Speech, Language, and Communication Development

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the components of speech, language, and communication, Bloom and Lahey's model, developmental milestones across linguistic domains, Brown's stages of morphosyntactic development, and phonological processes with ages of suppression.

Communication

The exchange of information and ideas, needs and desires, between two or more individuals, involving encoding, transmitting, and decoding.

Communication Process Model

A model illustrating communication as a multi-stage process involving concept formulation, linguistic encoding, transmission (speech), linguistic decoding, and resulting concept comprehension, supported by feedback.

Language

A socially shared code or conventional system for representing concepts through the use of arbitrary symbols and rule-governed combinations of those symbols.

Speech

A verbal means of communicating resulting from planning and executing specific motor sequences, requiring precise neuromuscular coordination.

Dialect

A rule-governed variety of a language characterized by social, ethnic, and geographical differences in speakers; mutually intelligible forms associated with a particular region, social class, or ethnic group.

Idiolect

A person’s own unique way of speaking.

Registers

Varieties of a language that depend on the communicative context and conversational participants.

Accent

A language variation that refers strictly to the pronunciation of a language variety.

Language Disorder (ASHA Definition)

An impairment in comprehension and/or use of spoken, written, and/or other symbol systems that may involve the form, content, and/or function of language.

Expressive Language

The language that is produced by an individual.

Receptive Language

The language that is received and understood by an individual.

Nested Model of Speech, Language, and Communication

A structural model showing speech (perception and production of sounds) nested inside language (semantics, morphology, syntax), which in turn is nested inside communication (discourse, gestures, inferencing, tone of voice).

Form (Bloom & Lahey)

The structural aspect of language consisting of syntax, morphology, and phonology; governs word order, word endings, and speech sounds.

Content (Bloom & Lahey)

The semantic component of language, encompassing word meanings, the ways word meanings link together, and sequencing.

Use (Bloom & Lahey)

The pragmatic component of language, involving conversation, social rules, and matching language appropriately to the situation.

Phonology

The linguistic domain governing sound units, sound sequences, and phoneme use.

Morphology

The linguistic domain governing words, word formation, and word beginnings and endings (morphemes and tenses).

Syntax

The linguistic domain governing sentence structure, grammar, word order, and relationships among words.

Semantics

The system of rules governing vocabulary comprehension, the meaning of words, and word combinations.

Pragmatics

The social use of language and social skills, determining how language is used appropriately to achieve communication goals.

Bloom and Lahey's Model of Language Disorders

A diagnostic framework from 1978 categorizing language breakdown, symptoms, and functional impacts across Form (syntax/grammar, morphology, phonology), Content (semantics/vocabulary comprehension), and Use (pragmatic language/social skills).

Perlocutionary Stage (0–8 Months)

An early stage of pragmatic development where the infant lacks intentional communication, but caregivers attribute intent to the infant's actions.

Illocutionary Stage (8–12 Months)

A pragmatic development stage where communicative intents (requesting objects/actions, refusing, commenting) are expressed using preverbal gestures and vocalizations at a rate of 2.5 acts per minute of free play.

Locutionary Stage (12–18 Months)

A pragmatic development stage where children express communicative intents using actual words instead of solely preverbal means, communicating at a rate of 5 acts per minute of free play.

Brown’s Stage I (18–24 Months)

A morphosyntactic stage characterized by basic semantic roles and relations, the emergence of two-word utterances, consistent word order, and telegraphic speech with few grammatical markers.

Brown’s Stage II (24–30 Months)

A morphosyntactic stage characterized by the acquisition of early grammatical morphemes (-ing, in, on, plural /s/), negation placed between subject and verb, rising intonation questions, and semi-auxiliaries (gonna, wanna, gotta, hafta).

Brown’s Stage III (30–36 Months)

A morphosyntactic stage characterized by the modulation of simple sentences, emergence of present-tense auxiliaries (can, will), inconsistent use of be verbs, and overgeneralized past-tense forms.

Brown’s Stage IV (36–42 Months)

A morphosyntactic stage characterized by the emergence of embedded sentences, continued appearance of present-tense auxiliaries, and ongoing overgeneralization of past-tense forms.

