Child Phonology Research Articles

Exploring the speech and language of individuals with non-syndromic submucous cleft palate: a preliminary report.

Submucous cleft palate (SMCP) has a heterogeneous presentation and is often identified late or misdiagnosed. Diagnosis is prompted by speech, resonance or feeding symptoms associated with velopharyngeal insufficiency. However, the broader impacts of SMCP on communication have rarely been examined and therefore are poorly understood. To describe the communicative profile of individuals with non-syndromic SMCP by examining speech, language and pragmatics (social language). Fifteen participants with SMCP aged 5;1-12;8, without a genetic diagnosis, participated in the study. Participants completed standardized assessments examining language, resonance, speech and non-verbal intellect. Parents also completed the Children's Communication Checklist (CCC-2), which provided a measure of overall communicative ability, including pragmatic skills. Formal language outcomes were compared with two cohorts: 36 individuals with overt non-syndromic clefts and 129 individuals with no history of clefting. Speech intelligibility was reduced secondary to hypernasality, disordered articulation and/or impaired phonology (n = 7) in children with SMCP. Poorer overall language outcomes were observed for children with SMCP compared with both those with overt clefts and no history of clefting (p < 0.001). Language scores for children with SMCP ranged from impaired (n = 6) to above the standardized mean (n = 4). Receptive and expressive language performance were independently correlated with non-verbal IQ (p < 0.01). Those with severe language impairment (n = 4) also had borderline or impaired non-verbal IQ. Parents reported that speech and semantics were the most affected sub-domains of communication, while scores were the highest for the initiation domain. Speech and language skills were correlated strongly with pragmatics (r = 0.877, p < 0.01). Overall, performance was variable within the SMCP group across speech, language and pragmatic assessments. In addition to well-documented speech difficulties, children with SMCP may have language or pragmatic impairments, suggesting that further neurodevelopmental influences may be at play. As such, for individuals with SMCP, additional clinical screening of language and pragmatic abilities may be required to ensure accurate diagnosis and guide both cleft and non-cleft related therapy programmes.

The Phonology of Children's Early Words: Trends, Individual Variation, and Parents' Accommodation in Child-Directed Speech

The mental lexicon is dynamic and changes throughout the lifespan, but how does it begin? Previous research has established that children’s first words depend on their communicative needs, but also on their phonetic repertoire and phonological preferences. In this paper, we focus on the phonological characteristics of children’s first words, primarily looking at word-initial labials and word length in Norwegian children’s first words, as well as at how parents accommodate to child patterns in their speech. Comparing the Norwegian child data with data from children speaking five different languages, we examine how the child’s emergent lexicon is on the one hand shaped by the input of the ambient language, but on the other hand limited by more common phonological characteristics of child speech. Based on data from parental reports (CDI), we compared the 50 first words in Norwegian to those in Danish, Swedish, English and Italian, analysing two phonological aspects: word initial bilabials and word length in syllables. We found that Norwegian-speaking children follow the children speaking these other languages in having an affinity for word initial bilabials, but that the proportions of mono-, di- and polysyllables vary depending on the language acquired. Comparisons of the Norwegian child data with samples of adult directed speech (ADS) and child-directed speech (CDS) revealed more word-initial bilabials and shorter words among children than among adults. The CDS was more similar to children’s speech than ADS concerning the two phonological aspects dealt with here, which suggests that parents accommodate to children in phonologically detailed ways.

School-Aged Children's Phonological Accuracy in Multisyllabic Words on a Whole-Word Metric.

