To investigate links between sound discrimination and explicit sound-meaning mapping by preschoolers with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). Method: We tested 26 children with DLD and 26 age-and gender-matched peers with typical language development (TLD). Inclusion was determined via results of standardized assessments of language and cognitive skills and a hearing screening. Children completed two computerized tasks designed to assess pitch and duration discrimination and explicit mapping of pitch-and duration-contrasting sounds to objects. Result: Children with TLD more successfully mapped pitch categories to meanings than children with DLD. Children with TLD also showed significantly better overall sound discrimination than children with DLD. Sound-discrimination scores were significantly associated with soundmeaning mapping, and this relationship did not differ across groups or acoustic cues. Thus, significant sound-discrimination differences between the groups likely contributed to differences in sound-meaning-mapping accuracy. Conclusion: Children with DLD had more difficulty mapping sound categories to meanings than TLD peers. We discuss possible explanations for this finding, focusing on the link between sound discrimination and mapping sounds to meaning, as well as implications for theoretical accounts of the etiology of DLD.