Phonological development:
The gradual process of acquiring adult speech patterns is called phonological development.
Phonological processes:
All children make predictable pronunciation errors (not really “errors” at all, when you stop to think about it) when they are learning to talk like adults. These “errors” are sometimes called phonological processes, or phonological deviations.
Phonological Processes in Normal Speech Development | ||
PHONOLOGICAL PROCESS (Phonological Deviation) | EXAMPLE | DESCRIPTION |
Context sensitive voicing | “Pig” is pronounced and “big” | A voiceless sound is replaced by a voiced sound. In the examples given, /p/ is replaced by /b/, and /k/ is replaced by /g/. Other examples might include /t/ being replaced by /d/, or /f/ being replaced by /v/. |
Word-final devoicing | “Red” is pronounced as “ret” | A final voiced consonant in a word is replaced by a voiceless consonant. Here, /d/ has been replaced by /t/ and /g/ has been replaced by /k/. |
Final consonant deletion | “Home” is pronounced a “hoe” | The final consonant in the word is omitted. In these examples, /m/ is omitted (or deleted) from “home” and /f/ is omitted from “calf”. |
Velar fronting | “Kiss” is pronounced as “tiss” | A velar consonant, that is a sound that is normally made with the middle of the tongue in contact with the palate towards the back of the mouth, is replaced with consonant produced at the front of the mouth. Hence /k/ is replaced by /t/, /g/ is replaced by /d/, and ‘ng’ is replaced by /n/. |
Palatal fronting | “Ship” is pronounced as “sip” | The fricative consonants ‘sh’ and ‘zh’ are replaced by fricatives that are made further forward on the palate, towards the front teeth. ‘sh’ is replaced by /s/, and ‘zh’ is replaced by /z/. |
Consonant harmony | “Cupboard” is pronounced as “pubbed” | The pronunciation of the whole word is influenced by the presence of a particular sound in the word. In these examples: (1) the /b/ in “cupboard” causes the /k/ to be replaced /p/, which is the voiceless cognate of /b/, and (2) the /g/ in “dog” causes /d/ to be replaced by /g/. |
Weak syllable deletion | Telephone is pronounced as “teffone” | Syllables are either stressed or unstressed. In “telephone” and “tidying” the second syllable is “weak” or unstressed. In this phonological process, weak syllables are omitted when the child says the word. |
Cluster reduction | “Spider” is pronounced as “pider” | Consonant clusters occur when two or three consonants occur in a sequence in a word. In cluster reduction part of the cluster is omitted. In these examples /s/ has been deleted form “spider” and /n/ from “ant”. |
Gliding of liquids | “Real” is pronounced as “weal” | The liquid consonants /l/ and /r/ are replaced by /w/ or ‘y’. In these examples, /r/ in “real” is replaced by /w/, and /l/ in “leg” is replaced by ‘y’. |
Stopping | “Funny” is pronounced as “punny” | A fricative consonant (/f/ /v/ /s/ /z/, ‘sh’, ‘zh’, ‘th’ or /h/), or an affricate consonant (‘ch’ or /j/) is replaced by a stop consonant (/p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ or /g/). In these examples, /f/ in “funny” is replaced by /p/, and ‘j’ in “jump” is replaced by /d/. |
Ages by which Phonological Processes are Eliminated | ||
PHONOLOGICAL PROCESS | EXAMPLE | GONE BY APPROXIMATELY years ; months |
Context sensitive voicing | pig = big | 3;0 |
Word-final de-voicing | pig = pick | 3;0 |
Final consonant deletion | comb = coe | 3;3 |
Fronting | car = tar | 3;6 |
Consonant harmony | mine = mime | 3;9 |
Weak syllable deletion | elephant = efant | 4;0 |
Cluster reduction | spoon = poon | 4;0 |
Gliding of liquids | run = one | 5;0 |
Stopping /f/ | fish = tish | 3;0 |
Stopping /s/ | soap = dope | 3;0 |
Stopping /v/ | very = berry | 3;6 |
Stopping /z/ | zoo = doo | 3;6 |
Stopping ‘sh’ | shop = dop | 4;6 |
Stopping ‘j’ | jump = dump | 4;6 |
Stopping ‘ch’ | chair = tare | 4;6 |
Stopping voiceless ‘th’ | thing = ting | 5;0 |
Stopping voiced ‘th’ | them = dem | 5;0 |
Phonetic development:
In column 3, the term ‘voiced’ refers to the vibration of the vocal cords while the sound is being made. The term ‘voiceless’ is applied to sounds that are made without vocal cord vibration. The terms fricative, glide, stop, nasal, liquid and affricate refer to the way the sounds are made, or the “manner of articulation”.
Table 4: Normal phonetic development | ||
Column 1 | Column 2 | Column 3 |
3 years | h as in he | Voiceless fricative |
3 years 6 months | f as in if | Voiceless fricative |
4 years | l as in lay | Voiced liquid |
4 years 6 months | j as in jaw | Voiced affricate |
5 years | r as in red | Voiced liquid |
6 years | v as in Vegemite | Voiced fricative |
8 years | th as in this | Voiced fricative |
8 years 6 months | th as in thing | Voiceless fricative |