Articulation & Phonological Disorders: Key Concepts and Processes

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in speech.

Place

The location in the vocal tract where a consonant sound is produced.

Manner

The way in which a consonant sound is produced.

Voice

The use of vocal cord vibration in producing sounds.

/p/

Bilabial Stop voiceless

/b/

Bilabial Stop voiced

/t/

Alveolar Stop voiceless

/d/

Alveolar Stop voiced

/k/

Velar Stop voiceless

/g/

Velar Stop voiced

/ʔ/

Glottal Stop voiceless

/f/

Labiodental Fricative voiceless

/v/

Labiodental Fricative voiced

/θ/

Interdental Fricative voiceless

/ð/

Interdental Fricative voiced

/s/

Alveolar Fricative voiceless

/z/

Alveolar Fricative voiced

/ʃ/

Palatal Fricative voiceless

/ʒ/

Palatal Fricative voiced

/h/

Glottal Fricative voiceless

/dʒ/

Alveolar Affricate voiced

/tʃ/

Alveolar Affricate voiceless

/m/

Bilabial Nasal voiced

/n/

Alveolar Nasal voiced

/ŋ/

Velar Nasal voiced

/l/

Alveolar Liquid voiced

/r/

Palatal Liquid voiced

/w/

Labio-velar Glide voiced

/j/

Palatal Glide voiced

Distinctive Feature Theory

Attempts to determine the specific properties of a sound that serve to signal meaning differences in a language.

Binary System in Distinctive Features

Uses a plus (+) and minus (-) system to signal the presence (+) or absence (-) of certain features.

Broad Transcription

Symbols representing target sounds in a speech sample.

Narrow Transcription

Includes broad transcription symbols & symbols that describe slight variations in the production of target sounds.

Diacritics

Marks added to sound transcription symbols to give them a particular phonetic value.

Dentalization

An articulatory variation in which the tongue approaches the upper incisors.

Palatalization

Only sound for which the palate is not the place of articulation can be palatalized.

Velarization

Refers to a more posterior tongue placement for palatal sounds.

Lateralization

[l] is the only lateral in GA. It cannot be lateralized because it is already lateral.

Syllabic Consonants

Unstressed syllables easily become reduced syllable.

Derhotacization

Loss of r-coloring typically for the central vowels with r-coloring.

Nasalization

If a nasal follows a vowel, nasality often seeps into the vowel segment.

Stress Markers

Primary and secondary= [ˈ] primary and [ˌ ] secondary.

Duration Symbols

Lengthening- [fiːt] [jɛsːɝ].

Tense Vowels

Longer duration.

Lax Vowels

Shorter duration.

Diphthong

A vowel sound that demonstrates articulatory movement resulting in a qualitative change during its production.

Coarticulation

The concept that the articulators are continually moving into position for other segments over a stretch of speech.

Assimilation

Refers to adaptive articulatory changes through which one speech sound becomes similar to a neighboring sound.

Progressive Assimilation

When a segment influences a following sound in a linear manner.

Regressive Assimilation

When a sound segment influences a preceding sound.

Phonotactics

Refers to the description of the allowed combinations of phonemes in a particular language.

Articulation Disorder

When an individual's articulation deviates significantly from the norm; characterized by substitutions, omissions, distortions, and additions (SODA) that may interfere with intelligibility.

Phonological Disorder

Refers to impaired comprehension of the sound system of a language and the rules that govern the sound combinations; includes syllable structure, substitution, and assimilatory

Cluster Reduction

Clusters are reduced to a single consonant; usually the natural member of the cluster remains. E.g., [pun] for spoon. (syllable structure)

Reduplication

Second syllable becomes a repetition of the first. E.g., [/bɑbɑ/] from bottle. (syllable structure)

Weak Syllable Deletion

Unstressed syllable is deleted. E.g., [nænə] from banana. (syllable structure)

Fronting

E.g., [ti] for key. (substitution- changes in place)

Labialization

E.g., [fʌm] for thumb. (substitution- changes in place)

Alveolarization

E.g., [sʌm] for thumb. (substitution- changes in place)

