Sentence Productions Research Articles

The perception of (trans)masculine speech: Effects of stimulus acoustics and rater identity

A large body of work has examined the acoustic characteristics of cisgender, heterosexual (cishet) men and women’s speech, and the acoustic features that predict listeners’ judgments of binary gender through speech. Considerably less work has examined the diverse ways that non-cishet men, non-cishet women, and people whose gender is neither exclusively male nor exclusively female express gender through speech. Moreover, there is relatively little work on how gender-diverse listener groups perceive gender through speech. This poster presents the results of a perception experiment designed to fill those gaps. Stimuli were multiple sentence productions of 20 masculine-presenting individuals, including cisgender men, transgender men, and transmasculine nonbinary people. These are described and analyzed acoustically in Dolquist (2023). Listeners were 88 cishet men, 62 cishet women, and 50 gender and sexuality diverse (GSD) individuals. Listeners identified gender identity, gender orientation (i.e., cisgender or transgender), and a variety of attributes for each stimulus. GSD listeners were more likely than cishet men and cishet women to identify voices as transgender or nonbinary, and were more likely to evaluate those voices favorably. Moreover, cishet men and women’s judgments of gender were more strongly predicted by sex-dimorphic acoustic characteristics like f0 than were GSD listeners’ judgments.

Speech Elicitation Methods for Measuring Articulatory Control.

Spatiotemporal index (STI) is a common measure of articulatory variability used to examine speech-motor control. However, the methods used to elicit productions for measuring STI have varied across studies. The aim of this study was to determine whether STI values are affected by changes in elicitation methods. Lip aperture STI (LA STI) was calculated for 19 monolingual English-speaking young adults based upon the production of four declarative sentences that varied by length and complexity. Using a 2 × 2 design, productions were elicited under the following two conditions: repetition type (consecutive vs. pseudorandom) and stimulus presentation type (auditory vs. combined auditory and visual). Conditions for eliciting productions were counterbalanced among participants. There was a main effect of repetition type (p < .001) and sentence type (p < .030). Pseudorandom repetitions resulted in higher mean LA STI values across sentence types compared to those computed from consecutive repetitions. There were no significant differences for stimulus presentation type. That is, no differences in mean LA STI were found between the auditory versus combined auditory and visual presentations. Our findings show that the methods used to elicit sentence productions have a significant effect on LA STI values. Findings suggest that there is a need for researchers to consider these effects when designing methods for measuring LA STI.

Both syntactic and pragmatic sentence adequacy matters for recursive theory of mind in 5-year-olds

Syntax comprehension, vocabulary, and executive cognitive function are important predictors of first-order theory of mind (ToM) ability. The development of second-order or recursive ToM abilities may require more advanced linguistic skills, such as the ability to use syntactically adequate sentences. However, the recursive structure of ToM may be also based on less complex but pragmatically adequate constructions. Using two novel recursive syntax production tasks, this study investigated the relation between syntactic and pragmatic adequacy of sentence productions and second-order false belief (FB) reasoning in five-year-old children (N = 142). Syntactic adequacy of sentence productions explained 6% of variance in second-order FB reasoning above and beyond grammar comprehension, vocabulary production, and working memory, while pragmatic adequacy explained an additional 4% of variance in the recursive ToM. The new recursive syntax production tasks differed with respect to how pragmatically and syntactically adequate sentences were elicited. The paper discusses the question of how to measure recursive syntax production and whether it is a necessary precondition of more complex forms of theory of mind reasoning.

Behind a spoken discourse: Idiomatic expressions in IELTS speaking test

The performance of a wider range of vocabulary mastery in IELTS speaking test is imperative to escalate the band score achievement. The present study sought to investigate the teaching of idioms in an IELTS preparation program with regards to the kinds of idioms taught in the class, how the students used them during the mock post test, and whether the use of idioms interfere with the grammatical accuracy. The study was in urgency to be conducted with regards to the absence of the teaching of idioms for IELTS at least in the past five years. The data were collected from the recorded speaking performance of five students at intermediate level of English, in both mock pretest and post test to see if there were some alterations in the predicted test score and a deep interview with one candidate to have strengthen the arguments. The results showed significant differences in the students’ performance of speaking in pretest and after they were taught idioms despite some less accurate grammar in the sentence productions. The findings of the study can have potential pedagocical implications for teachers of IELTS preparation classes to incorporate the teaching of idioms in either speaking or vocabulary lessons.

