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Hettiarachchi S, Ranaweera M, Saleem S, Krishnaveni K. When No Speech Norms Exist: Observations From Sinhala. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2024:1-26. [PMID: 39353055 DOI: 10.1044/2024_ajslp-23-00359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/04/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE A well-established set of language-specific norms for phonological development is imperative in the assessment of child speech sound difficulties. Currently, English norms are used clinically (in the absence of norms for local languages) to determine if a child displays age-appropriate, delayed or disordered speech patterns in Sinhala. This preliminary exploratory study aimed to document phonological processes observed in typically developing Sinhala-speaking children aged 3;0-6;11 (years;months). METHOD The Test of Articulation and Phonology-Sinhala, a picture-based assessment, was devised by the researchers and administered to 102 Sinhala-speaking children from three geographical locations (Colombo, Kandy, and Gampaha). The quantitative measures included percent consonants correct, percent vowels correct, and percent phonemes correct, while the qualitative analysis identified phonological processes. RESULTS The quantitative results showed a marked influence of age on phoneme production accuracy with over 75% consonants correct by 3 years 6 months. The qualitative findings demonstrate common typical phonological processes and less common phonological processes in Sinhala compared to the speech pathology and cross-linguistic literature. Common phonological processes included fronting, stopping, and weak syllable deletion widely documented in linguistic and speech-language pathology literature. Many shared phonological processes were observed between Sinhala and Sri Lankan Tamil, the two main local languages, including fronting of retroflex sounds and lateralization. The phonological process of denasalization of prenasalized stops was observed in Sinhala, with no documentation of the phonological process found within the mainstream speech-language pathology literature. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS These findings reinforce the need to document and use language-specific typical phonological processes in Sinhala given the implications for early and accurate identification of speech difficulties and intervention. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.27068173.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shyamani Hettiarachchi
- Department of Disability Studies, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
| | - Mahishi Ranaweera
- Department of English Language Teaching, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
| | - Shakeela Saleem
- Speech Science, School of Psychology, Faculty of Science, The University of Auckland, New Zealand
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Ahmadi A, Pascoe M, Larimian M, Zarifian T, Massoodi A, Pirfirouzjaei F, Amadeh Z, Malmir Z. Phonological development in first language Laki-speaking children aged 3 to 5 years: A pilot study. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2024; 26:493-504. [PMID: 37550987 DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2023.2214712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/09/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE To date there are no studies of speech sound acquisition in Laki, a language spoken in western regions of Iran. Thus, we set out a pilot study to investigate the speech development of 56 first language Laki-speaking children (aged 3-5 years). METHOD Single words were elicited through a picture naming test specifically developed for this study. After recording and transcribing of speech samples, percentage of consonants correct (PCC), percentage of vowels correct (PVC), and proportion of whole word proximity (PWP) were documented in four age groups (36-41, 42-47, 48-53, and 54-59 months) and both genders. Children's phonetic inventories and consonant and vowel accuracy were also described. RESULT All the sounds were considered as emerging by 53 months of age. For speech sound accuracy, all the speech sounds except /ɢ, z, ŋ, ʒ/ were mastered by 5 years. The effect of age on PCC values was significant. Also, age groups showed significant differences for PWP but were not significant for PVC. Boys and girls did not differ for PCC, PVC, and PWP values. CONCLUSION From a theoretical perspective, findings contribute to theories about phonological acquisition in general and will enable crosslinguistic comparisons. From an applied standpoint, language-specific characteristics are identified, which are much needed for clinical practice with Laki-speaking children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Akram Ahmadi
- Department of Speech Therapy, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
- Mobility Impairment Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
| | - Michelle Pascoe
- Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Marjan Larimian
- Mobility Impairment Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
| | - Talieh Zarifian
- Department of Speech Therapy, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Armon Massoodi
- Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
| | | | - Zahra Amadeh
- Mobility Impairment Research Center, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran
| | - Zahra Malmir
- School of Science and Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Hamadan University of Medical Science, Hamadan, Iran
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Mashaqba B, Hadban F. Acquisition of Gutturals by Ammani-Jordanian Arabic-Speaking Preschoolers. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2024; 67:2222-2243. [PMID: 38941556 DOI: 10.1044/2024_jslhr-23-00085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/30/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study aims at investigating the phonological development of the six guttural consonants of Jordanian Arabic, /χ/, /ʁ/, /ħ/, /ʕ/, /ʔ/, and /h/. METHOD An articulation test is designed to involve two tasks: picture naming and repetition. The test includes 54 words for picture naming and 18 words for repetition, representing all possible positions of the targeted guttural sounds. Samples are collected from 40 typically developing Ammani-Jordanian Arabic-speaking monolingual children, living in Amman, Jordan. Respondents are equally divided into eight age-related trajectories: 2-2;6, 2;6-3, 3-3;6, 3;6-4, 4-4;6, 4;6-5, 5-5;6, and 5;6-6 (years;months). No child with a history of hearing, speech, or vision disorders is included. The data are analyzed using production accuracy, where the three developmental trajectories of production (customary, acquisition, and mastery) are determined for each guttural, and error analysis, addressed based on perceptual judgments, providing details of every mispronounced or deleted guttural. RESULTS The results show that /χ/, /ħ/, /ʕ/, and /ʔ/ are acquired before the age of 6 years, while /ʁ/ and /h/ are still not acquired by this age. Respondents use relatively variant alternatives for the mispronounced cognates, including guttural, nonguttural sounds, and vowel substitution. The /ʁ/ is the guttural with the highest number of alternatives, while /ʔ/ gets the least. The analysis also reveals patterns of guttural deletion, with variations across different guttural sounds and positions. Despite errors/deviations made, respondents score accuracy percentages that gradually increase in correlation with age. The guttural /ʁ/ starts with the lowest accuracy percentages, while /ʔ/ and /ħ/ start with the highest. CONCLUSIONS These findings illuminate on the developmental trajectory of guttural acquisition and enrich our understanding of children's evolving perception and production abilities. They offer valuable insights into the patterns of guttural sound production in Jordanian Arabic-speaking children, laying the groundwork for further research and the development of targeted assessment and intervention strategies to support phonological development in this population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bassil Mashaqba
- Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan
| | - Farah Hadban
- Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, The Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan
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Geronikou E, Babatsouli E. Child speech developmental norms in Greek monolinguals: whole word and consonant accuracy. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2024:1-20. [PMID: 38560915 DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2024.2329975] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
Child phonological development in standard Greek is aptly represented by both single-case and cross-sectional studies. While some quantitative measures exist, such as the 75% criterion in the acquisition of singletons and clusters, reported norms require replication to fine-tune existing indicators, inform non-existent ones, and better reflect children's typical developmental speech in contemporary Greece. Our cross-sectional study addresses this gap, in terms of consonant inventory acquisition, and percentage accuracy of words, singletons, clusters, and cluster reductions. Phonological Assessment for Greek (PAel) procedures facilitated data elicitation from 254 Greek-speaking participants, aged 2;0-7;0, equally represented for gender. Our study comprehensively informs quantitative norms on whole word accuracy (WWA), percentage of consonants correct (PCC), PCC variation across the different age groups of children, and the WWA-PCC correlation along the developmental path in this cross-sectional study. A schematic representation models children's normative PCC-WWA profiles, facilitating the determination of phonological disorder in Greek with direct clinical application on diagnosis and intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Elena Babatsouli
- Department of Communicative Disorders, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA
