Phonological skills in Puerto Rican and Mexican Spanish‐speaking children with phonological disorders

The effects of dialectal differences upon the speech production skills of children with phonological disorders are poorly understood. One might predict that the phonological profile of children using a radical dialect (e.g., Puerto Rican Spanish, which alters consonants in the syllable rhyme) will differ from that of children who use a conservative dialect (e.g., Mexican Spanish, which preserves such consonants). This study evaluated the impact of such dialectal differences by comparing the phonological skills of two groups of Spanish‐speaking children with phonological disorders. Six participants used the Mexican dialect; the other six used the Puerto Rican dialect of North American Spanish. All children were matched on number of segmental errors and age, which ranged from 4;4 to 5;6 (M = 4;10). A single‐word assessment instrument was used to elicit data, and independent and relational analyses were completed for each child. Measures included phonetic inventory complexity, vowel accuracy, consonant accuracy, sound class accuracy, percentage‐of‐occurrence of phonological patterns, and frequency and types of substitutions. Significant between‐group differences were not found for any measures. These findings do not support the hypothesis of significant phonological differences between phonologically disordered speakers of radical and conservative Spanish dialects.     

Phonological patterns in Mandarin–English bilingual children

Adele Miccio recognized the paucity of information on the phonological development of children from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and emphasized the need to apply advances in bilingual phonological research toward an appropriate phonological measure for bilingual children. In the spirit of her pioneering work, the present study investigated both Mandarin and English phonological patterns in typically-developing 5-year-old bilingual children in an English-immersion programme in Taiwan. Consonant and vowel accuracy, number and types of phonological processes, and Mandarin-influenced English patterns were assessed on a single-word assessment in each language. Results indicated comparable levels of phoneme accuracy and similar rates and types of phonological processes for bilinguals and their monolingual counterparts. A number of English phonological processes for bilinguals, however, suggested a possible Mandarin influence. The present results reiterate Dr Miccio's call for interdisciplinary collaboration to enhance one's understanding of bilingual language development, to advance successful intervention for bilingual children.     

Word‐finding difficulties in French‐speaking children with SLI: a case STUDY

This study presents the case of a 9‐year‐old boy, Jeoffrey, with word‐finding difficulties. In an attempt to investigate the cause(s) of these difficulties, an in‐depth evaluation of his semantic and phonological skills was carried out, in which lexical and phonological variables such as age of acquisition or phonological complexity were controlled. Jeoffrey's performance was compared to a child matched for age. Although Jeoffrey showed no apparent phonological deficit, our results revealed deficits in semantic processes. We argue that this boy's word‐finding difficulties are the result of imprecise and unspecified semantic representations. Therefore, as this case demonstrates, it is essential to determine the origin(s) of children's word‐finding difficulties, which could be different and specific for each child presenting such a lexical deficit.     

Does the speech of Turkish‐speaking phonologically disordered children differ from that of children speaking other languages?

How phonological disorders should be categorized in Turkish children remained vague for a long period of time due to a lack of normative studies. This paper reports the phonological systems of 70 phonologically disordered children, aged 4;0–8;0, in comparison with the results of a normative study of 665 Turkish‐speaking children, aged 1;3–8;0. The current focus is on two aspects of development, mainly the differences between disordered and normal consonant acquisition and phonological error patterns from both longitudinal and cross‐sectional data. The second concern of the paper is to sub‐classify phonological disorders as proposed in the existing literature by examining the applicability of these proposals to Turkish, a typologically different language. It has been indicated that similar developmental trends occur across languages but consonant acquisition is more rapid and developmental errors are more predictable in Turkish. There is evidence for ambient language influence. Mostly, the sub‐classifications of phonological disorders are valid for Turkish‐speaking children with apparent saliency to language.     

Development of a test battery for assessing phonological awareness in German‐speaking children

The development of phonological awareness (PA), the ability to reflect on the sound structure of words independent of their meaning, has been extensively explored in English‐speaking children. However, this is not the case for other languages. The aim of this study was to develop a comprehensive PA test battery for German‐speaking preschool children, considering psycholinguistic, linguistic, and cognitive aspects and to carry out analyses of its psychometric properties. Cross‐sectional data from a sample of 55 children (CA 4;0–6;11 years) were collected. Preliminary findings confirm validity and reliability of the test battery, and support previous findings that PA develops from larger to smaller linguistic units. Phoneme‐level tasks were consistently associated with letter knowledge. The new instrument is a promising tool for basic research (e.g. cross‐linguistic comparisons of PA development) as well as for clinical and educational practice (e.g. planning speech and language therapy or literacy‐oriented intervention).     