Clear Speech Variants: An Investigation of Intelligibility and Speaker Effort in Speakers With Parkinson's Disease.

This study investigated the effects of three clear speech variants on sentence intelligibility and speaking effort for speakers with Parkinson's disease (PD) and age- and sex-matched neurologically healthy controls. Fourteen speakers with PD and 14 neurologically healthy speakers participated. Each speaker was recorded reading 18 sentences from the Speech Intelligibility Test in their habitual speaking style and for three clear speech variants: clear (SC; given instructions to speak clearly), hearing impaired (HI; given instructions to speak with someone with a hearing impairment), and overenunciate (OE; given instructions to overenunciate each word). Speakers rated the amount of physical and mental effort exerted during each speaking condition using visual analog scales (averaged to yield a metric of overall speaking effort). Sentence productions were orthographically transcribed by 50 naive listeners. Linear mixed-effects models were used to compare intelligibility and speaking effort across the clear speech variants. Intelligibility was reduced for the PD group in comparison to the control group only in the habitual condition. All clear speech variants significantly improved intelligibility above habitual levels for the PD group, with OE maximizing intelligibility, followed by the SC and HI conditions. Both groups rated speaking effort to be significantly higher for both the OE and HI conditions versus the SC and habitual conditions. For speakers with PD, all clear speech variants increased intelligibility to a level comparable to that of healthy controls. All clear speech variants were also associated with higher levels of speaking effort than habitual speech for the speakers with PD. Clinically, findings suggest that clear speech training programs consider using the instruction "overenunciate" for maximizing intelligibility. Future research is needed to identify if high levels of speaking effort elicited by the clear speech variants affect long-term sustainability of the intelligibility benefit.

A descriptive study on the acoustic and kinematic characteristics of internal open junctures: Implications for highly intelligible individuals with Parkinson’s disease

This study extends previous work on the acoustic characteristics of ambiguous sentences for male speakers with Parkinson’s disease (PD) [Kuo, JASA 148(4), 2583 (2020)] with additional data. Specifically, the purpose of this study is to further understand acoustic and articulatory characteristics of internal open junctures for speakers with PD. Internal open junctures consist of set strings of phonemes that are phonetically and/or semantically ambiguous when there exist two or more ways to segment the phoneme strings [Lehiste, Phonetica 5(Suppl. 1), 5–54 (1960); Fisher &amp; Logemann, Q. J. Speech 53(4), 365–373 (1967)]. As a part of a larger study, speech acoustic output and tongue kinematic data from four male speakers of American English with PD and two neurologically healthy males were captured simultaneously using 3D electromagnetic articulography. Vocalic segments of internal open junctures were identified acoustically from ambiguous sentence productions, in which the internal open junctures were obtained in pairs, with each phoneme string contributing to two different word combinations. The second formant (F2) and tongue kinematic trajectories are compared for these pairs. It is hypothesized that for the same phoneme string, varied linguistic boundaries elicit differences in tongue trajectory patterns and F2 changes in duration and speed.

Long-term Average Spectrum and Nasal Accelerometry in Sentences of Differing Nasality and Forward-Focused Vowel Productions Under Altered Auditory Feedback

To investigate whether voice focus adjustments can alter the audio-vocal feedback and consequently modulate speech/voice motor control. Speaking with a forward-focused voice was expected to enhance audio-vocal feedback and thus decrease the variability of vocal fundamental frequency (F0). Twenty-two healthy, untrained adults (10 males and 12 females) were requested to sustain vowel /a/ with their natural focus and a forward focus and to naturally read the nasal, oral, and mixed oral-nasal sentences in normal noise-masked auditory conditions. Meanwhile, a miniature accelerometer was externally attached on the noise to detect the nasal vibrations during vocalization. Audio recordings were made and analyzed using the long-term average spectrum (LTAS) and power spectral analysis of F0. Compared with naturally-focused vowel production and oral sentences, forward-focused vowel productions and nasal sentences both showed significant increases in nasal accelerometric amplitude and the spectral power within the range of 200∼300 Hz, and significantly decreased the F0 variability below 3 Hz, which has been reported to be associated with enhanced auditory feedback in our previous research. The auditory masking not only significantly increased the low-frequency F0 variability, but also significantly decreased the ratio of the spectral power within 200∼300 Hz to the power within 300∼1000 Hz for the vowel and sentence productions. Gender differences were found in the correlations between the degree of nasal coupling and F0 stability as well as in the LTAS characteristics in response to noise. Variations in nasal-oral acoustic coupling not only change the formant features of speech signals, but involuntarily influence the auditory feedback control of vocal fold vibrations. Speakers tend to show improved F0 stability in response to a forward-focused voice adjustment.