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Haim M, Bat-El Foux O. Asynchronization at the phonology-morphology interface: A case study of an atypically developing Hebrew-acquiring boy. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2023; 37:802-827. [PMID: 35876441 DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2022.2089912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2021] [Revised: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
In this paper, we present a case study of an atypically developing Hebrew-acquiring boy (YV), in comparison with three typically developing boys. Drawing on data from longitudinal studies, we examined the development of two verbal suffixes, -im 'ms.pl.pres' and -ti '1.sg.past', with reference to two prosodic structures that these suffixes assume - word final codas for -im and trisyllabic words for -ti (e.g. bon-ím 'they build', kará-ti 'I read'). We found that YV's developmental trajectory was similar to that of the three boys in both phonology and morphology, each module independently; the deviant phenomena were found at the interface between phonology and morphology. The typically developing boys produced the relevant phonological structures in bare stems before they produced them in suffixed forms. YV, however, proceeded in the opposite order; he produced the final m in -im verbs before mastering word final codas in bare stems; similarly, he produced trisyllabic forms in -ti verbs before mastering them in bare stems. We attribute this deviance to asynchronization between phonological (prosodic) and morphological development. That is, YV's phonology lagged behind his morphology, but this lag did not block the morphological development as it would have in synchronized development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mor Haim
- Department of Linguistics, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
| | - Outi Bat-El Foux
- Department of Linguistics, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
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Al huneety AI, Mashaqba BM, Al-Shdifat KG, Khasawneh EA, Thnaibat B. Multisyllabic word production by Jordanian Arabic speaking children. SPEECH, LANGUAGE AND HEARING 2023. [DOI: 10.1080/2050571x.2023.2189377] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
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Issa I. Morphological Complexity in Arabic Spelling and Its Implication for Cognitive Processing. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2023; 52:331-357. [PMID: 35750982 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-022-09896-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/01/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Spelling poses a challenge to Arabic-speaking learners due to the complexity of the morphological and orthographic systems in Arabic. Arabic morphology has been argued to play a critical role in spelling since its morphological operations are built on a system consisting of a root that is interlocking into different patterns of vowels to form different categories of words. This study made a detailed classification of spelling errors in a word dictation task, based on morphological structures, undertaken by 107 Typically-developing learners (TD) and learners with learning disabilities (LD) attending the same schools in Jordan. All participants ranged in age from 7 years, 3 months to 15 years, 2 months (grades 2 to 8). The spelling task was made up of 400 common words representing most morphological forms in different conjugations and grammatical classes. The results indicated that TD and LD learners follow a similar pattern of complexity even though the LD group produced more errors than the TD group. Both groups encountered more difficulties in passive voice forms followed by active voice forms. Furthermore, both groups spelled nouns, verbal nouns and derivations more accurately than verbal forms (active and passive voice). The results provide additional evidence for the nonlinear growth of morphological knowledge in spelling. In addition, spelling errors suggested that the spelling process goes in a hierarchical way where words can be accessed and processed either according to the root or according to the stem. Therefore, roots or stems are firstly accessed and attached to basic word patterns (the grapheme without diacritics and affixes). Thereafter, prefixes and, then, suffixes are attached to the word pattern and, finally, diacritics are accessed and attached to the word pattern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iyad Issa
- Community Development Authority, P.O. BOX: 212288, Dubai, UAE.
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Meziane RS, Macleod AAN. Internal and external factors contributing to variability in consonant accuracy of Arabic-French simultaneous bilingual children. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2023; 50:132-154. [PMID: 36503550 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000921000775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
This study aims to describe the relationships between child-internal and child-external factors and the consonant accuracy of bilingual children. More specifically, the study looks at internal factors: expressive and receptive vocabulary, and external factors: language exposure and language status, of a group of 4-year-old bilingual Arabic-French children. We measured the consonant accuracy of the children by the percentage of correct consonants in a Picture-Naming Task and a Non-Word Repetition Task in each language. The results suggest a significant relationship between vocabulary and consonant accuracy. A cross-language correlation was observed between the expressive vocabulary level of the majority language (French) and the consonant accuracy of the minority language (Arabic). Also, a significant correlation was found between Arabic language exposure and Arabic consonant accuracy. Finally, consonant accuracy was significantly higher in French tasks than in Arabic, despite the individual differences of the children.
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Wong LLN, Zhu S, Chen Y, Li X, Chan WMC. Discrimination of consonants in quiet and in noise in Mandarin-speaking children with normal hearing. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0283198. [PMID: 36943841 PMCID: PMC10030016 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/23/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Given the critical role of consonants in speech perception and the lack of knowledge on consonant perception in noise in Mandarin-speaking children, the current study aimed to investigate Mandarin consonant discrimination in normal-hearing children, in relation to the effects of age and signal-to-noise ratios (S/N). DESIGN A discrimination task consisting of 33 minimal pairs in monosyllabic words was designed to explore the development of consonant discrimination in five test conditions: 0, -5, -10, -15 dB S/Ns, and quiet. STUDY SAMPLE Forty Mandarin-speaking, normal-hearing children aged from 4;0 to 8;9 in one-year-age increment were recruited and their performance was compared to 10 adult listeners. RESULTS A significant main effect of age, test conditions, and an interaction effect between these variables was noted. Consonant discrimination in quiet and in noise improved as children became older. Consonants that were difficult to discriminate in quiet and in noise were mainly velar contrasts. Noise seemed to have less effect on the discrimination of affricates and fricatives, and plosives appeared to be to be more difficult to discriminate in noise than in quiet. Place contrasts between alveolar and palato-alveolar consonants were difficult in quiet. CONCLUSIONS The findings were the first to reveal typical perceptual development of Mandarin consonant discrimination in children and can serve as a reference for comparison with children with disordered perceptual development, such as those with hearing loss.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena L N Wong
- Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Shufeng Zhu
- Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Yuan Chen
- Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Xinxin Li
- Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Wing M C Chan
- Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China
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Haj-Tas MA, Mahmoud HN, Natour YS. Oral-diadochokinetic rate for healthy young Jordanian adults. SPEECH, LANGUAGE AND HEARING 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/2050571x.2022.2156714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maisa A. Haj-Tas
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
| | - Hana N. Mahmoud
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
| | - Yaser S. Natour
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
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Aljasser F, Vitevitch MS. A web-based interface to calculate phonological neighborhood density for words and nonwords in Modern Standard Arabic. Behav Res Methods 2022; 54:2740-2749. [PMID: 35014005 PMCID: PMC9729137 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-021-01713-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
The availability of online databases (e.g., Balota et al., 2007) and calculators (e.g., Storkel & Hoover, 2010) has contributed to an increase in psycholinguistic-related research, to the development of evidence-based treatments in clinical settings, and to scientifically supported training programs in the language classroom. The benefit of online language resources is limited by the fact that the majority of such resources provide information only for the English language (Vitevitch, Chan & Goldstein, 2014). To address the lack of diversity in these resources for languages that differ phonologically and morphologically from English, the present article describes an online database to compute phonological neighborhood density (i.e., the number of words that sound similar to a given word) for words and nonwords in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). A full description of how the calculator can be used is provided. It can be freely accessed at https://calculator.ku.edu/density/about .
