, the continuity between CB and the first word stage was embodied in terms of both the macro (tokens of syllables / vocabulary size) and micro (consonant repertoire) perspectives. The prediction of later lexical development from prelinguistic vocalizations should be further explored by future studies adopting the naturalistic coding system.

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