Development of syntax in children’s language acquisition

Çocukların dili nasıl edindiği her zaman ilgi çeken bir konu olmuş ve bu konuyu ele alan araştırmalar dünyada 1950’li yıllardan sonra gelişmiştir. Türkiye’de ise çocuk dil edinimi çalışmaları 1980’li yıllarda ilgi görmeye başlamıştır. Baykoç-Dönmez (1986); Topbaş (2005); Ege (2005); Baştürk (2013); Keklik (2015); Aksu-Koç ve Ketrez (2016) çalışmaları Türkçenin edinimi üzerine yol gösterici çalışmalardır ancak alan yazınıyla karşılaştırıldığında Türkçenin edinim şekli ve sürecinin araştırıldığı çalışmaların sayıca az olduğu görülmektedir. Bu çalışma Türkçe edinen çocuklarda söz diziminin gelişiminin incelenmesi amacıyla yapılmıştır. Tek sözcük döneminden başlayarak, erken dil bilgisi ve ileri dil bilgisi döneminde söz diziminin nasıl geliştiğinin incelendiği çalışma, 6-36 ay arasındaki 11 çocuğu kapsamaktadır. Çalışmada doğal gözlem yöntemi uygulanmış, iki buçuk yıl boyunca 15’er gün arayla doğal ortamda 1 saat süreyle çocukların ses ve görüntü kayıtları alınmıştır. Elde edilen veriler üzerinde söz dizimi incelenmiş, bu konuda yapılan çalışmalardaki verilerle karşılaştırılmıştır. Sonuç olarak Türkçe edinen çocuklarda söz diziminin belirtilen aylardan erken geliştiği, 11. ayda tek sözcüklü cümle kullanımlarının başladığı görülmüştür. 18-24 aylarında çocuklar için karmaşık yapıda olan cümle üretimleri görüldüğünden bu dönem erken dil bilgisi gelişimi, 24-36 ayları ise ileri dil bilgisi gelişimi dönemi olarak değerlendirilmiştir. Türkçe edinme süreci ve şekli değerlendirildiğinde dil edinim evrelerinin genel dil edinim evrelerinden farklılık gösterdiği tespit edilmiştir.

The Effect of Perspective Shifting on Active and Passive Sentence Productions in Children

The Effect of Perspective Shifting on Active and Passive Sentence Productions in Children

Comparing verbal and aided single sentence productions in Malayalam-speaking adults with aphasia: a preliminary investigation

ABSTRACT The primary aim of the study was to investigate the semantic and syntactic aspects of verbal and aided single sentence productions in adults with aphasia and neurotypical adults to determine which mode allowed the exchange of information more effectively. The participants of this study included 20 adults with aphasia and 20 neurotypical adults who were native speakers of Malayalam, an Indo-Dravidian language spoken in the south-western state of Kerala in India. Thirteen action picture stimuli were constructed to elicit single sentences. The participants were expected to describe the action picture in a single sentence using spoken language as well as using Picture Communication Symbols (PCS). The semantic aspect of each sentence produced was analysed using Correct Information Unit (CIU) analyses, and the syntactic aspects were measured using (i) percentage of grammatically complete sentences, (ii) percentage of the correct number of verbs, and (iii) total number of syntactic errors. A sentence production accuracy scale was constructed to obtain a combined score for semantic and syntactic aspects of each sentence produced. The results suggested that while both verbal and aided modes were effectively used for the exchange of information by neurotypical adults and adults with anomic aphasia, the aided mode was used more effectively by adults with Broca’s aphasia. To conclude, the study highlights the importance of (a) using visual symbols even for those with mild aphasia as it tends to improve phonological and articulatory abilities, (b) use of symbols to construct simple sentences to communicate in adults with severe aphasia, (c) evaluation of the ability to use alternate modes of communication and also the preferred mode of communication in adults with aphasia.