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Affiliation(s)
- Faisal Aljasser
- Department of English Language and Translation, College of Arabic Language and Social Studies, Qassim University, Buraydah, 52571, Saudi Arabia
| | - Michael S Vitevitch
- Spoken Language Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of Kansas, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA.
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Nachmani A, Biadsee A, Masalha M, Kassem F. Compensatory Articulation Errors in Patients With Velopharyngeal Dysfunction and Palatal Anomalies. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2022; 65:2518-2539. [PMID: 35858260 DOI: 10.1044/2022_jslhr-21-00679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The aim of this study was to assess the frequency and types of compensatory articulations (CAs) in nonsyndromic patients with velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) and various palatal anomalies and to determine the relationship between the frequency of CAs, type of palatal anomaly, and phonological errors. METHOD A total of 783 nonsyndromic, Hebrew-speaking patients with VPD and various palatal anomalies (cleft lip and palate [CLP], cleft palate [CP], submucous CP [SMCP], occult submucous CP [OSMCP], or non-CP) were studied retrospectively. Perceptual VPD tests, including articulation and phonological assessment, were conducted. CAs were described as below the level of the defect in the vocal tract (abnormal backing of oral targets to post-uvular place) or in front of it within the oral cavity (palatalization) and at the velopharyngeal port. RESULTS Among 783 patients, 213 (27.2%) had CAs. Most CAs (18.4%) occurred below the level of the defect, followed by CAs at the velopharyngeal port (12.0%) or in front of it (4.9%). No differences were found in the frequency of CAs between patients with CP (47.8%) or CLP (52.6%) and between those with non-CP (13.6%) or OSMCP (14.7%). SMCP patients had lower frequency of CAs (29.8%) than CP (p = .003) and CLP (p = .002) patients but higher frequency than OSMCP (p = .002) and non-CP (p = .002) patients did. Among the 783 patients, 247 (31.5%) had phonological errors. A higher frequency of phonological errors was found in patients with CAs (55.4%) compared to those without (22.6%) and in all palatal anomaly groups except CLP (31.4% vs. 23.9%). CONCLUSIONS CAs in nonsyndromic patients with VPD remained relatively high in all age groups, up to adulthood. CAs are influenced by inadequate velar length following palatal repair, as well as by oral structural abnormalities, whereas poor muscle function due to OSMCP and/or abnormal size and/or shape of nasopharynx has less influence. Errors produced in front of the velopharyngeal port are influenced by the structural anomaly of CLP. This information may contribute to general phonetic and phonological theories and genetic investigations about CP anomalies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariela Nachmani
- Faculty of Communication Disorders, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel
- Department of Communication Disorders, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel
| | - Ameen Biadsee
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel
- Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Muhamed Masalha
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Emek Medical Center, Afula, Israel
- Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
| | - Firas Kassem
- Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, Israel
- Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel
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Boer J, Claessen M, Williams C. Acquisition of Tok Pisin phonology in the multilingual highlands of Papua New Guinea. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2022; 24:283-293. [PMID: 35920691 DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2022.2080271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Purpose: Papua New Guinea (PNG) has extreme linguistic diversity reflected in its three national languages and sociolinguistic diversity comprising over 380 vernaculars or Tokples, English and the lingua francas, which include Tok Pisin (TP). This first clinical cross-sectional study of consonant acquisition in TP-speaking children sought to identify universal features and the impact of age on phonological development.Method: A local picture naming task was developed and used to elicit a speech sample from 80 children (aged 3;0-6;11). Phonetic and phonemic inventories and developmental phonological processes were analysed across the sample and also in 12-month age groups.Result: Statistically significant differences were found between the Percentage Consonants Correct (PCC) of the 3YO and other age groups. Mean PCC increased with age, but high variation within age groups meant differences were not statistically significant. Universal features observed included the early acquisition of plosives and late mastery of /r/. Language-specific features included processes such as fricatisation and earlier acquisition of /ʤ/ before /s/. Creolisation was seen in morphophonemic condensation and the influence of loanwords.Conclusion: This study demonstrates both universal and language-specific features amidst wide diversity influencing phonological acquisition in creolising TP. This first phonological study of TP consonant development will inform future clinical speech-language pathology practice in PNG.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mary Claessen
- Curtin School of Allied Health, Bentley, Perth, Australia, and
| | - Cori Williams
- Senior Advisor Evidence Based Practice and Research, Speech Pathology Australia, Melbourne, Australia
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Ma J, Wu Y, Zhu J, Chen X. The Phonological Development of Mandarin Voiceless Affricates in Three- to Five-Year-Old Children. Front Psychol 2022; 13:809722. [PMID: 35360593 PMCID: PMC8961029 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.809722] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2021] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
This study investigates the phonological development of Mandarin voiceless affricates produced by Mandarin-speaking children. Thirty-six monolingual Mandarin-speaking children and twelve adults participated in a speech production task. Auditory-based transcription analysis and acoustic analysis were utilized to quantify the relative order of affricate acquisition. Both methods yielded earlier acquisition of alveopalatal affricates at age three than retroflex and alveolar affricates, whereas they differed in the acquisition order of retroflex and alveolar affricates. The former revealed that both retroflex and alveolar affricates were acquired at age five, regardless of aspiration, while the latter yielded earlier acquisition of retroflex than alveolar affricates. Possible reasons for the discrepancy are discussed in relation to the different nature of the two methods. Overall, the observed acquisition order of Mandarin voiceless affricates suggests that child speech development is a complex process, and is influenced by various factors including oromotor maturation and language-specific phoneme frequencies in the ambient language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junzhou Ma
- School of Foreign Languages, Taizhou University, Taizhou, China
| | - Yezhou Wu
- School of Foreign Languages, Taizhou University, Taizhou, China
| | - Jiaqiang Zhu
- School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Changsha, China
| | - Xiaoxiang Chen
- School of Foreign Languages, Hunan University, Changsha, China
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Alsulaiman R, Harris J, Bamaas S, Howell P. Identifying Stuttering in Arabic Speakers Who Stutter: Development of a Non-word Repetition Task and Preliminary Results. Front Pediatr 2022; 10:750126. [PMID: 35359884 PMCID: PMC8963185 DOI: 10.3389/fped.2022.750126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 02/04/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Stuttering and other conditions that affect speech fluency need to be identified at an early age in order that effective interventions can be given before the problems becomes chronic. This applies in countries where several languages are spoken including those in which English and Arabic are both widely used which calls for assessment procedures that work across these languages. The 'universal' non-word repetition task (UNWR) has been established as an effective screening tool for discriminating between children who stutter (CWS) and children with word-finding difficulty for a number of languages. However, the UNWR does not apply to languages such as Arabic and Spanish. The present study aimed to: (1) introduce an Arabic English NWR (AEN_NWR); which was developed based on the same phonologically informed approach used with UNWR; (2) present preliminary non-word repetition data from Arabic-speaking CWS and adults who stutter (AWS). The AEN_NWR items comprises twenty-seven non-words that meet lexical phonology constraints across Arabic and English. The set of items includes non-words of two, three and four syllables in length. Preliminary non-word repetition data were collected from ten CWS between the ages of 6;5 and 16;7 (M age = 12:1) and fourteen AWS between the ages of 19;2 and 31;0 (M age = 24). Participants performed the non-word repetition task and provided a sample of spontaneous speech. The spontaneous speech samples were used to estimate %stuttered syllables (%SS). To validate that AEN_NWR performance provides an alternative way of assessing stuttering, a significant correlation was predicted between %SS and AEN_NWR performance. Also, word length should affect repetition accuracy of AEN_NWR. As predicted, there was a significant negative correlation between the AEN_NWR and %SS scores (r (25) = -0.5), p < 0.000). Overall, CWS were less accurate in their repetition than AWS at all syllable lengths. The AEN_NWR provides a new assessment tool for detecting stuttering in speaker of Arabic and English. Future studies would benefit from a larger sample of participants, and by testing a population-based sample. These studies would allow further investigation of the AEN_NWR as a screening measure for stuttering in preschool children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roaa Alsulaiman