The purpose of this study is to examine differences in phonological accuracy in multisyllabic words (MSWs) on a whole-word metric, longitudinally and cross-sectionally, for elementary school-aged children with typical development (TD) and with history of protracted phonological development (PPD). Three mismatch subtotals, Lexical influence, Word Structure, and segmental Features (forming a Whole Word total), were evaluated in 3 multivariate analyses: (a) a longitudinal comparison (n = 22), at age 5 and 8 years; (b) a cross-sectional comparison of 8- to 10-year-olds (n = 12 per group) with TD and with history of PPD; and (c) a comparison of the group with history of PPD (n = 12) with a larger 5-year-old group (n = 62). Significant effect sizes (ηp2) found for mismatch totals were as follows: (a) moderate (Lexical, Structure) and large (Features) between ages 5 and 8 to 10 years, mismatch frequency decreasing developmentally, and (b) large between 8- to 10-year-olds with TD and with history of PPD (Structure, Features; minimal lexical influences), in favor of participants with TD. Mismatch frequencies were equivalent for 8- to 10-year-olds with history of PPD and 5-year-olds with TD. Classification accuracy in original subgroupings was 100% and 91% for 8- to 10-year-olds with TD and with history of PPD, respectively, and 86% for 5-year-olds with TD. Phonological accuracy in MSW production was differentiated for elementary school-aged children with TD and PPD, using a whole-word metric. To assist with the identification of children with ongoing PPD, the metric has the ability to detect weaknesses and track progress in global MSW phonological production.

Understanding spoken language through TalkBank.

Ongoing advances in computer technology have opened up a deluge of new datasets for understanding human behavior (Goldstone & Lupyan, 2016). Many of these datasets provide information on the use of written language. However, data on naturally occurring spoken-language conversations are much more difficult to obtain. A major exception to this is the TalkBank system, which provides online multimedia data for 14 types of spoken-language data: language in aphasia, child language, stuttering, child phonology, autism spectrum disorder, bilingualism, Conversation Analysis, classroom discourse, dementia, right hemisphere damage, Danish conversation, second language learning, traumatic brain injury, and daylong recordings in the home. The present report reviews these resources and describes the ways they are being used to further our understanding of human language and communication.

Intervenção fonoaudiológica com a utilização de software em casos de distúrbios dos sons da fala

To verify the effects of Speech Therapy focusing on phonological awareness and articulatory awareness in speech skills and in the literacy process of children with speech sound disorders. Seven children, aged between six and seven years old, male and female, and with speech disorders complaints participated in this study. These children were submitted to the following speech and language assessments: Children Phonological Assessment, Articulation Test, Articulatory Awareness Assessment, Phonological Awareness Testing by Oral Production and Word Writing Evaluation. Afterwards, they underwent speech and language therapy through the software "Pedro em uma noite assustadora". The sessions took place once a week, lasting approximately 30 minutes each. At the end of eight sessions, the children were reassessed with the same instruments used in the initial assessment. Data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Based on the analysis of data obtained, improvement in speech, articulatory awareness and phonological awareness skills, and Spelling Hypothesis of all children was observed. It can be concluded that speech therapy focusing on phonological awareness and articulatory awareness skills based on specific software has influenced the organization of speech patterns and acquisition of written language in most subjects.

Acquisition of meaning in bilingual children: Interference, translation and errors

Abstract Even though the process of the acquisition of phonology and syntax in bilingual children resembles that of monolinguals, vocabulary acquisition in bilingual children heavily depends on the input in each language. Bialystok (2004, p. 66) holds that “it may be that the acquisition of syntax and phonology is adequately triggered by exposure to the language, but vocabulary needs to be learned”. Children appear to have the capacity for acquiring more than the basic volume of vocabulary necessary for one language system. The aim of the present paper is to examine the following aspects: the processes of the acquisition of meaning; the manifestation of interference, transfer and borrowing; the task of finding translation equivalents; errors in vocabulary usage in bilingual children.

Prosodic and segmental aspects of nonword repetition in 4- to 6-year-old children who are deaf and hard of hearing compared to controls with normal hearing

ABSTRACTChildren who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) are at an increased risk of speech and language deficits. Nonword repetition (NWR) is a potential predictor of problems with phonology, grammar and lexicon in DHH children. The aim of the present study was to examine repetition of prosodic features and segments in nonwords by DHH children compared to children with normal hearing (NH) and to relate NWR performance to measures of language ability and background variables. In this cross-sectional study, 14 Swedish-speaking children with mild–profound sensorineural hearing loss, aged 4–6 years, and 29 age-matched controls with NH and typical language development participated. The DHH children used cochlear implants (CI), hearing aids or a combination of both. The assessment materials included a prosodically controlled NWR task, as well as tests of phonological production, expressive grammar and receptive vocabulary. The DHH children performed below the children with NH on the repetition of tonal word accents, stress patterns, vowels and consonants, with consonants being hardest, and tonal word accents easiest, to repeat. NWR performance was also correlated with language ability, and to hearing level, in the DHH children. Both prosodic and segmental features of nonwords are problematic for Swedish-speaking DHH children compared to children with NH, but performance on tonal word accent repetition is comparably high. NWR may have potential as a clinically useful tool for identification of children who are in need of speech and language intervention.

