Effect of dialect on phonological analysis

It is important to understand a child’s language background, to ensure appropriate assessment, diagnosis and treatment of speech sound disorders. Singapore is home to various cultures and languages, and local speech norms are needed to provide an accurate reference for assessing phonological disorders in the local population. This study aims to establish normative data and better understand the English phonological development of English–Mandarin bilingual preschoolers in Singapore, aged 3; 6–4; 5 years. The Articulation and Phonology subtests of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology – UK were used to collect speech data from 146 preschoolers. Responses were scored against two standards – British Standard English (BSE) and Singapore English (SGE), in terms of speech sound accuracy, and the frequency and type of error patterns present. The effect of language dominance on the children’s English phonological abilities was explored. Results showed that the preschoolers’ speech sound accuracy increased significantly when scored against SGE versus BSE targets. The number of children identified to be using several error patterns was reduced when SGE targets were used instead of BSE targets. English-dominant children scored significantly higher than their Mandarin-dominant peers on measures of speech sound accuracy. The identification of error patterns also differed between the two groups. These results show that it is important to take dialectal variation and language dominance into account in assessment, to determine if speech characteristics are due to a speech sound disorder or just normal dialectal variations.     

Multilingual English-Mandarin-Malay phonological error patterns: An initial cross-sectional study of 2 to 4 years old Malaysian Chinese children

Child multilingual phonological errors are under-explored. Cross-linguistic studies suggest monolingual children make phonological errors that are subject to effects of language universality and ambient language characteristics. Bilingual Chinese children were observed to use not only typical, but also atypical phonological errors compared to monolingual peers acquiring similar languages. Atypical errors are a result of specific bilingual pair effects. Close-language-relatedness (Cantonese-Mandarin) is claimed to be responsible for the nonexistence of atypical errors in both languages, whilst distant-language-relatedness (Cantonese-English) is observed to cause atypical errors in both languages. The present novel cross-sectional study investigated phonological acquisition in three typologically distant languages: English-Mandarin-Malay by 64 multilingual Chinese children aged 2½-4½. The present research aimed to explore if multilingual Chinese children exhibit phonological errors which commensurate to that of monolingual and bilingual Chinese children acquiring similar languages as described in the literature. The single-word phonological test results revealed that the multilinguals exhibited typical and atypical phonological patterns which largely commensurate with the monolinguals and bilinguals. Similar to bilingual children, the multilingual children showed more atypical errors in English than in Mandarin, demonstrating effects of individual language irrespective of potential interaction with additional languages. The present result did not fully support the link between closeness in typology of languages and the absence of atypical errors. Rare atypical errors were found in Mandarin and Malay, two typologically different languages, and both were also interacting with English, another typologically different language. The present findings provided useful preliminary multilingual speech norms for the use of speech therapists.     

Phonological development of Danish-speaking children: A normative cross-sectional study

Detailed knowledge about speech development in children acquiring different languages provides important information from a clinical and a theoretical perspective: First, it provides a baseline for the evaluation of whether a child shows typical, delayed or deviant speech development. Further, differences in speech development across languages can help to understand how the phonological systems of ambient languages affects children’s speech acquisition. To date, little is known about Danish. It was suggested, however, that the acquisition process might be slower for Danish-speaking children due to the “blurry” sound structure of Danish. The aim of the current study was, therefore, to investigate typical speech development in 443 Danish-speaking children, i.e. types and age of occurrence of children’s phonological processes as well as on the acquisition of phones and clusters. The results showed that Danish-speaking children, in contrast to the expectations, were not delayed but advanced compared to children acquiring other languages.     

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.     

Added syllable complexity in a child’s developmental speech and clinical implications

Added syllable complexity, whereby a non-targeted consonant is added next to a targeted consonant in the syllable, has received relatively little attention in studies of children with speech sound disorders (SSD) and typically developing children. Despite the scarcity and subtlety of the pattern, evidence in child and adult data indicates universality. The present article examines the pattern in a bilingual child’s longitudinal speech in English from age 2;7 to 4;0, focusing on word-initial consonant addition. The purpose is to identify phonological and psycholinguistic processes associated with the pattern. It is suggested that the complexity pattern with both legal and illegal outputs is a systemic developmental behaviour linked to the child’s level of phonological acquisition, facilitating acquisition of the complex CCV rule as well as of non-acquired singleton consonants. Implications of the results for children’s SSD intervention techniques and for adult degenerative speech are discussed.     