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - John Harris
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Bamaas
- Speech and Language Pathology Division, Jeddah Institute for Speech and Hearing, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Peter Howell
- Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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Ceron MI, Simoni SND, Keske-Soares M. Phonological acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese: Ages of customary production, acquisition and mastery. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2022; 57:274-287. [PMID: 34957652 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12689] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2020] [Revised: 10/15/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AIMS: To describe typical phonological development of Brazilian Portuguese (BP)-speaking children, considering the following parameters: age of customary production, acquisition and mastery. METHODS & PROCEDURES Data were collected from 857 children aged between 3 years and 8 years 11 months with typical language and speech development. The sample was grouped into 6-month age bands. The data were analysed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Games-Howell post-hoc tests. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Stops (/p, b, t, d, k, g/), nasals (/m, n, ɲ/) and some fricatives (/f, v, s, z/) were mastered before the age of 3 years (age of mastery). The age of acquisition for phonemes /ʃ, ʒ/ was 3;6, though both were only mastered at 4;0 years. The liquid /l/ was acquired at 3;0 and mastered at age 3;6, while /x/ was acquired and mastered at age 3;6. The phoneme /ʎ/ was acquired at 7;0 and mastered at age 8;6. The tap /ɾ/ was acquired between the ages of 4;0 and 4;6, and mastered at 4;6. In coda position, /n, l/ were acquired at 3;0, while /s/ was mastered at 4;6 and /ɾ/ between 4;6 and 5;0 years. Clusters involving /ɾ/ were acquired at 6;0, while those with /l/ were acquired between the ages of 6;6 and 7;0. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS This study presented acquisition for consonants in BP and can be used as a reference for the assessment of developmental speech disorders. In this study, stops and nasals were acquired first, followed by fricatives and, lastly, liquids. This finding is corroborated by previous studies in BP and other languages. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS What is already known on the subject What this paper adds to existing knowledge What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?
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Affiliation(s)
- Marizete Ilha Ceron
- Human Communication Disorders, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
- Family Health Support Center of Santa Cruz do Sul, Santa Cruz do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Simone Nicolini De Simoni
- Human COMMUNICATION Disorders, UFSM, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
- Health House Hospital, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
| | - Márcia Keske-Soares
- Applied Linguistics, Catholica Pontifical University of Rio Grande do Sul
- Speech-Language Hearing Department, UFSM, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
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Nachmani A, Masalha M, Kassem F. Phonological Profile of Patients With Velopharyngeal Dysfunction and Palatal Anomalies. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:4649-4663. [PMID: 34739332 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This purpose of this study was to assess the frequency and types of phonological process errors in patients with velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD) and the different types of palatal anomalies. METHOD A total of 808 nonsyndromic patients with VPD, who underwent follow-up at the Center for Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Anomalies, from 2000 to 2016 were included. Patients were stratified into four age groups and five subphenotypes of palatal anomalies: cleft lip and palate (CLP), cleft palate (CP), submucous cleft palate (SMCP), occult submucous cleft palate (OSMCP), and non-CP. Phonological processes were compared among groups. RESULTS The 808 patients ranged in age from 3 to 29 years, and 439 (54.3%) were male. Overall, 262/808 patients (32.4%) had phonological process errors; 80 (59.7%) ages 3-4 years, 98 (40, 0%) ages 4.1-6 years, 48 (24.7%) 6.1-9 years, and 36 (15.3%) 9.1-29 years. Devoicing was the most prevalent phonological process error, found in 97 patients (12%), followed by cluster reduction in 82 (10.1%), fronting in 66 (8.2%), stopping in 45 (5.6%), final consonant deletion in 43 (5.3%), backing in 30 (3.7%), and syllable deletion and onset deletion in 13 (1.6%) patients. No differences were found in devoicing errors between palatal anomalies, even with increasing age. Phonological processes were found in 61/138 (44.20%) with CP, 46/118 (38.1%) with SMCP, 61/188 (32.4%) with non-CP, 70/268 (26.1%) with OSMCP, and 25/96 (26.2%) with CLP. Phonological process errors were most frequent with CP and least with OSMCP (p = .001). CONCLUSIONS Phonological process errors in nonsyndromic VPD patients remained relatively high in all age groups up to adulthood, regardless of the type of palatal anomaly. Our findings regarding the phonological skills of patients with palatal anomalies can help clarify the etiology of speech and sound disorders in VPD patients, and contribute to general phonetic and phonological studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariela Nachmani
- Communication Disorders Faculty, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel
- Communication Disorders Faculty, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel
| | - Muhamed Masalha
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Emek Medical Center, Afula, Israel
- The Ruth and Bruce Rappaport School of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
| | - Firas Kassem
- Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Meir Medical Center, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Israel
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Ayyad H, AlBustan S, Ayyad F. Phonological development in school-aged Kuwaiti Arabic children with Down syndrome: A pilot study. JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2021; 93:106128. [PMID: 34139555 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Revised: 05/17/2021] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Studies on atypical phonological development are very limited for Arabic, and to date no studies on Arabic have investigated the development of phonology in children with conditions such as Down Syndrome. Arabic, like other Semitic languages, is rich in consonants and consonantal variation. However, it differs greatly from region to region, and so reports on individual dialects or regional dialects are necessary. Kuwaiti Arabic, the focus of the present paper, is similar to other dialects in the Gulf region. AIM This is a preliminary study to examine the phonological development of school-aged Kuwaiti Arabic-speaking children with Down Syndrome in order to start to address the research gap noted above. METHODS & PROCEDURES Six Kuwaiti Arabic-speaking children were recruited for this pilot study from integrated public schools where children with disabilities and typically developing children are enrolled in the State of Kuwait: three male and three female students, age range of 5;10-12;3 years. All participants had the same single word speech test of 100 words. The first author, a native speaker of Kuwaiti Arabic, audio-recorded and phonetically transcribed the sample with the help of two speech-language pathologists from Kuwait. Reliability was confirmed by the first author and another expert rater. Both match and mismatch analyses were performed and compared to existing literature. OUTCOMES & RESULTS Overall consonant accuracy across participants was 50%, with a variety of matches across consonant categories. However, the participants also exhibited a wide range of mismatches across positions in words and phonological features (place, manner, and laryngeal features). Place substitutions were the most frequent. Some sounds exhibited double (place and manner) mismatches. The most common word structure mismatch was consonant cluster reduction (no matches for word-initial clusters). Mismatch patterns resembled both those of normally developing Kuwaiti children and those of English speakers with Down Syndrome in certain ways. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS This pilot study provides preliminary information for clinicians regarding the speech or children with Down Syndrome (DS), not only in Kuwait but also in the Gulf region where there are similarities to Kuwaiti Arabic.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hadeel Ayyad
- Department of Communication Disorder Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kuwait University, P.O Box 5969 Safat 13060, Kuwait.
