child language development: phonology

4 stages of phonological development

• vegetative

• cooing

• babbling

• proto-words

what period does the vegetative state last for

0-4 months

what period does the cooing state last for

4-7 months

what period does the babbling state last for

6-12 months

what period does the proto-words state last for

9-12 months

what is the vegetative stage, with examples

• sounds of discomfort or reflexive actions

• examples include sucking, coughing, crying and burping

what is the cooing stage, with examples

• comfort sounds and vocal play using open-mouthed vowel sounds

• grunts and sighs become vowel-like ‘coos’

what is the babbling stage, with examples

• extended sounds resembling syllable-like sequences and repeated patterns

• examples include sounds linking to own language and reduplicated sounds (‘dada’) and non-reduplicated/ variegated sounds (‘agu)

what is the proto-words stage, with examples

• word like vocalisations, not matching actual words, but used consistently for the same meaning

• examples like ‘mmm’ meaning ‘give me that’ can be accompanied by gestures to support the verbal message

define grapheme

a written letter, symbol or combination of letters used to represent a phoneme

define phoneme

the smallest contrastive unit of sound of a language represented in writing by different graphemes

define vowel

a sound made without closure or audible friction

define consonant

a speech sound that is produced when the vocal tract is blocked or partially restricted so that there is audible friction

define monopthong

a pure vowel sound , whose articulation at the beginning and end is relatively fixed, so does not glide up or down to a new position of articulation

define dipthong

a vowel in which there is a perceptible change in quality during a syllable

define voiced phoneme

voiced sounds occur when the vocal chords vibrate during articulation

example of a voiced phoneme

/z/ or /d/

define unvoiced phoneme

unvoiced sounds are produced without vibration of the vocal chords

examples of unvoiced phonemes

/s/ or /t/

define voiced labiodental fricative

a fricative where the top teeth sit on the bottom lip, air is pushed through and the vocal chords vibrate

define unvoiced labiodental fricative

a fricative where the top teeth sit on the bottom lip, air is pushed through and the vocal chords do not vibrate

example of a voiced labiodental fricative

/v/

example of an unvoiced labiodental fricative

/f/

define plosives

plosives are sounds created when the airflow is completely blocked for a brief time

voiced plosive examples

/b/ or /g/

unvoiced plosive examples

/p/ or /k/

define fricatives

fricatives are sounds created when the airflow is partially blocked and air moves through the mouth in a steady stream

unvoiced fricative example

/f/, /s/, /θ/ , /ʃ/

voiced fricative example

/v/ or /z/

define affricatives

affricatives are created by putting plosives and fricatives together

unvoiced affricative example

/tʃ/

voiced affricative example

/ʤ/

define approximants

similar to vowel sounds, do not manifest as unvoiced sounds

voiced approximant examples

/w/ or /r/ or /j/

define nasals

nasals are sounds produced by pushing air through the nose, do not manifest as unvoiced sounds

voiced nasal example

/n/ or /ŋ/

define laterals

laterals are sounds created by placing the tongue on the ridge of the teeth so air moves down the side of the mouth

they are not manifested as unvoiced sounds

voiced lateral example

/l/

what are labial sounds

sounds made with the lips

example of a labial sound

/p/

what are labio-dental sounds

sounds made using the teeth and lips

example of a labio-dental sounds

/f/

what are dental sounds

consonants formed by placing the tongue between the teeth

dental sound example

/θ/

what are alveolar sounds

sounds made by the tongue touching the ridge behind the upper teeth

example of an alveolar sound

/t/

what are post-alveolar/ palato-alveolar sounds sounds

sounds made by placing the tongue between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate

example of a post alveolar sound

/ʃ/

what is a palatal sound

sounds made by placing the tongue on the hard palate at the roof of the mouth

example of a palatal sound

/j/

what is a velar sound

a sound made by placing the tongue on the soft palate

example of a velar sound

/k/

what is a glottal sound

a sound made by the closing of the glottis/ vocal chords

example of a glottal sound

/h/

what are the 7 types of phonological errors

• consonant cluster reductions

• deletion

• substitution

• assimilation

• deletion of unstressed syllables

• reduplication

• addition

what is consonant cluster reductions, including examples

• reduction of consonant clusters to smaller units

• eg blanket → banket

what is deletion, with example

• omitting the final consonant in words

• eg ‘bus’ → ‘buh’

what is substitution, with example

• substituting a harder sound for one that has already been acquired

• eg ‘thing’ → ‘ting’

what is assimilation, with example

• changing a consonant or vowel to a nearby sound that as already been acquired

• eg ‘self’ → ‘felf’

what is deletion of unstressed syllables, with example

• omitting unstressed syllables in polysyllabic words

• eg ‘banana’ → ‘nana’

• more extreme eg ‘‘kangaroo’ → ‘woo’

what is reduplication, with example

• the repeating of an entire syllable

• eg ‘daddy’ → ‘dada’

what is addition, with example

• adding an extra vowel sound to the ends of words

• eg ‘dog’ → ‘doggie’

what does addition create

a CVCV pattern (consonant vowel consonant vowel)

what is articulatory ease

how easy it is for children to be able to create sounds

what is perceptual discriminability

how easily children can distinctly hear specific sounds

who amde the phonological acquisition sequence

Pamela Grunwell

what sounds are acquired at age 24 months

p, b, m, d, n, w, t

what class of sounds are produced around 24 months

stop consonants and simple nasals, all voiced

what sounds are made at 30 months

k, g, h, ŋ

what sounds are made around 36 months

f, s, j, l

what sounds are made around 42 months

ʃ, tʃ, ʤ, v, z, r

what sounds are made around age 48+ months

ð, 3, θ

where is it easier for children to make consonant sounds

at the front of the mouth rather than at the back

why do fricatives and laterals come later

because the children require a good physical control of the speech organs, especially the tongue and the lips, to impede rather than stop airflow

why are affricatives even harder to produce

because they combine the placements of fricatives and plosives

what is fronting in fricative substitution

substituting consonants produced further forward as it is easier than producing them further back

what is stopping in fricative substitution

substituting sounds that partially block airflow for ones that fully stop it

what is gliding in fricative substitution

substituting /r/ and /l/ for /w/

who carried out the Fis research and what did they find

• Berko and Brown

• they found that there is a gap between pronunciation and phonological understanding

• that children undergo substitution but don’t necessarily possess the perceptual discriminability to be able to distinguish the difference in pronunciation

what did Dodd find

that children understand the speech of adults (100%) more than their own speech (50%)

why is intonation important

it gives listeners indications of meanings of a speaker’s message and the use of pitch and tone signal our feeling