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This study analysed the early linguistic development of Italian pre-term children. Samples of spontaneous pre-linguistic and verbal production were recorded at 12 and 18 months of age from two groups of children: 24 pre-term children and 15 full-term children. The Italian version of the MacArthur-Bates Questionnaire was administered at 24 months of age. Comparisons between these two groups reveal differences in many aspects of phonetic and phonological development, such as consonantal inventory at 12 and 18 months of age and syllabic babbling complexity at 18 months of age. Results evidenced that birth weight was related with phonological skills exhibited at 18 months of age, and these skills in turn are related with vocabulary size at 24 months of age. Data are discussed within a theoretical framework that hypothesizes that early phonetic abilities have long-lasting effects on the process of language acquisition.

This study examined early vocal production to assess whether it is possible to identify predictors of vocabulary development prior to the age point at which lexical delay is usually identified. Characteristics of babbling and first words in 12 Italian children with slow expressive development (late talkers; LT) were compared with those of 12 typically developing (TD) peers. Syllable structure and phonetic characteristics of babbling and first words produced by both groups of children at 20 months were analysed during mother-child play sessions. Results indicated that phonetic complexity and number of consonantal types were lower in the LT group. The two groups also differed in their use of sound classes and their syllable structure. Overall, it can be said that LTs development is similar to (but slower than) TDs, as opposed to having an atypical pattern of phonological development.