Putonghua (modern standard Chinese)-speaking children with speech disorder

Developmental speech disorder affects up to 10% of the pre-school English-speaking population. However, speech disorder in Putonghua or Modern Standard Chinese (MSC)-speaking children has not been described. In this study the phonological systems of 33 Putonghua-speaking children with speech disorder were described. Quantitative measures (severity; inconsistency) as well as qualitative measures (phonetic and phonemic inventories; phonological processes) were presented. Of the 33 children, one child had articulation disorder, 18 had delayed phonological development, eight consistently used unusual error patterns, and six children's speech was characterized by inconsistency of production. The findings provided further cross-linguistic support for the 'four subgroup categorization system' (Dodd, 1993). The phonological systems of the Putonghua-speaking children with speech disorder were compared to those of normally developing children and those of children with speech disorder from other language backgrounds. Similar to normally developing children, Putonghua-speaking children with speech disorder were sensitive to the structure of the ambient language. They also shared the characteristics common to disordered children speaking other languages, such as persisting delayed processes, unusual error patterns, variability, restricted phonetic or phonemic inventory, and systematic sound or syllable preference.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Differential diagnosis of phonological disorder in two bilingual children acquiring Italian and English

The need to differentially diagnose children with speech disorder is widely accepted, although how to do this remains controversial. One differential diagnostic framework proposes four subgroups of speech disorder. Investigating the error patterns of bilingual children will validate the existence of subgroups. The subgroups are differentiated in terms of their surface speech error patterns which are thought to reflect different underlying deficits in the speech processing chain. If this hypothesis is true, then bilingual children with speech disorder should show the same type of speech error patterns in each of their languages. The two case studies reported here describe the error patterns of two bilingual 4 year old children who spoke English and Italian. Their disorders were of unknown aetiology. One child presented with an inconsistent phonological system in both languages. The second child made errors that indicated a delay of her phonological development in both languages. The results of their phonological assessments are discussed in terms of current theories about bilingual development and differential diagnosis of phonological disorders. The study identifies the clinical implications for speech-language pathologists.     

Phonological development: a normative study of British English‐speaking children

This paper reports a normative study on the phonological development of British English‐speaking children. Speech samples of 684 children, aged between 3;0 and 6;11 years, randomly selected from nurseries and schools in eight different areas throughout the UK, were collected and analysed to obtain normative data. This paper reports on two aspects of speech development: the age of acquisition of sounds (phonetic acquisition) and the age that error patterns were suppressed (phonemic acquisition). It discusses the effects of age, gender and socio‐economic status on speech sound development. The study found that older children had more accurate production and fewer error patterns in their speech. It found no gender differences in the younger age groups. However, in the oldest age group, it found the phonological accuracy measures of girls' better than boys. It found no significant effects of socio‐economic status on any of the phonological accuracy measures.     

A retrospective study of phonetic inventory complexity in acquisition of Spanish: Implications for phonological universals

This study evaluates 39 different phonetic inventories of 16 Spanish‐speaking children (ages 0;11 to 5;1) in terms of hierarchical complexity. Phonetic featural differences are considered in order to evaluate the proposed implicational hierarchy of Dinnsen et al.'s phonetic inventory typology for English. The children's phonetic inventories are examined independently and in relation to one another. Five hierarchical complexity levels are proposed, similar to those of English and other languages, although with some language‐specific differences. These findings have implications for theoretical assumptions about the universality of phonetic inventory development, and for remediation of Spanish‐speaking children with phonological impairments.     

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.     

An Analysis of Young Children's Ability to Produce Multisyllabic English Nouns

Differentiation of normal versus delayed acquisition of correct production of multisyllabic words has not become a useful clinical tool because there are no clearly established clinical guidelines. Identification of normal patterns of emergence and progression of words with complex canonical form could help us to understand deficient development and would facilitate identification of phonological delays. In this investigation, phonological simplifications were determined for bisyllabic and multisyllabic English nouns produced by 72 normal, middle-class children. The children's age range was 24.5 to 54.5 months. Findings indicated that syllable deletion was a strategy used extensively by 2-year-olds, but this phonological process showed dissolution with age and, by the age of 4, syllable number was correct except in some words with atypical English stress patterns such as bisyllabics with iambic stress patterns. Target words were analysed for characteristics that were likely to cause syllable deletions, and it was found that interactions of syllable number, syllable position, syllable strength, and possibly the children's phonetic inventories were related to syllable deletions. Usage of phonological processes such as assimilation and substitution was also analysed to determine whether specific processes occurred as a function of age. Processes other than syllable deletion showed variability across subjects, and usage of specific processes did not appear to be related to age. It was concluded that the oldest children in this investigation, at a mean age of 50.4 months, could produce most multisyllabic nouns that had typical English stress patterns with the correct number of syllables. Syllable deletions continued to be used in about 10% of their productions, and occurred most often in words that have come into English from other languages. The children also used minor substitution processes such as stopping of later-acquired fricatives and simplifications of liquids, especially in consonant clusters. These findings can be used clinically to compare language-impaired children with this representative group when evaluating children's multisyllabic word productions.     