| | - Sana AlBustan
- Department of Communication Disorder Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Kuwait University, P.O Box 5969 Safat 13060, Kuwait.
| | - Fatema Ayyad
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kuwait University, P.O Box 5969 Safat 13060 Kuwait.
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Fatemi Syadar S, Zarifian T, Pascoe M, Modarresi Y. Phonological acquisition in 3- to 5-year-old Kurdish-Speaking children in Iran. JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2021; 93:106141. [PMID: 34304078 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2020] [Revised: 06/11/2021] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND given the lack of sufficient information and research about phonological acquisition in the Kurdish language, the aim of this study was to examine phonological acquisition in typically developing Kurdish-speaking children. Three analyses were performed: (1) the age of customary, acquisition and mastery production of Kurdish consonants; (2) phonological accuracy and the age of phonological pattern suppression; and (3) effect of age and sex on speech sound acquisition. METHODS this research assessed 120 monolingual Kurdish-speaking children aged 3;0 to 5;0 years. The participants were selected randomly from the health center of Bukan city, Iran. Acquisition of 29 Kurdish consonants was assessed using the Kurdish Speech Test. FINDINGS results found that Kurdish-speaking children had acquired all the vowels before 3;0 and all the consonants in the three positions of initial, medial and final up to 4;6 years old, with the exception of /ʤ/ in initial position, /ɣ/ in medial position and /ʒ/, /z/, /ɡ/, /ɣ/ in final position. Consonant production in initial position was more accurate than in medial and final positions. The accuracy of Kurdish vowels and consonants improves with increasing age as phonological patterns decrease. There was no significant sex difference within the age groups; however, overall, a statistically significant difference was noted for fricative production and for production of word final consonants in the older groups with females outperforming males. CONCLUSIONS the present study is the first investigation of speech sound acquisition in Kurdish-speaking children. Knowledge of typical speech sound acquisition provides a basis for speech-language pathologists working with Kurdish-speaking children to differentiate children with typical development from those with speech delays and speech sound disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shahla Fatemi Syadar
- Department of Speech therapy, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Department of Speech Therapy, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Talieh Zarifian
- Department of Speech therapy, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Michelle Pascoe
- Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Yahya Modarresi
- Department of Linguistics, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran
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Petinou K, Taxitari L, Phinikettos I, Theodorou E. Dynamic Linguistic Interconnectedness and Variability in Toddlers. JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLINGUISTIC RESEARCH 2021; 50:797-814. [PMID: 33394301 DOI: 10.1007/s10936-020-09747-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
This investigation examined the existence of interconnectedness between developing linguistic subsystems. Spontaneous speech samples were collected from 31 typically-developing Greek-speaking toddlers across two age levels, at 28 and 36 months. Correlational analyses were performed synchronically and predictively, revealing significant positive relationships among all language skills within ages. Phonetic and grammatical skills also showed predictive value for later skills. In addition, a cluster analysis on the basis of performance on each individual skill revealed variable linguistic profiles: Low performers showed multiple interactions within and across ages, while High performers showed minimal such interactions. The current results revealed complex interdependencies among the different language skills with children exhibiting variable linguistic profiles, as supported by dynamic systems theory approaches to language acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kakia Petinou
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Vragadinos 15, First Floor, 3036, Limassol, Cyprus.
| | - Loukia Taxitari
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Vragadinos 15, First Floor, 3036, Limassol, Cyprus
| | - Ioannis Phinikettos
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Vragadinos 15, First Floor, 3036, Limassol, Cyprus
| | - Eleni Theodorou
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Vragadinos 15, First Floor, 3036, Limassol, Cyprus
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Taha J, Stojanovik V, Pagnamenta E. Nonword Repetition Performance of Arabic-Speaking Children With and Without Developmental Language Disorder: A Study on Diagnostic Accuracy. JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2021; 64:2750-2765. [PMID: 34232699 DOI: 10.1044/2021_jslhr-20-00556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Purpose This study evaluates the effectiveness of a nonword repetition (NWR) task in discriminating between Palestinian Arabic-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD) and age-matched typically developing (TD) children. Method Participants were 30 children with DLD aged between 4;0 and 6;10 (years;months) and 60 TD children aged between 4;0 and 6;8 matched on chronological age. The Arabic version of a Quasi-Universal NWR task was administered. The task comprises 30 nonwords that vary in length, presence of consonant clusters (CCs) and wordlikeness ratings. Responses were scored using an item-level scoring method to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the task. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was conducted to determine the best cutoff point with the highest sensitivity and specificity values, and likelihood ratios were calculated. Results Children with DLD scored significantly lower on the NWR task than their age-matched TD peers. Only the DLD group was influenced by the phonological complexity of the nonwords, with nonwords with two CC being more difficult than nonwords with no or only one CC. For both groups, three-syllable nonwords were repeated less accurately than two- and one-syllable nonwords. Also, high word-like nonwords were repeated more accurately than nonwords with low wordlikeness ratings. The best cutoff score had sensitivity and specificity of 93% and highly informative likelihood ratios. Conclusions NWR was an area of difficulty for Palestinian Arabic-speaking children with DLD. NWR showed excellent discriminatory power in differentiating Arabic-speaking children diagnosed with DLD from their age-matched TD peers. NWR appears to hold promise for clinical use as it is a useful indicator of DLD in Arabic. These results need to be further validated using population-based studies. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14880360.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juhayna Taha
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Vesna Stojanovik
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Emma Pagnamenta
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, United Kingdom
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Canault M, Yamaguchi N, Paillereau N, Krzonowski J, Roy JP, Dos Santos C, Kern S. Syllable duration changes during babbling: a longitudinal study of French infant productions. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2020; 47:1207-1227. [PMID: 32347197 DOI: 10.1017/s030500092000015x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
At the babbling stage, the syllable does not have the temporal characteristics of adult syllables because of the infant's limited oro-motor skills. This research aims to further our knowledge of syllable duration and temporal variability and their evolution with age as an indicator of the development of articulatory skills. The possible impact of syllable position, as well as that of type of intrasyllabic associations and intersyllabic articulatory changes on these parameters has also been tested. Oral productions of 22 French infants were recorded monthly from 8 to 14 months. 11 261 Consonant-Vowel (CV) syllables were annotated and temporally analyzed. The mean duration varied according to syllable position, but not to the intrasyllabic or intersyllabic articulatory changes. Moreover, the syllable duration decreased significantly from the age of 10 months onwards, whereas the temporal variability remained the same.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mélanie Canault
- Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, UMR 5596 CNRS, Université Lumière Lyon 2 Institut des Sciences et Techniques de la Réadaptation, 69008Lyon, France
| | - Naomi Yamaguchi
- Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie, UMR 7018 (Sorbonne-Nouvelle & CNRS), 75005Paris, France
| | - Nikola Paillereau
- Laboratoire de Phonétique et Phonologie, UMR 7018 (Sorbonne-Nouvelle & CNRS), 75005Paris, France
- Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jennifer Krzonowski
- Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, UMR 5596 CNRS, Université Lumière Lyon 2 Institut des Sciences et Techniques de la Réadaptation, 69008Lyon, France
| | - Johanna-Pascale Roy
- Laboratoire de phonétique - Département de langues, linguistique et traduction - Université Laval - Quebec, Canada
| | | | - Sophie Kern
- Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, UMR 5596 CNRS, Université Lumière Lyon 2 Institut des Sciences et Techniques de la Réadaptation, 69008Lyon, France