The role of phase synchronisation between low frequency amplitude modulations in child phonology and morphology speech tasks

Recent models of the neural encoding of speech suggest a core role for amplitude modulation (AM) structure, particularly regarding AM phase alignment. Accordingly, speech tasks that measure linguistic development in children may exhibit systematic properties regarding AM structure. Here, the acoustic structure of spoken items in child phonological and morphological tasks, phoneme deletion and plural elicitation, was investigated. The phase synchronisation index (PSI), reflecting the degree of phase alignment between pairs of AMs, was computed for 3 AM bands (delta, theta, beta/low gamma; 0.9-2.5 Hz, 2.5-12 Hz, 12-40 Hz, respectively), for five spectral bands covering 100-7250 Hz. For phoneme deletion, data from 94 child participants with and without dyslexia was used to relate AM structure to behavioural performance. Results revealed that a significant change in magnitude of the phase synchronisation index (ΔPSI) of slower AMs (delta-theta) systematically accompanied both phoneme deletion and plural elicitation. Further, children with dyslexia made more linguistic errors as the delta-theta ΔPSI increased. Accordingly, ΔPSI between slower temporal modulations in the speech signal systematically distinguished test items from accurate responses and predicted task performance. This may suggest that sensitivity to slower AM information in speech is a core aspect of phonological and morphological development.

Children Phonological Acquisition for 3 to 5-Year-Olds

This paper tries to explore the language acquisition of 3-to 5-year old children, especially in the field of phonology. Based upon this, the aim of his study is to raise the fact based on the data collected. Therefore, this paper can be categorized into the type of descriptive qualitative research. By this consideration, the data collecting technique used in this study is participatory conversational observation combined with informal technique as the data presentation technique so that the final presentation of the data will be specified into the description of the data that have been analyzed. Hence, the result of this study that can be raised to the surface is that 3-to 5-year-old children in kindergarten "Buah Hati" Rembiga are still problematic in pronouncing all sounds belonging to the plosive and fricative.

Consonant Sequence Reduction in Child Phonology

This article describes consonant sequence reduction in the speech of four children acquiring Yoruba and English concurrently. It is argued that the two children acquiring English primarily and Yoruba secondarily simply delete the most sonorous members of consonant sequences in a manner consistent with the sonority hierarchy, but the children acquiring Yoruba primarily and English secondarily reduce consonant sequences through coalescence. This is apparent in sequences containing sonorants plus voiceless obstruents as inputs, but which consistently have only the voiced counterpart of the input obstruent in the output. We argue that the voicing of the underlyingly voiceless obstruents in this case is from the input sonorant. It is also reported that where the child’s primary language is Yoruba, mastery of consonant sequences is slower than where it is English. It is argued that this is because these sequences are limited to only homorganic nasal plus a following consonant in Yoruba, whereas clusters are more frequently encountered in English.

Nonword Repetition and Vocabulary Knowledge as Predictors of Children's Phonological and Semantic Word Learning.

This study examined the unique and shared variance that nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge contribute to children's ability to learn new words. Multiple measures of word learning were used to assess recall and recognition of phonological and semantic information. Fifty children, with a mean age of 8 years (range 5-12 years), completed experimental assessments of word learning and norm-referenced assessments of receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition skills. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examined the variance in word learning that was explained by vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition after controlling for chronological age. Together with chronological age, nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge explained up to 44% of the variance in children's word learning. Nonword repetition was the stronger predictor of phonological recall, phonological recognition, and semantic recognition, whereas vocabulary knowledge was the stronger predictor of verbal semantic recall. These findings extend the results of past studies indicating that both nonword repetition skill and existing vocabulary knowledge are important for new word learning, but the relative influence of each predictor depends on the way word learning is measured. Suggestions for further research involving typically developing children and children with language or reading impairments are discussed.