Phonological development: a normative study of British English-speaking children

This paper reports a normative study on the phonological development of British English-speaking children. Speech samples of 684 children, aged between 3;0 and 6;11 years, randomly selected from nurseries and schools in eight different areas throughout the UK, were collected and analysed to obtain normative data. This paper reports on two aspects of speech development: the age of acquisition of sounds (phonetic acquisition) and the age that error patterns were suppressed (phonemic acquisition). It discusses the effects of age, gender and socio-economic status on speech sound development. The study found that older children had more accurate production and fewer error patterns in their speech. It found no gender differences in the younger age groups. However, in the oldest age group, it found the phonological accuracy measures of girls' better than boys. It found no significant effects of socio-economic status on any of the phonological accuracy measures.     

Tracking change in children with severe and persisting speech difficulties

Standardised tests of whole-word accuracy are popular in the speech pathology and developmental psychology literature as measures of children's speech performance. However, they may not be sensitive enough to measure changes in speech output in children with severe and persisting speech difficulties (SPSD). To identify the best ways of doing this, we compared a range of commonly used procedures for perceptual phonological and phonetic analysis of developmental speech difficulties. Data are drawn from four children with SPSD, recorded at 4 years and again at 6 years old performing naming and repetition tasks. Measures of speech output included percentage of whole words correct (PWC), percentage of consonants correct (PCC), proportion of whole-word proximity (PWP), phonological pattern (process) analysis and phonetic inventory analysis. Results indicate that PWC captures change only when identical stimuli are used across time points. PCC is a more robust indicator of change, being less affected by the choice of stimuli. PWP also captures change across time and tasks, while appearing to be more sensitive than PCC to psycholinguistic variables. PCC and PWP are thus both potentially useful tools for evaluating speech outcomes.     

The acquisition of allophones among bilingual Spanish–English and French–English 3-year-old children

Children are exposed to highly variable input from multiple sources within their speech community. This study examines the acquisition of allophones in Spanish and French by monolingual and bilingual children. We hypothesised that two factors would influence allophone acquisition: (1) the amount of exposure to phonological input, and (2) the degree of variability of the allophonic pattern. Thirty-four typically developing 3-year-old participated in the study. The analyses revealed that regardless of the language, the monolingual children produced similar error rates in the production of the target allophones. In contrast, the bilingual children produced different patterns of acquisition of the allophones: the Spanish–English bilinguals produced higher error rates than the monolinguals, whereas the French–English bilinguals produced lower error rates than the monolinguals. Possibilities for these differences are discussed within the context of structural complexity as well as in light of the effects of between-language interaction on bilingual phonological development.     

Development and change in the phonology of Putonghua-speaking children with speech difficulties

The speech error patterns of seven Putonghua-speaking children with speech difficulties, who received no clinical intervention, were assessed twice over an interval of about 11 months. Qualitative measures (phonetic inventory, phonemic inventory, and phonological process use) and quantitative measures (severity score and inconsistency rating) were used. One child's phonology was within normal limits initially, but showed characteristics of delayed development at the second assessment. Of the three children presented with delayed acquisition at the initial assessment, one child had attained age-appropriate phonology at the second assessment, while the other two children remained delayed. Two children who consistently used phonological error patterns atypical of normal development and one child whose speech was characterized by inconsistency showed little change in the number and type of errors made. The theoretical and clinical implications of these results are discussed. It is argued that children with different underlying deficits might follow different paths of development. Delayed phonological development may occur at any stage of children's phonological acquisition and spontaneously resolve later, while disordered phonological development may start at speech onset and be resistant to changes, due to deficits in the speech processing chain. The data support the need for differential diagnosis and treatment of children with speech disorders.