What is the term for reducing a consonant cluster in speech, commonly observed in young children?

Cluster reduction refers to the process where a child simplifies a consonant cluster by omitting one of the consonants. This is a common phenomenon in the speech development of young children as their articulatory abilities are still maturing. For instance, a child might say "top" instead of "stop" or "pane" instead of "plane."

This type of phonological process helps children make the pronunciation of words more manageable until they develop the necessary skills to articulate the entire cluster. Understanding cluster reduction is important for speech-language pathologists as they assess and support children's speech development. Other terms such as liquid gliding, diminutization, or phoneme deletion refer to different speech patterns and processes that do not specifically address the simplification of consonant clusters.