Brown’s Stage Late IV – Early V (42–48 Months)

A morphosyntactic stage marked by early emerging complex sentence types: full prepositional clauses, wh- clauses, simple infinitives, and conjoined clauses.

Brown’s Stage V (48–60 Months)

A morphosyntactic stage marked by the acquisition of later developing morphemes (be verbs, regular past tense, third person /s/), past-tense auxiliaries, relative clauses, gerund clauses, and full basic sentence forms.

Heap Stories (24–30 Months)

An early narrative form consisting primarily of labels and descriptions grouped together without an organizing theme or plot.

Narrative Sequences (30–36 Months)

A narrative type in which statements are linked by a common theme, but lack an overarching plot.

Primitive Narratives (36–42 Months)

A narrative structure characterized by a core theme and some temporal organization, though still lacking a fully developed plot.

Narrative Chains (48–60 Months)

A narrative form consisting of chronologically sequenced events with some plot, but lacking a central high point or resolution.

Speech Sound Development Chart (Sander, 1972)

A normative developmental reference showing the typical age ranges (from 2 to 8 years) during which children acquire and master specific English consonants.

Phonological Process Suppression Reference

A developmental chart listing common phonological error patterns, speech production examples, and their typical chronological suppression ages.

Cluster Reduction

A phonological process in which a consonant cluster is simplified into a single consonant (e.g., 'poon' for 'spoon'); typically suppressed by 4 years without /s/ and 5 years with /s/.

Final Consonant Deletion

A phonological process in which the closing consonant of a syllable or word is omitted (e.g., 'cuh' for 'cup'); typically suppressed by 3 years.

Weak Syllable Deletion

A phonological process characterized by the omission of an unstressed syllable in a word (e.g., 'nana' for 'banana'); typically suppressed by 4 years.

Backing

An atypical phonological process in which anterior sounds are replaced by posterior sounds (e.g., 'gog' for 'dog'); typically seen in children with severe phonological disorders.

Fronting

A phonological process in which velar or palatal sounds are replaced with alveolar sounds (e.g., 'tey' for 'key'); typically suppressed by 3½ years.

Gliding

A phonological process in which liquid consonants (/r/, /l/) are replaced by glides (/w/, /j/) (e.g., 'wug' for 'rug'); typically suppressed between 5 and 6 years.

Stopping

A phonological process in which continuous sounds (fricatives or affricates) are replaced by stop consonants (e.g., 'toap' for 'soap'); suppressed in stages from 3 to 5 years depending on the phoneme.

Affrication

A phonological process in which a non-affricate consonant is replaced by an affricate (e.g., 'choe' for 'shoe'); typically suppressed by 3 years.

Deaffrication

A phonological process in which an affricate consonant is replaced by a fricative or stop (e.g., 'ship' for 'chip'); typically suppressed by 4 years.

Alveolarization

A phonological process in which non-alveolar sounds are substituted with alveolar sounds (e.g., 'tum' for 'thumb'); typically suppressed by 5 years.

Depalatalization

A phonological process in which a palatal sound is replaced by a non-palatal sound (e.g., 'fit' for 'fish'); typically suppressed by 5 years.

Labialization

A phonological process in which non-labial consonants are replaced by labial sounds (e.g., 'mouf' for 'mouth'); typically suppressed by 6 years.

Assimilation (Phonological)

A phonological process in which a speech sound becomes identical or similar to another sound within the same word (e.g., 'bub' for 'bus'); typically suppressed by 3 years.

Denasalization

A phonological process in which nasal consonants are replaced by oral stop consonants (e.g., 'dore' for 'more'); typically suppressed by 2½ years.

Final Consonant Devoicing

A phonological process in which a voiced final consonant is replaced with its voiceless cognate (e.g., 'tup' for 'tub'); typically suppressed by 3 years.

Prevocalic Voicing

A phonological process in which a voiceless consonant preceding a vowel is replaced by a voiced consonant (e.g., 'gup' for 'cup'); typically suppressed by 6 years.

Reduplication

A phonological process characterized by the repetition of a syllable or word segment (e.g., 'baba' for 'bottle'); typically suppressed by 3 years.