Connected Speech, Phonological Processes, and Clinical Transcription

Vocabulary flashcards covering segmental and suprasegmental features of connected speech, phonological processes, speech sound disorders, and clinical narrow transcription.

Citation form

The speech form that occurs when all phonemes are carefully spoken.

Connected speech

Speech that results from two or more words combining to form an utterance.

Coarticulation

The overlapping of articulators during speech production.

Assimilation

A process where a phoneme takes on the phonetic characteristics of neighboring sounds.

Regressive assimilation

An assimilatory process in which a phoneme is directly modified by the phoneme following it.

Progressive assimilation

An assimilatory process in which a phoneme is directly modified by the phoneme preceding it.

Nonassimilatory processes

Processes other than coarticulation and assimilation that occur on a regular basis and change the shape of words when compared between citation form and connected speech.

Elision

The elimination of a phoneme during speech production.

Epenthesis

The addition of a phoneme during speech production.

Metathesis

The transposition of sounds in words (e.g., elephant to /ɛfələnt/).

Vowel reduction

The process where the full form of a vowel becomes more like a mid-central /ə/ due to a decreased amount of time for the articulators to achieve their target position.

Suprasegmental aspects of speech

Features—including stress, timing, and intonation—that go beyond or transcend the boundaries of individual speech sound segments or phonemes, affecting the entire utterance.

Word stress

The production of a syllable with greater articulatory force, making it louder, longer in duration, and higher in pitch than an unstressed syllable.

Intonation

A suprasegmental feature of speech involving the modification of voice pitch, which helps identify whether an utterance is a question, exclamation, or statement.

Intonational phrase

A unit of speech made up of all changes in fundamental frequency spanning the length of a meaningful utterance.

Falling intonational phrase

An intonation pattern that accompanies complete statements and commands to indicate finality, also typical in wh- questions.

Rising intonation phrase

An intonation pattern typical of questions and incomplete thoughts that usually indicates uncertainty on the speaker's part.

Tempo

The term used to describe the durational aspect of connected speech.

Juncture

The phonetic marking that indicates the way in which syllables and words are linked together in connected speech.

Open internal juncture

A pause between words or syllables indicated by the [+] symbol in connected speech transcription.

Speech Sound Disorder

An umbrella term for disorders involving speech sound production.

Articulation disorder

A problem in producing a limited number of phonemes or errors tied to the motoric aspects of speech production.

Phonological disorder

A difficulty with the sound system of a language and utilizing the rules that govern the combination and ordering of phonemes.

Mastery

The age at which a phoneme is produced with a certain specified degree of accuracy.

Customary production

The age at which a phoneme is produced with greater than 50% accuracy.

Phonological processes

Simplifications of sound production used by children who are not capable of producing adult speech patterns.

Syllable structure processes

Phonological processes that affect the production of the syllable by simplifying them, usually into a CV pattern.

Weak syllable deletion

The omission of an unstressed (weak) syllable either preceding or following a stressed syllable; may continue until age 4.

Final consonant deletion

A syllable structure process that reduces a syllable to a CV pattern (open syllable); generally suppressed by age 3;6.

Reduplication

The repetition of a syllable of a word.

Cluster reduction

The deletion of a consonant from a consonant cluster; persists until ages 4 or 5.

Substitution processes

Phonological processes that involve the replacement of one class of phonemes for another.

Stopping

The substitution of a stop consonant for a fricative or an affricate; continues until 4–5 years.

Fronting

The substitution of velar and palatal consonants with an alveolar place of articulation; disappears by 3 years.

Deaffrication

The substitution of a fricative for an affricate.

Gliding

The substitution of /w/ or /j/ for the liquid consonants /l/ and /r/; may last until age 5.

Vocalization

The substitution of a vowel for a postvocalic /r/ or /l/, including syllabic /l/, or derhotacization of central vowels and postvocalic /r/.

Labial assimilation

A non-labial phoneme is produced with a labial place of articulation due to phonetic context; suppressed by 2;6.

Alveolar assimilation

A non-alveolar phoneme is produced with an alveolar place of articulation due to phonetic environment.

Velar assimilation

A non-velar phoneme is produced with a velar place of articulation due to phonetic environment.

Prevocalic voicing

The voicing of a normally unvoiced consonant prior to a vowel.

Devoicing

A voicing assimilation process where final voiced phonemes are devoiced when preceding a pause or at the end of an utterance.

Glottal replacement

An idiosyncratic process involving the substitution of a glottal stop for another consonant.

Initial consonant deletion

An idiosyncratic process characterized by the omission of a single consonant at the beginning of a word.

Backing

An idiosyncratic process involving the substitution of a velar stop consonant for consonants usually produced more anteriorly in the oral cavity.

Nonlinear Phonology

An approach involving an inventory of a child's speech sound system on multiple levels, including individual speech sounds, syllables, stress patterns, and words.

Broad transcription

Phonetic transcription that focuses on transcribing sounds that make a difference in meaning.

Narrow transcription

Phonetic transcription that records details of articulation using special symbols and diacritics.

Unreleased stop

A stop consonant that has no audible release burst associated with its production.

Aspiration of stops

A burst of air following stop release that only occurs in words in the initial position of stressed syllables.

Unaspirated stops

Voiceless stop consonants produced without aspiration, most common immediately following the fricative /s/.

Nasal emission

The audible escape of air through the nares due to improper velopharyngeal (VP) closure.

Denasality

Hyponasality; occurs when nasal phonemes are produced without normal nasal resonance.

Dentalization

The production of alveolar consonants where the tongue tip makes contact with the upper front teeth instead of the alveolar ridge.

extIPA (Extended International Phonetic Alphabet)

A specialized phonetic alphabet that includes additional symbols used to transcribe disordered or atypical speech characteristics.

VoQS (Voice Quality Symbols)

A system used to transcribe different voice qualities (e.g., breathy, creaky, harsh, falsetto) and vocal tract configurations.

Lateralization

A distortion where airflow is diverted over the sides of the tongue during the production of /s/ and /z/.