An EMA/EPG study of vowel‐to‐vowel articulation across velars in Southern British English

Recent studies have attested that the extent of transconsonantal vowel‐to‐vowel coarticulation is at least partly dependent on degree of prosodic accentuation, in languages like English. A further important factor is the mutual compatibility of consonant and vowel gestures associated with the segments in question. In this study two speakers of standard southern British English produced sequences of /э#kV#kV/ sequences where the identity of V was either /i/ or /a/, and nuclear accent placement was varied systematically. A combined technique of EPA and EMA was used, as well as spectrographic measures. Results indicate that there were only minimal transconsonantal coarticulatory effects between the two full vowels /i/ and /a/, but there was evidence of dissimilation of the flanking vowels, particularly in /′kaki/ and /′kika/ sequences, suggesting that prosodically strong vowels resist vowel‐to‐vowel coarticulation. Initial schwa, however, was highly coarticulated with following /a/ and /i/, and the spatial extent of this coarticulatory effect was correlated with degree of accentuation, particularly in the case of a following /i/ vowel. The velar stops showed a high level of coarticulation with flanking /i/ vowels, supporting earlier claims by Fowler and Brancazio, that this consonant is ‘less' resistant to coarticulatory pressures than others in English.     

Phonological awareness skills in the two languages of Mandarin–English bilingual children

A number of studies have shown that bilingual children have an advantage when performing on phonological awareness tasks, particularly in their stronger language. Little research has been done to date, examining the effects of bilingualism on both languages of bilingual children. In this study Mandarin–English bilingual children's performance on phonological awareness tests was compared with that of Mandarin monolingual children and English monolingual children. The Mandarin–English bilinguals performed better than English monolinguals on the Elision and Blending sub-tests of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP). Similarly, Mandarin–English bilinguals also performed better than their Mandarin monolingual counterparts on most of the experimental Mandarin phonological awareness tasks. The results from the study are discussed in terms of the effects of bilingualism on phonological awareness in both languages of bilingual children. Further clinical and educational implications of these results are also discussed.     

Phonological development of first language isiXhosa-speaking children aged 3;0–6;0 years: A descriptive cross-sectional study

Standardized assessments of children’s isiXhosa phonology have not yet been developed and there is limited information about developmental norms in this language. This article reports on the phonological development of 24 typically developing first language isiXhosa-speaking children aged 3;0–6;0 years, in Cape Town, South Africa. The order and age of acquisition of isiXhosa phonemes, emergence and elimination of phonological processes and percentage consonants and vowels correct are described. A set of culturally and linguistically appropriate pictures was used to elicit single word responses that were recorded and transcribed. The study found that children had acquired most isiXhosa phonemes by 3;0 years although aspirated plosives, affricates, fricatives and clicks were still developing. In particular, the affricates and aspirated plosives were still developing in the 5-year-old children in this sample, suggesting that these may be the latest acquired segments. Children were able to produce basic word shapes by 3;0 years, but some of the words of 4–6 syllables were still being mastered by the 4- and 5-year-old children. Phonological processes that have been well documented for other languages were used by children in this sample (e.g. deaffrication, stopping and gliding of liquids). Findings presented for this pre-school-aged sample are related to theories of phonological acquisition to provide normative data on phonological development in isiXhosa-speaking children.     

How do children ascribe gender to nouns? A study of Spanish‐speaking children with and without specific language impairment

The purpose of this investigation was to identify how Spanish‐speaking preschool children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) use the various cues available for ascribing a noun's inherent gender in the language. Via an invented word task, four types of cues were isolated and presented to each child: (1) two types of noun‐internal cues (semantic transparency and word ending), and (2) two types of noun‐external cues (article gender and adjective gender). Eleven children with typical language skills, 11 children with SLI, and 11 adults participated in the study. Results indicated, as expected, that adults outperformed both child groups. Significant differences were observed in the children's use of article cues, with the typical children outperforming the children with SLI. Individual data also indicate that most children with SLI were using the noun‐internal cue of word ending effectively. Discussion of previous research in the area of gender agreement in Spanish‐speaking children with SLI and explanations of potential reasons for the children's performance are addressed.     