Language effects on acoustic voice variation within and between talkers

Acoustic voice spaces for English speakers are characterized mainly by variability in F0, the balance between higher harmonic amplitudes and inharmonic energy, and higher formant frequencies [JASA 146(4), 3011 (2019)]. We extended this investigation to another language to test the hypothesis that a few biologically relevant measures will emerge commonly across languages, while remaining variance will depend on the structure of the language. This hypothesis was tested against sentence productions from 5 female and 5 male speakers of Seoul Korean. Like English, Korean does not have tone or phonation contrasts, but Seoul Korean exhibits specific phrase intonation patterns. PCAs were performed on scaled values of F0, formant frequencies, spectral noise, source spectral shape, and their variability, measured from vowels and approximants. Results revealed striking similarities between the acoustic voice spaces derived from Korean speakers and those for English speakers. For Korean voices, F0 and variability in lower formant frequencies (i.e., vowel quality) accounted for the most acoustic variance within and across talkers, presumably due to Seoul speakers' systematic use of these measures for phrasal/accentual information. These measures were insignificant for English voices. Our findings suggest that acoustic voice spaces are shaped by both biologically and phonologically relevant factors. [Work supported by NIH/NSF.]

Audiovisual enhancement in the perception of children’s speech

It is nearly axiomatic that audiovisual (AV) speech is more intelligible than audio-only (A-only) speech, particularly when the speech is presented in a challenging listening environment, such as in background noise [e.g., MacLeod and Summerfield, Br. J. Audiol., 2 (1987)]. No previous research on audiovisual speech perception has examined the perception of children’s speech. Children may elicit a smaller AV benefit than adults, as their visual articulatory movements are more variable than adults’ [e.g., Smith and Goffman, J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. 41 (1998)], and hence are less informative perceptual cues. Alternatively, the overall lower intelligibility of children’s A-only speech might lead them to elicit overall higher AV benefits than adults. To examine this question, we collected developmentally appropriate sentence productions from five, 4-6 year old children, and five sex-matched adults. Ongoing work is examining the intelligibility of these sentences in multitalker babble in A-only and AV conditions in a variety of signal-to-noise ratios, so that we can compare AV benefits for children and adults when A-only intelligibility is matched. Both sentence intelligibility and eye gaze during perception are being measured. Results will help us understand the role of individual-speaker variation on the magnitude of AV benefit. It is nearly axiomatic that audiovisual (AV) speech is more intelligible than audio-only (A-only) speech, particularly when the speech is presented in a challenging listening environment, such as in background noise [e.g., MacLeod and Summerfield, Br. J. Audiol., 2 (1987)]. No previous research on audiovisual speech perception has examined the perception of children’s speech. Children may elicit a smaller AV benefit than adults, as their visual articulatory movements are more variable than adults’ [e.g., Smith and Goffman, J. Speech Lang. Hear. Res. 41 (1998)], and hence are less informative perceptual cues. Alternatively, the overall lower intelligibility of children’s A-only speech might lead them to elicit overall higher AV benefits than adults. To examine this question, we collected developmentally appropriate sentence productions from five, 4-6 year old children, and five sex-matched adults. Ongoing work is examining the intelligibility of these sentences in multitalker babble in A-only and AV condit...

Acoustic voice variation within and between speakers.

Little is known about the nature or extent of everyday variability in voice quality. This paper describes a series of principal component analyses to explore within- and between-talker acoustic variation and the extent to which they conform to expectations derived from current models of voice perception. Based on studies of faces and cognitive models of speaker recognition, the authors hypothesized that a few measures would be important across speakers, but that much of within-speaker variability would be idiosyncratic. Analyses used multiple sentence productions from 50 female and 50 male speakers of English, recorded over three days. Twenty-six acoustic variables from a psychoacoustic model of voice quality were measured every 5 ms on vowels and approximants. Across speakers the balance between higher harmonic amplitudes and inharmonic energy in the voice accounted for the most variance (females = 20%, males = 22%). Formant frequencies and their variability accounted for an additional 12% of variance across speakers. Remaining variance appeared largely idiosyncratic, suggesting that the speaker-specific voice space is different for different people. Results further showed that voice spaces for individuals and for the population of talkers have very similar acoustic structures. Implications for prototype models of voice perception and recognition are discussed.

The Potential Role of Talker Age in the Perception of Regional Accent.