Sobre a interpretação dos fatos do desenvolvimento fonológico

Abstract: This paper is an attempt at showing the difficulty of interpretation of data of phonological development out of the communicate context. Further more, it points out some ways to contrast child phonology and adult phonology.

Teoría universalista de Jakobson y orden de adquisición de los fonemas consonánticos del español mexicano: estudio de caso

The objective of this research was to contrast the results of the CEFI (Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Child Phonology) to elaborate a proposal for a possible acquisition order of the consonant phonemes in Mexican Spanish. Taken as a basis the Jakobson&rsquo;s universalist theory, the productions of two children aged 2 and 4, were analyzed acoustically to find out the differences and similitudes with this Jacobson proposal. Productions of the 4-year-old child showed no differences with the proposed order while the productions of the 2-year-old child presented some differences in the acquisition order of fricative phonemes regarding to affricate and vibrant consonants.

Adaptação ao Português Europeu de um instrumento interlinguístico de avaliação fonológica: CLCP-PE

The goal of this paper is to present the procedures carried out to adapt and to validate a phonological assessment tool developed under the Crosslinguistic Child Phonology Project (CLCP-EP). The tool was designed for Portuguese children aged 3 to 6 years old. The current version includes 157 words selected to test different phonological variables considered to be relevant for phonological assessment within the nonlinear phonological framework: segmental inventory; syllabic constituency; word stress; word length. The validation study was based on a naming task (digital visual stimuli) presented in a story-telling format, used to evaluate the adequacy of the pictures and the lexical items.

Specific Language Impairment: Evaluation and detection of differential psycholinguistic markers in phonology and morphosyntax in Spanish-speaking children

BackgroundThe diagnosis of Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is very complex, given the variety of clinical pictures described in this disorder. Knowledge about the linguistic markers of SLI can facilitate its differentiation from the normal profile of language development. These markers can also be used as tools that may improve diagnostic. AimsTo determine which psycholinguistic markers best discriminate Spanish-speaking children with SLI from children with typical language development. Method and procedureThe performance of 31 Spanish-speaking children with SLI was analysed using a battery of 13 psycholinguistic tasks organized into two areas: phonology and morphosyntax. The performance of the SLI group was compared to that of two subgroups of controls: aged matched (CA) and linguistically matched (CL). Outcomes and resultsThe data show that the SLI group performed worse than the CA subgroup on all 13 verbal tasks. However, the performance of the SLI group did not significantly differ from that of the CL subgroup on most (11/13) of the tasks. Stepwise discriminant analysis established the canonical function of three tasks (morphologic integration, sentence understanding and diadochokinesis) which significantly discriminated SLI from CA, with sensitivity 84% and specificity 90%. Conclusions and implicationsThese results contribute to determining the psycholinguistic and clinical characteristics of SLI in Spanish-speaking children and provide some methods for screening assessment.

Child Language Data Exchange System Tools for Clinical Analysis.

The Child Language Data Exchange System Project has developed methods for analyzing many aspects of child language development, including grammar, lexicon, discourse, gesture, phonology, and fluency. This article will describe the methods available for each of these six fields, and how they can be used for assessment in the clinical setting.

Influence of current input-output and age of first exposure on phonological acquisition in early bilingual Spanish-English-speaking kindergarteners.

Although some investigations of phonological development have found that segmental accuracy is comparable in monolingual children and their bilingual peers, there is evidence that language use affects segmental accuracy in both languages. To investigate the influence of age of first exposure to English and the amount of current input-output on phonological accuracy in English and Spanish in early bilingual Spanish-English kindergarteners. Also whether parent and teacher ratings of the children's intelligibility are correlated with phonological accuracy and the amount of experience with each language. Data for 91 kindergarteners (mean age = 5;6 years) were selected from a larger dataset focusing on Spanish-English bilingual language development. All children were from Central Texas, spoke a Mexican Spanish dialect and were learning American English. Children completed a single-word phonological assessment with separate forms for English and Spanish. The assessment was analyzed for segmental accuracy: percentage of consonants and vowels correct and percentage of early-, middle- and late-developing (EML) sounds correct were calculated. Children were more accurate on vowel production than consonant production and showed a decrease in accuracy from early to middle to late sounds. The amount of current input-output explained more of the variance in phonological accuracy than age of first English exposure. Although greater current input-output of a language was associated with greater accuracy in that language, English-dominant children were only significantly more accurate in English than Spanish on late sounds, whereas Spanish-dominant children were only significantly more accurate in Spanish than English on early sounds. Higher parent and teacher ratings of intelligibility in Spanish were correlated with greater consonant accuracy in Spanish, but the same did not hold for English. Higher intelligibility ratings in English were correlated with greater current English input-output, and the same held for Spanish. Current input-output appears to be a better predictor of phonological accuracy than age of first English exposure for early bilinguals, consistent with findings on the effect of language experience on performance in other language domains in bilingual children. Although greater current input-output in a language predicts higher accuracy in that language, this interacts with sound complexity. The results highlight the utility of the EML classification in assessing bilingual children's phonology. The relationships of intelligibility ratings with current input-output and sound accuracy can shed light on the process of referral of bilingual children for speech and language services.