Characteristics of the sound systems of monolingual Vietnamese‐speaking children with phonological impairment

There has been little or no research on Vietnamese phonological development, let alone on phonological disorders of Vietnamese‐speaking children. The goal of this study is to evaluate the sound systems of monolingual Vietnamese‐speaking children with phonological impairment. Independent and relational analyses of four children (ages 4;4 to 5;5) are presented in terms of error patterns, dialectal patterns, phonotactic constraints, and phonetic and phonemic inventories. The characteristics of these children's sound systems are compared to studies of phonological acquisition of other languages, in order to identify characteristics that may be universal versus those that may be language‐specific in nature.     

Effects of speaking rate on EMA‐derived lingual kinematics: a preliminary investigation

Electromagnetic articulography (EMA) was used to investigate how tongue movement characteristics (i.e., velocity, acceleration, duration, distance) change with, or indeed affect, increased rates of speech. Eight young adult males repeated /ta/ and /ka/ syllables first at a moderate rate that had been modelled at three syllables per second, and then ‘as fast as possible’. Distance travelled by the tongue appeared to be the principal lingual kinematic feature manipulated by the group of speakers in producing increased syllable repetition rates, with velocity found to increase, decrease or remain unchanged. Acceleration remained unchanged, except in the case of increased velocity. One participant formed an exception in terms of manipulating distance by exhibiting marginally increased lingual velocities rather than distance changes. This preliminary study serves to direct future EMA‐based studies of speech rate control as to the speech tasks that should be employed and the possible underlying anatomical and acoustic bases or constraints that could possibly influence the kinematic strategies employed to increase speech rate.     

Consonant‐free words: Evidence from Hebrew speaking children with cochlear implants

This paper reports on a rare phenomenon in language development—the production of words without consonants, and thus syllables without an onset. Such words, which are referred as Consonant‐free words (CFWs), appeared for a short period in the early speech of hearing impaired Hebrew‐speaking children, who produced words consisting of one or two vowels (where the latter were disyllabic). The quantitative data are drawn from the speech of six monolingual hearing‐impaired Hebrew‐speaking children using a cochlear implant device. Their age ranged from 1;5–2;8 years at their first recording session. The elicitation procedure was based on spontaneous speech and picture naming. Findings indicate that cochlear implant users produce CFWs at the initial stage of the prosodic word development. This study claims the CFWs characterize a transitional period between babbling and speech, which varies between different types of populations. The transitional period is rather short in typically developing children, who hardly ever produce CFWs, greater in cochlear implant children, and the greatest in developmental speech disorders such as dyspraxia. Clinical implications of these findings are also discussed.     

Acquisition of the stop-spirant alternation in bilingual Mexican Spanish–English speaking children: Theoretical and clinical implications

The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics of typical acquisition of the Mexican Spanish stop-spirant alternation in bilingual Spanish–English speaking children and to shed light on the theoretical debate over which sound is the underlying form in the stop-spirant allophonic relationship. We predicted that bilingual children would acquire knowledge of this allophonic relationship by the time they reach age 5;0 (years;months) and would demonstrate higher accuracy on the spirants, indicating their role as the underlying phoneme. This quasi-longitudinal study examined children’s single word samples in Spanish from ages 2;4–8;2. Samples were phonetically transcribed and analyzed for accuracy, substitution errors and acoustically for intensity ratios. Bilingual children demonstrated overall higher accuracy on the voiced stops as compared to the spirants. Differences in substitution errors across ages were found and acoustic analyses corroborated perceptual findings. The clinical implication of this research is that bilingual children may be in danger of overdiagnosis of speech sound disorders because acquisition of this allophonic rule in bilinguals appears to differ from what has been found in previous studies examining monolingual Spanish speakers.     

The co‐development of speech and gesture in children with autism

Recent interest in gesture has led to an understanding of the development of gesture and speech in typically developing young children. Research suggests that initially gesture and speech form two independent systems which combine together temporally and semantically before children enter the two‐word period of language development. However, little is known about gesture development in children's disordered speech. This paper presents two case studies of young children with autism. The children are under 3 years of age and attend an intervention programme to facilitate their social and communication development. Early indications suggest that whilst both gesture and speech development is delayed in children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), the developmental trajectory is the same as for typically developing children.     

A normative study of a shorter version of Raven’s progressive matrices 1938

Abstract. A shorter four-set (A, B, C, D) version of Ravens progressive matrices 1938 (PM38) has gained increasing use in neuropsychological assessment. No normative data spanning across a wide age range are, however, available. This study collected norms for the shorter version of PM38, established an inferential cut-off value and derived equivalent scores in a sample of 248 individuals from 20 to 89 years of age, evenly distributed across sex, age and education levels. Results showed significant effects of age and education but no effect of sex on performance. These normative data will complement existing norms for other tests, will increase the wealth of neuropsychological tools for which normative data are available for the Italian population, and may be useful in the early detection of individuals at risk of developing dementia.     