The speech signal contains potential cues to a wide range of socioindexical variables. The aim of the current study was to investigate how one variable, talker age, might interact with the perception of a theoretically independent variable, regional accent. We investigated this question specifically in the case of Korean: although many studies have reported on phonetic differences among Korean dialects and speakers' beliefs and attitudes about them, there has been virtually no research on the auditory perception of such variation. Potential acoustic cues to regional accent were measured in read sentence productions from a total of 72 male talkers in their 20s or 50s to 60s from six Korean provinces. Then, in a perception experiment, native listeners from Seoul (n = 21), Gyeongsang (n = 10), and Jeolla (n = 10) listened to the sentences and were asked to identify the talker's regional origin from among 6 provinces. Listeners' responses correlated with talker age: young talkers were disproportionately perceived as being from Seoul, and old talkers-even life-long Seoul residents-were disproportionately perceived as being from non-Seoul regions. A follow-up experiment with listeners from Seoul (n = 30) in which talker age was treated as a between-subjects factor showed an attenuated effect, suggesting that the effect of talker age on perceived regional origin may be partially driven by a contrast effect, such that the speech of older talkers is perceived as less standard-and thus coming from a non-Seoul region-when being directly compared with that of younger talkers.

Limbic and cortical control of phonation for speech in response to a public speech preparation stressor

Knowledge on brain networks subserving vocalization in vocally healthy individuals under various task conditions is scarce but paramount to understand voice disorders. The aims of our study were to determine (1) the effect of social-evaluative stress on the central neural control of phonation underlying speech production; and (2) the neural signature, personality profile, and aerodynamic vocal function in relation to salivary cortisol responses. Thirteen vocally healthy females underwent an event-related sparse-sampling fMRI protocol consisting of voiced and whispered sentence productions with and without exposure to the social-evaluative stressor public speaking anticipation. Participants completed a personality questionnaire, rating scales of negative emotional state, and provided salivary cortisol samples. In the total sample, the task contrast of voiced productions revealed that stressor exposure resulted in a peak activation in the right caudate with concomitant deactivations in the bilateral pgACC and aMCC, and right IFG, BA 9, BA 10, insula, putamen, and thalamus. There were individual differences in stressor-induced brain activations as a function of stress reactivity with greater cortisol reactivity linked with lower laryngeal motor cortex activity and lower scores on aspects of extraversion. Our data confirm that stress alters the phonatory control for speech production through limbic-motor interactions. The findings support the Trait Theory of Voice Disorders (Roy and Bless 2000) and help provide critical insights to the study of voice disorders such as primary muscle tension dysphonia.

Variation in voice quality within speakers

Little is known about the nature or extent of everyday variability in voice quality within a speaker or how this differs across speakers. Using a suite of measures that map between acoustics and perception of voice quality, this study elucidates which acoustic variables within speakers’ individual voice spaces best characterize speakers. Based on studies of faces and cognitive models of speaker recognition, we hypothesized that a few measures would be important across speakers, but that much intra-speaker variability would be idiosyncratic. By using principal component analysis, we tested this hypothesis against a set of multiple sentence productions from 100 native speakers of English (fifty females and fifty males), recorded over three days. Acoustic variables measured every 5 ms on vowels and approximants corresponded to F0, vowel quality, spectral noise, source spectral shape, and variability. Across speakers the balance between higher harmonic amplitudes and inharmonic energy in the voice accounted for the most variance (females = 20%/males = 22%). Vowel quality and its variability accounted for an additional 12%/12% of variance. Remaining variance appeared largely idiosyncratic, suggesting that the speaker-specific voice space is different for different people. Notably, F0 did not emerge from these analyses. Implications for voice recognition are discussed. [Work supported by NIH/NSF.]

The Effects of Syntactic Complexity and Sentence Length on the Speech Motor Control of School-Age Children Who Stutter.