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Alqhazo MT, Hatamleh LS, Bashtawi M. Phonological and lexical abilities of Jordanian children with autism. APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY. CHILD 2020; 9:116-124. [PMID: 30587040 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2018.1534690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
This study examines phonological and lexical abilities of children with autism in Jordan. JISH Articulation Test (JAT) to measure phonological abilities and JISH School Readiness Screening Test to measure lexical abilities were used in the study. Children with ASD (n = 39) aged 4-8 years and 40 children with typical development were selected to participate in this study. The main finding of this study was that language impairment in both phonological and lexical abilities were noted among Jordanian children with ASD. The results also showed that phonological impairment was greater than lexical impairment. It is concluded that the findings of such study will be helpful to guide experts to provide children with ASD with appropriate educational programs and establish a comprehensive and effective treatment protocols that include phonological and lexical exercises to enhance their speech and language abilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mazin T Alqhazo
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan
| | - Laila S Hatamleh
- Department of Linguistics and English Language, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan
| | - Mahmoud Bashtawi
- Department of Neuroscience, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan
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Alsaad M, McCabe P, Purcell A. The application of the maximal opposition therapy approach to an Arabic-speaking child. JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2019; 81:105913. [PMID: 31279082 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2019.105913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2018] [Revised: 05/03/2019] [Accepted: 05/30/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this study is to examine the efficacy and applicability of the maximal opposition approach to treatment of an Arabic-speaking child with a phonological disorder. A 4:2 year old Jordanian boy, born and raised in Kuwait, received phonological therapy using a maximal opposition approach with major-class distinctions, using a single-case experimental design. The child's speech production accuracy improved. Success with this one child suggests phonological contrast therapy-specifically a maximal opposition approach-could be used to treat other Arabic-speaking children who present with phonological disorders. More research is required before the most appropriate technique and treatment frequency for Arabic speaking children can be determined.
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Ben-David A, Ezrati R, Adi-Bensaid L. Error Patterns of Dorsal Rhotics: Evidence from Hebrew-Speaking Children. Folia Phoniatr Logop 2019; 72:194-201. [PMID: 31163439 DOI: 10.1159/000498852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2018] [Accepted: 02/06/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper was to describe the error patterns of the dorsal rhotic /ʁ̞/ in the speech of typically developing Hebrew-speaking children and to examine the prosodic effect (i.e., position in the word and stress pattern) of its production. Method and Participants: The participants included 50 monolingual Hebrew-speaking children aged 2;6-3;3 years. The children performed an articulation task in which they were asked to articulate 18 disyllabic words composed of vowel-adjacent rhotics in initial, medial, and final word positions in both stressed and unstressed syllables. RESULTS The results revealed that dorsal rhotics were produced correctly in 78.7% of the target words. The main error patterns were rhotic deletion and devoicing. There were fewer correct productions in initial word positions than in both medial and final word positions. No stress effect was found. In addition, 76% of the children produced the consonant correctly in over half of their productions. CONCLUSIONS The result demonstrating a higher rate of errors in initial word positions may be due to the relatively late acquisition of the initial onset position in multisyllabic Hebrew words. Alternatively, this finding may result from the greater degree of allophonic variation found in this position. The finding that languages with dorsal rhotics have unique error patterns compared to other rhotics strengthens the evidence that rhotic error patterns are dependent on the rhotics' phonetic characteristics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avivit Ben-David
- Department of Communication Disorders, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel, .,Department of Communication Disorders, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel,
| | - Ruth Ezrati
- Department of Communication Disorders, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Limor Adi-Bensaid
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Ono Academic College, Kiryat Ono, Israel
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Rakhlin NV, Aljughaiman A, Grigorenko EL. Assessing language development in Arabic: The Arabic language: Evaluation of function (ALEF). APPLIED NEUROPSYCHOLOGY-CHILD 2019; 10:37-52. [PMID: 31076015 DOI: 10.1080/21622965.2019.1596113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Arabic is characterized by extensive dialectal variation, diglossia, and substantial morphological complexity. Arabic lacks comprehensive diagnostic tools that would allow for a systematic evaluation of its development, critical for the early identification of language difficulties in the spoken and written domains. To address this gap, we have developed an assessment battery called Arabic Language: Evaluation of Function (ALEF), aimed at children aged 3 to 11 years. ALEF consists of 17 subtests indexing different language domains, modalities, and associated skills and representational systems. We administered the ALEF battery to native Gulf Arabic-speaking children (n = 467; ages 2.5 to 10.92; 55% boys; 20 children in each 6-month age band) in Saudi Arabia in two data collection waves. Analyses examining the psychometric properties of the instrument indicated that after the removal of misfitting items, the ALEF subtests had reliability coefficients in the range from 0.78 to 0.98, and resulting subtest scores displayed a consistent profile of positive intercorrelations and age effects. Taken together, the results indicate that the ALEF battery has good psychometric properties, and can be used for the purpose of evaluating early language development in Gulf Arabic speaking children, pending further refinement of the test structure, examination of gender-related differential item functioning, and norming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalia V Rakhlin
- Linguistics Program, Department of English, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA
| | - Abdullah Aljughaiman
- Department of Special Education, King Faisal University, Hofuf, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | - Elena L Grigorenko
- Department of Molecular and Human Genetics and Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.,Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.,Child Study Center and Haskins Laboratories, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.,Research Office, Moscow State University for Psychology and Education, Moscow, Russian Federation
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Syadar SF, Zarifian T, Modarresi Y, Zahedi MS, Ebrahimipour M, Biglarian A. Kurdish Speech Test: A validation study for children aged 3-5 years. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2019; 117:61-66. [PMID: 30579091 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2018.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2018] [Revised: 08/25/2018] [Accepted: 10/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Speech disorder in children is the most common disorder reported by speech and language pathologists in all languages and its evaluation and diagnosis requires valid and reliable tools. This study aimed to develop a Kurdish Speech Test for children aged 3-5 years and to determine its psychometric properties. METHODS The validation included 120 monolingual Kurdish-speaking children aged 3-5 years in the city of Bukan, Iran. Content validity was determined according to expert opinions of Kurdish speech and language pathologists and linguists. Test-retest (one-week interval) and scoring-rescoring by two independent examiners were conducted to determine intra- and inter-rater reliability. The tests ability to discriminate between four age groups (36-60 months) was investigated for construct validity. Differences related to gender were assessed. RESULTS Intra- and inter-rater reliability showed no significant difference between the first and second week of administration (p < 0.001) and scoring-rescoring by two independent raters confirmed the reliability of the Kurdish Speech Test (P < 0.001). Discriminating properties, reflecting construct validity showed higher scores with increasing age. No gender differences were found. CONCLUSION The Kurdish Speech Test is a reliable and valid instrument for evaluation of articulation in three-to-five-year-old children. Results suggest that the test is appropriate for clinical assessment of children with speech sound disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shahla Fatemi Syadar
- Department of Speech Therapy, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Talieh Zarifian
- Department of Speech Therapy, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Yahya Modarresi
- Department of Linguistics, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran.