The collaborative construction of non‐serious episodes of interaction by non‐speaking children with cerebral palsy and their peers

Inequality in communicative resources available to non‐speaking children with cerebral palsy in comparison with their ‘naturally’ speaking co‐participants has material consequences for the ways in which face‐to‐face interaction is organized. Analyses of interaction involving non‐speaking children with physical disability and speaking adults has often interpreted the patterns of interaction observed as indicative of non‐speaking children's apparent passivity in interaction. Research concerned with these children's interactions with their peers has shown evidence of non‐speaking children's active engagement in episodes of interaction characterized by, for example, shared laughter and heightened affect. The analysis presented here utilizes the principles and practices of Conversation Analysis (CA) to examine how non‐speaking children with cerebral palsy and their peers bring about and organize episodes of non‐serious interaction. In so doing the analysis reveals how non‐speaking children are demonstrably active in developing the interaction as non‐serious, and how both children collaborate in constituting the non‐speaking child as playfully naughty.     

Characteristics of stuttering in Dutch‐speaking individuals

Clinical diagnostic procedures to distinguish stuttering from non‐stuttering individuals partially rely on the observation of characteristics of stuttered words or syllables. The purpose of this study was to examine the sensitivity and specificity of such a procedure, and to describe the observed characteristics of stuttered words. Methods involved the recording of the frequency, duration, and physical tension of stuttered words in conversational speech samples (total 43 100 words) and in an oral reading task (total 43 100 words). In this manner, 351 native Dutch speaking people, aged 8–53, who stutter were compared to a group of non‐stuttering peers (n = 80). Findings suggest that applying a criterion of 3% stuttered words in conversational speech makes it possible to distinguish stuttering from non‐stuttering individuals with high sensitivity (.9345) and perfect specificity (1.0000). Frequency, duration, and physical tension accompanying stuttered words are described for the group of stuttering participants, and these characteristics were compared to the group of non‐stuttering speakers.     

Phonological whole‐word measures in 3‐year‐old bilingual children and their age‐matched monolingual peers

The present study investigated phonological whole‐word measures and consonant accuracy in bilingual and monolingual children to investigate how target approximations drive phonological acquisition. The study included eight bilingual Spanish‐ and English‐speaking 3‐year‐olds and their monolingual peers (eight Spanish and eight American English). Phonological whole‐word measures (pMLU and Proximity) and consonant accuracy (PCC) were calculated on elicited single words. Differences were found on each measure between bilinguals and monolinguals in English, but in Spanish, only the PCC displayed differences between bilinguals and monolinguals. Bilinguals displayed language separation on the pMLU and the PCC but not the Proximity, indicating structural phonological differences between the Spanish and English of bilinguals but commensurate target approximations. This suggests that maintaining a consistent level of phonological proximity to the target is an important factor in phonological acquisition. The measures and their relationships are also discussed.     

Genetics of migraine and migraine accompagneé: a study of eighty-one children and their families

Eighty-one patients suffering from childhood onset migraine and their families were investigated for familial prevalences of epileptic seizures and migraine. The incidence of epileptic seizures was not increased above the epidemiological risk. - In all, migraine is largely inherited from maternal ascendents, irrespective of the sex of the index case. Clinical subtypes of migraine ("non-focal migraine" and migraine accompagnée) are not accompanied by respectively increased familial prevalences. - Onset of migraine is earlier in patients with a higher familial impact. These findings are discussed in context with a proposed multifactorial pathogenesis of migraine.     

Rate of multilingual phonological acquisition: Evidence from a cross-sectional study of English–Mandarin–Malay

Early child multilingual acquisition is under-explored. Using a cross-sectional study approach, the present research investigates the rate of multilingual phonological acquisition of English–Mandarin–Malay by 64 ethnic Chinese children aged 2;06–4;05 in Malaysia – a multiracial-multilingual country of Asia. The aims of the study are to provide clinical norms for speech development in the multilingual children and to compare multilingual acquisition with monolingual and bilingual acquisition. An innovative multilingual phonological test which adopts well-defined scoring criteria drawing upon local accents of English, Mandarin and Malay is proposed and described in this article. This procedure has been neglected in the few existing Chinese bilingual phonological acquisition studies resulting in peculiar findings. The multilingual children show comparable phonological acquisition milestones to that of monolingual and bilingual peers acquiring the same languages. The implications of the present results are discussed. The present findings contribute to the development of models and theories of child multilingual acquisition.