Voicing

E.g., [du] for two. (substitution- changes in voicing)

Devoicing

E.g., [pit] for beet. (substitution- changes in voicing)

Consonant Cluster Substitution

E.g., [stwit] for street. (substitution- changes in voicing)

Stopping

Gliding of liquids/fricatives. E.g., [dus] for juice. (substitution- changes in manner)

Affrication

E.g., [tʃu] for shoe. (substitution- changes in manner)

Deaffrication

E.g., [ʃiz] for cheese. (substitution- changes in manner)

Denasalization

E.g., [dud] for noon. (substitution- changes in manner)

Labial Assimilation

E.g., [fwɪŋ] for swing. (assimilatory)

Velar Assimilation

E.g., [gɑg] for dog. (assimilatory)

Nasal Assimilation

E.g., [mʌnɪ] for bunny. (assimilatory)

Liquid Assimilation

E.g., [lɛloʊ] for yellow. (assimilatory)

Generative Phonology

Represents the application of principles of generative grammar to phonology; Noam Chomsky and Morris Halle; Assumes two levels of sound representation:

Phonological representation- an abstract, underlying form and Phonetic representation- modified, surface form; Phonological rules- govern how this phonological representation (underlying representation or deep form) is transformed into the actual pronunciation (surface form)

Natural Phonology

Incorporates features of naturalness theories and was specifically designed to explain the normal development of children's phonological systems; Patterns of speech are governed by an innate, universal set of phonological processes; Suggested by David Stampe: phonological processes are innate and universal; all children are born with the capacity to use the same system and processes; This theory points out prominent developmental steps that children go through until the goal of adult phonology is reached in the children's early years; Stampe thought these phonological processes explained the replacement of the difficult property of the sound or sound class with a simpler form.

Limitation

Occurs when differences between child's and adult's system become limited to specific sounds, sound classes, or sound sequences. (natural phonology)

Ordering

Occurs when substitutions that appear unordered and random become more organized. (natural phonology)

Suppression

One or more phonological processes are suppressed as children move from innate speech patterns to the adult form. (natural phonology)

Articulation

The motor production of speech sounds.

Fluency

The flow of speaking including rate and rhythm.

Language

Complex and dynamic system of convention symbols that is used in various modes for thought and communication.

Phonology

The study of the sound system of language and includes the rules that govern its spoken form.

Morphology

Studies the structure of words; analyzes how words can be divided into parts labeled morphemes.

Morpheme

The smallest meaningful unit of a language.

Syntax

Consists of organizational rules denoting word, phrase, and clause order; sentence organization and the relationship between words.

Semantics

The study of linguistic meaning and includes the meaning of words.

Pragmatics

The study of language used to communicate within various situational contexts.

Phonetics

The study of speech emphasizing the description and classification of speech sounds according to their production, transmission, and perceptual features.

Speech sound

Represent physical sound realities; they are end products of articulatory motor processes.

Phonemes

The smallest linguistic unit that is able to distinguish meaning between words.

Articulatory phonetics

Categorization/Classification of speech sounds

Acoustic phonetics

Transmission properties of speech (i.e. frequency, intensity)

Auditory phonetics

How we perceive sounds

Normative phonetics

setting good speech standards, or establishing norms for good or acceptable speech

Clinical phonetics

remediates unintelligible or disordered speech

Label speech chain

Phonetic level is to "surface level form" as phonemic level is to...

underlying function

When speaking about phonology, why would a child with difficulties in phonological skills also have difficulties with other areas of language (such as syntax, semantics, etc.)?

They are all interconnected- if they don't know the rules of the language, they will have a hard time understanding sentence structure and vocabulary

Stampe believed that a child tends to produce forms that are more....

natural

What 2 aspects are necessary for effective verbal communication?

form and function

Why is the distinctive theory not widely used now?

outdated and difficult to use

What is the difference between articulation and phonology?

phonology is the rules that govern the sounds and articulation is how the sounds are produced

What is the difference between an articulation vs. a phonological disorder?

articulation disorder is when the client has trouble producing sound, phonological disorders are when the client has difficulty with phonological rules