Phonology in Swedish-speaking 5-year-olds born with unilateral cleft lip and palate and the relationship with consonant production at 3 years of age

Purpose: At ∼3 years of age ∼50% of the children born with cleft palate present with phonological/articulatory difficulties. Differences between children with and without cleft palate have been reported to decline with age; however, the phonology in children with cleft palate at pre-school age/early school age has rarely been explored. The purpose of this study was to assess phonology in children with unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) at age 5 and its relationship with performances at 3 years of age.Method: The study included 29 children with UCLP and 20 without UCLP. Percentage correct consonants adjusted for age (PCC-A) and number of consistent phonological simplification processes were assessed from phonetic transcriptions. In addition, a descriptive analysis of phonological/articulatory processes was performed.Result: The children with UCLP displayed significantly lower PCC-A and more phonological processes at age 5 years than peers without UCLP. The correlations between the outcomes at 3 and 5 years of age were significant.Conclusion: Still at 5 years of age many children with cleft palate have phonological problems and it is possible to identify children at risk for impaired phonology at earlier age.

Using PhonBank and Phon in studies of phonological development and disorders

The goal of this paper is to present an overview of new tools that can be used to further our understanding of phonological development and disorders. We begin with a summary of the field of child phonology with a focus on databases and methods of analysis and then move to a description of PhonBank, a shared database for the study of phonology, and Phon, a specialised software system capable of performing various types of phonological analyses based on both phonetic transcriptions and acoustic analyses of speech productions. We provide a detailed example of using PhonBank and Phon to examine the use of velar fronting using longitudinal data from one child with typical development and three children with phonological disorder. We conclude with an emphasis on data sharing and its central relevance to further advances in our field.

Swahili speech development: preliminary normative data from typically developing pre-school children in Tanzania.

Swahili is widely spoken in East Africa, but to date there are no culturally and linguistically appropriate materials available for speech-language therapists working in the region. The challenges are further exacerbated by the limited research available on the typical acquisition of Swahili phonology. To describe the speech development of 24 typically developing first language Swahili-speaking children between the ages of 3;0 and 5;11 years in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A cross-sectional design was used with six groups of four children in 6-month age bands. Single-word speech samples were obtained from each child using a set of culturally appropriate pictures designed to elicit all consonants and vowels of Swahili. Each child's speech was audio-recorded and phonetically transcribed using International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) conventions. Children's speech development is described in terms of (1) phonetic inventory, (2) syllable structure inventory, (3) phonological processes and (4) percentage consonants correct (PCC) and percentage vowels correct (PVC). Results suggest a gradual progression in the acquisition of speech sounds and syllables between the ages of 3;0 and 5;11 years. Vowel acquisition was completed and most of the consonants acquired by age 3;0. Fricatives/z, s, h/ were later acquired at 4 years and /θ/and /r/ were the last acquired consonants at age 5;11. Older children were able to produce speech sounds more accurately and had fewer phonological processes in their speech than younger children. Common phonological processes included lateralization and sound preference substitutions. The study contributes a preliminary set of normative data on speech development of Swahili-speaking children. Findings are discussed in relation to theories of phonological development, and may be used as a basis for further normative studies with larger numbers of children and ultimately the development of a contextually relevant assessment of the phonology of Swahili-speaking children.