Articulatory placement for /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/ targets in school age children with speech disorders associated with cleft palate

Abstract

This study used electropalatography (EPG) to identify place of articulation for lingual plosive targets /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/ in the speech of 15 school age children with repaired cleft palate. Perceptual judgements indicated that all children had correct velar placement for /k/, /g/ targets, but /t/, /d/ targets were produced as errors involving palatalization or velar placement. An EPG classification scheme identified alveolar, palatal and velar placement. Articulations involving contact in alveolar and velar regions simultaneously were identified as alveolar velar double articulations (AVDAs). The classification revealed that AVDAs were relatively frequent, with 28% of alveolar and 12% of velar targets affected, and ten out of the 15 children produced one or more of these abnormal articulations. The majority of children had variable placements, with alveolar more variable than velar targets. The positive finding from the EPG data revealed that most children with perceptual errors for /t/, /d/ were able to make closure in the alveolar region during at least some of their attempts to articulate these targets. It is argued that appropriate analysis and interpretation of EPG data provide clinically relevant information about tongue placement in cleft palate speech.