| | | | - Mona Ebrahimipour
- Department of Speech Therapy, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
| | - Akbar Biglarian
- Department of Biostatistics, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
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Sabri M, Fabiano-Smith L. Phonological Development in a Bilingual Arabic-English-Speaking Child With Bilateral Cochlear Implants: A Longitudinal Case Study. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2018; 27:1506-1522. [PMID: 30326047 DOI: 10.1044/2018_ajslp-17-0162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2017] [Accepted: 06/11/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE This longitudinal study examined the phonological development of a bilingual Arabic-English-speaking child with bilateral cochlear implants (CIs). The focus of the study was to observe the interaction between her two languages and to observe the effect of CIs on the acquisition of two speech sound systems. METHOD This study followed a 3;6-year-old (2;5 hearing age) bilingual Arabic-English-speaking child with bilateral CIs to age 4;4 (3;2 hearing age). Single-word samples were collected bimonthly in both languages. Phon software (Rose et al., 2006) was used to transcribe and analyze speech samples. Measures derived included Percent Consonants Correct-Revised (Shriberg & Kwiatkowski, 1994), percent vowels correct, phonetic inventory complexity, and common phonological patterns for both English and Arabic. RESULTS Our findings supported previous research on phonological development exhibited by children with CIs, with the gradual suppression of typical and atypical error patterns and gradual increase in segmental accuracy with maturation. In addition, language interaction and separation between English and Arabic were found, supporting previous cross-linguistic work on bilingual phonological acquisition (e.g., Fabiano-Smith & Goldstein, 2010b). CONCLUSION Bilingual children with CIs have the capability to learn both of their languages and perform similarly to, and even surpass in accuracy, monolingual children with CIs; however, it is also possible to exhibit a slower rate of acquisition of segmental accuracy as compared to their typically developing, hearing peers. Clinical implications of bilingual early intervention are discussed.
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McLeod S, Crowe K. Children's Consonant Acquisition in 27 Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Review. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2018; 27:1546-1571. [PMID: 30177993 DOI: 10.1044/2018_ajslp-17-0100] [Citation(s) in RCA: 116] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2017] [Accepted: 04/20/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The aim of this study was to provide a cross-linguistic review of acquisition of consonant phonemes to inform speech-language pathologists' expectations of children's developmental capacity by (a) identifying characteristics of studies of consonant acquisition, (b) describing general principles of consonant acquisition, and (c) providing case studies for English, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. METHOD A cross-linguistic review was undertaken of 60 articles describing 64 studies of consonant acquisition by 26,007 children from 31 countries in 27 languages: Afrikaans, Arabic, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Jamaican Creole, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Maltese, Mandarin (Putonghua), Portuguese, Setswana (Tswana), Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Turkish, and Xhosa. RESULTS Most studies were cross-sectional and examined single word production. Combining data from 27 languages, most of the world's consonants were acquired by 5;0 years;months old. By 5;0, children produced at least 93% of consonants correctly. Plosives, nasals, and nonpulmonic consonants (e.g., clicks) were acquired earlier than trills, flaps, fricatives, and affricates. Most labial, pharyngeal, and posterior lingual consonants were acquired earlier than consonants with anterior tongue placement. However, there was an interaction between place and manner where plosives and nasals produced with anterior tongue placement were acquired earlier than anterior trills, fricatives, and affricates. CONCLUSIONS Children across the world acquire consonants at a young age. Five-year-old children have acquired most consonants within their ambient language; however, individual variability should be considered. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.6972857.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharynne McLeod
- Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Kathryn Crowe
- Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
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A Web-based interface to calculate phonotactic probability for words and nonwords in Modern Standard Arabic. Behav Res Methods 2018; 50:313-322. [PMID: 28342073 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-017-0872-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
A number of databases (Storkel Behavior Research Methods, 45, 1159-1167, 2013) and online calculators (Vitevitch & Luce Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36, 481-487, 2004) have been developed to provide statistical information about various aspects of language, and these have proven to be invaluable assets to researchers, clinicians, and instructors in the language sciences. The number of such resources for English is quite large and continues to grow, whereas the number of such resources for other languages is much smaller. This article describes the development of a Web-based interface to calculate phonotactic probability in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). A full description of how the calculator can be used is provided. It can be freely accessed at http://phonotactic.drupal.ku.edu/ .
