Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of phonological development in early childhood?

Phonological development in early childhood involves various processes that children use as they learn to articulate sounds and develop their speech. Deletion, substitution, and assimilation are all common phonological processes where children simplify words by omitting sounds, replacing sounds with others, or altering sounds in a way that makes them easier to pronounce.

Deletion refers to the omission of certain sounds in words, such as saying "nana" instead of "banana." Substitution involves replacing one sound with another that may be easier for the child to say, like saying "wabbit" instead of "rabbit." Assimilation occurs when a child changes a sound in a word to be more like a neighboring sound, such as saying "gog" for "dog."

On the other hand, overgeneralization typically pertains to the application of grammatical rules rather than phonological processes. It is more related to syntax and morphology, where a child applies a rule too broadly, such as saying "goed" instead of "went." Therefore, overgeneralization does not align with the phonological characteristics that are typical in early childhood language acquisition, making it the correct answer to the question.