Early childhood stuttering is associated with atypical speech motor development. Compared with children who do not stutter (CWNS), the speech motor systems of school-age children who stutter (CWS) may also be particularly susceptible to breakdown under increased processing demands. The effects of increased syntactic complexity and sentence length on articulatory coordination were investigated. Kinematic, temporal, and behavioral indices of articulatory coordination were quantified for school-age CWS (n = 19) and CWNS (n = 18). Participants produced 4 sentences varying in syntactic complexity (simple declarative/complex declarative with a relative clause) and sentence length (short/long). Lip aperture variability (LAVar) served as a kinematic measure of interarticulatory consistency over repeated productions. Articulation rate (syllables per second) was also calculated as a related temporal measure. Finally, we computed accuracy and stuttering frequency percentages for each sentence to assess task performance. Increased sentence length, but not syntactic complexity, increased LAVar in both groups. This effect was disproportionately greater for CWS compared with CWNS. No group differences were observed for articulation rate. CWS were also less accurate in their sentence productions than fluent peers and exhibited more instances of stuttering when processing demands associated with length and syntactic complexity increases. The speech motor systems of school-age CWS appear to be particularly vulnerable to processing demands associated with increased sentence length, as evidenced by increased LAVar. Increasing the length and complexity of the sentence stimuli also resulted in reduced production accuracy and increased stuttering frequency. We discuss these findings within a motor control framework of speech production.

Targeting Complex Sentences in Older School Children With Specific Language Impairment: Results From an Early-Phase Treatment Study.

This study investigated the effects of a complex sentence treatment at 2 dosage levels on language performance of 30 school-age children ages 10-14 years with specific language impairment. Three types of complex sentences (adverbial, object complement, relative) were taught in sequence in once or twice weekly dosage conditions. Outcome measures included sentence probes administered at baseline, treatment, and posttreatment phases and comparisons of pre-post performance on oral and written language tests and tasks. Relationships between pretest variables and treatment outcomes were also explored. Treatment was effective at improving performance on the sentence probes for the majority of participants; however, results differed by sentence type, with the largest effect sizes for adverbial and relative clauses. Significant and clinically meaningful pre-post treatment gains were found on a comprehensive oral language test, but not on reading and writing measures. There was no treatment advantage for the higher dosage group. Several significant correlations indicated a relationship between lower pretest scores and higher outcome measures. Results suggest that a focused intervention can produce improvements in complex sentence productions of older school children with language impairment. Future research should explore ways to maximize gains and extend impact to natural language contexts. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5923318.

Aerodynamic Characteristics of Syllable and Sentence Productions in Normal Speakers

Aerodynamic measures of subglottic air pressure (Ps) and airflow rate (AFR) are used to select behavioral voice therapy versus surgical treatment for voice disorders. However, these measures are usually taken during a series of syllables, which differs from conversational speech. Repeated syllables do not share the variation found in even simple sentences, and patients may use their best rather than typical voice unless specifically instructed otherwise. This study examined the potential differences in estimated Ps and AFR in syllable and sentence production and their effects on a measure of vocal efficiency in normal speakers. Prospective study. Measures of estimated Ps, AFR, and aerodynamic vocal efficiency (AVE) were obtained from 19 female and four male speakers ages 22-44 years with no history of voice disorders. Subjects repeated a series of /pa/ syllables and a sentence at comfortable effort level into a face mask with a pressure-sensing tube between the lips. AVE varies as a function of the speech material in normal subjects. Ps measures were significantly higher for the sentence-production samples than for the syllable-production samples. AFR was higher during sentence production than syllable production, but the difference was not statistically significant. AVE values were significantly higher for syllable versus sentence productions. The results suggest that subjects increase Ps and AFR in sentence compared with syllable production. Speaking task is a critical factor when considering measures of AVE, and this preliminary study provides a basis for further aerodynamic studies of patient populations.

Early Sentence Productions of 3- and 4-Year-Old Children Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

This study investigated the early rule-based sentence productions of 3- and 4-year-old children with severe speech disorders who used single-meaning graphic symbols to communicate. Ten 3- and 4-year-olds requiring the use of augmentative and alternative communication, who had largely intact receptive language skills, received instruction in producing up to four different semantic-syntactic targets using an Apple iPad with a communication app. A single-case, multiple-probe, across-targets design was used to assess the progress of each participant and target. Generalization to new vocabulary was assessed, and a subgroup also was taught to produce sentences using grammatical markers. Some targets (primarily possessor-entity) were mastered in the baseline phase, and the majority of the remaining targets were mastered during intervention. All four children who completed intervention for grammatical markers quickly learned to use the markers accurately. Expressive language potential for preschoolers using graphic symbol-based augmentative and alternative communication systems should not be underestimated. With appropriate presentation and intervention techniques, some preschoolers with profound speech disorders can readily learn to produce rule-based messages via graphic symbols.