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Tresoldi M, Barillari MR, Ambrogi F, Sai E, Barillari U, Tozzi E, Scarponi L, Schindler A. Normative and validation data of an articulation test for Italian-speaking children. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2018; 110:81-86. [PMID: 29859594 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2018.05.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2017] [Revised: 04/29/2018] [Accepted: 05/03/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES As a standardized instrument to assess speech sound development in Italian-speaking children is currently lacking, norms used to diagnose speech sound disorders (SSD) are mainly based on studies including English-speaking participants. This application may result in misidentification of SSD due to linguistic differences. The aims of the study were to establish normative data on speech sound development of Italian-speaking children and to evaluate psychometric properties of Rossi's articulation test, the picture-naming test selected to assess speech sound development. METHODS A cross-sectional study including 694 normally-developing Italian-speaking children aged from 3 to 7 years was conducted. Children were administered Rossi's articulation test, and percentages of speech sound correct production were calculated. To evaluate inter-rater reliability of the test, audio-recordings of 50 children were scored by an additional examiner. The same rater scored the audio-recordings of 50 children twice with an interval of at least 1 week. To evaluate test-retest reliability, 144 participants were re-tested after 1-3 weeks by the same assessor. Scores were compared through Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). To assess construct validity, the developmental progression of total scores across age groups was verified by the estimation of the reference range for the test, using a regression procedure. RESULTS Almost all Italian children in the sample produced vowels and approximants correctly. Singleton consonants were acquired before consonant clusters. Ages of acquisition of each consonant were presented: plosives and nasals were early mastered by Italian children, while dental affricates, alveolar fricatives and the palatal lateral were the latest acquired segments. All ICCs were superior to 0.9 (reliability). A statistically significant improvement in test score with age was found (construct validity). CONCLUSIONS The paper provides normative data for speech sound development of Italian-speaking children; preliminary psychometric analysis of Rossi's articulation test revealed satisfactory reliability and construct validity. Clinicians are recommended to use Rossi's articulation test to assess speech sound development in Italian children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Tresoldi
- Department of Clinical Sciences 'L. Sacco', University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
| | | | - Federico Ambrogi
- Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Elena Sai
- Department of Clinical Sciences 'L. Sacco', University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Umberto Barillari
- Department of Audiology and Phoniatrics, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy
| | - Elvira Tozzi
- Department of Audiology and Phoniatrics, Second University of Naples, Naples, Italy
| | - Letizia Scarponi
- Department of Clinical Sciences 'L. Sacco', University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Antonio Schindler
- Department of Clinical Sciences 'L. Sacco', University of Milan, Milan, Italy
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Wofford MC, Tibi S. A human right to literacy education: Implications for serving Syrian refugee children. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2018; 20:182-190. [PMID: 29171285 DOI: 10.1080/17549507.2017.1397746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Forty percent of Syrian refugees are younger than 12, and many have not attended school for up to five years, disadvantaging them academically, emotionally, and psychosocially. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights dictates "the right to freedom of opinion and expression…and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas…)". Resettled refugee children face the challenge of integration into majority-English school systems with limited ability to express themselves or linguistic means to access education. However, Syrian adults possess high rates of literacy and funds of knowledge that can promote an environment of learning in the home language. With incomplete language and literacy skills in their native Arabic, learning English for academics proves challenging. Without language and literacy instruction, refugee children experience a lower likelihood of class participation and a greater likelihood of social isolation or drop out. To inform speech-language pathologists and other educators, this literature review aims: (1) to apply second language learning concepts relevant to refugees, (2) to inform pedagogy specific to reading by highlighting cross-linguistic differences between Arabic and English, and (3) to illuminate strategies that families and educators of Arabic-speaking refugee students may employ to resume and promote language and literacy development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary Claire Wofford
- a Florida State University College of Communication and Information, Communication Science and Disorders , Tallahassee , FL , USA
| | - Sana Tibi
- a Florida State University College of Communication and Information, Communication Science and Disorders , Tallahassee , FL , USA
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Li XX, To CKS. A Review of Phonological Development of Mandarin-Speaking Children. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2017; 26:1262-1278. [PMID: 29049498 DOI: 10.1044/2017_ajslp-16-0061] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2016] [Accepted: 06/06/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Research into the phonological development of Chinese children is in its infancy compared with the relatively extensive data available on the English-speaking population. This article provided a comprehensive review of empirical studies on the acquisition of Mandarin phonology. METHOD Studies over the past 45 years that describe phonological development in Mandarin-speaking children were located through electronic databases, citation searches, keyword searches through online search engines, and manual searches of libraries. The research design of the studies was reviewed, and findings of acceptable studies were summarized. RESULTS After reviewing the abstracts of 798 studies, a total of 12 that met the inclusion criteria were retained. These studies are discussed with reference to the demographic background of participants, geographic regions, aspects of speech sounds measured, data collection tools, transcription systems used, reliability, and the main findings. CONCLUSIONS The general developmental patterns reported were consistent. The methodological design varied substantially. These discrepancies, however, provide insights for further systematic investigations into phonological development in Mandarin.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Xin Li
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam
| | - Carol K S To
- Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam
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Ayyad HS, Bernhardt BM, Stemberger JP. Kuwaiti Arabic: acquisition of singleton consonants. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2016; 51:531-545. [PMID: 27150255 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2015] [Accepted: 10/24/2015] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Arabic, a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic variety, has a rich consonant inventory. Previous studies on Arabic phonological acquisition have focused primarily on dialects in Jordan and Egypt. Because Arabic varies considerably across regions, information is also needed for other dialects. AIMS To determine acquisition benchmarks for singleton consonants for Kuwaiti Arabic-speaking 4-year-olds. METHODS & PROCEDURES Participants were 80 monolingual Kuwaiti Arabic-speaking children divided into two age groups: 46-54 and 55-62 months. Post-hoc, eight children were identified as possibly at risk for protracted phonological development. A native Kuwaiti Arabic speaker audio-recorded and transcribed single-word speech samples (88 words) that tested consonants across word positions within a variety of word lengths and structures. Transcription reliability (point-to-point) was 95% amongst the authors, and 87% with an external consultant. Three acquisition levels were designated that indicated the proportion of children with no mismatches ('errors') for a given consonant: 90%+ of children, 75-89%, fewer than 75%. Mismatch patterns were described in terms of a phonological feature framework previously described in the literature. OUTCOMES & RESULTS The Kuwaiti 4-year-olds produced many singleton consonants accurately, including pharyngeals and uvulars. Although the older age group had fewer manner and laryngeal mismatches than the younger age group, consonants still developing at age 5 included coronal fricatives and affricates, trilled /r/ and some uvularized consonants ('emphatics'). The possible at-risk group showed mastery of fewer consonants than the other children. By feature category, place mismatches were the most common, primarily de-emphasis and lack of contrast for [coronal, grooved] (distinguishing alveolar from interdental fricatives). Manner mismatches were next most common: the most frequent substitutions were [+lateral] [l] or other rhotics for /r/, and stops for fricatives. Laryngeal mismatches were few, and involved partial or full devoicing. Group differences generally reflected proportions of mismatches rather than types. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS Compared with studies for Jordanian and Egyptian Arabic, Kuwaiti 4-year-olds showed a somewhat more advanced consonant inventory than same age peers, especially with respect to uvulars, pharyngeals and uvularized (emphatic) consonants. Similar to the other studies, consonant categories yet to master were: [+trilled] /r/, coronal fricative feature [grooved], [+voiced] fricatives /ʕ, z/ and the affricate /d͡͡ʒ/ and some emphatics. Common mismatch patterns generally accorded with previous studies. This study provides criterion reference benchmarks for Kuwaiti Arabic consonant singleton acquisition in 4-year-olds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hadeel Salama Ayyad
- Kuwait University, College of Life Sciences, Department of Communication Disorders and Sciences, Alshamia, Kuwait
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Lohmander A, Lundeborg I, Persson C. SVANTE - The Swedish Articulation and Nasality Test - Normative data and a minimum standard set for cross-linguistic comparison. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2016; 31:137-154. [PMID: 27552341 DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2016.1205666] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Normative language-based data are important for comparing speech performances of clinical groups. The Swedish Articulation and Nasality Test (SVANTE) was developed to enable a detailed speech assessment. This study's aim was to present normative data on articulation and nasality in Swedish speakers. Single word production, sentence repetition and connected speech were collected using SVANTE in 443 individuals. Mean (SD) and prevalences in the groups of 3-, 5-, 7-, 10-, 16- and 19-year-olds were calculated from phonetic transcriptions or ordinal rating. For the 3- and 5-year-olds, a consonant inventory was also determined. The mean percent of oral consonants correct ranged from 77% at age 3 to 99% at age 19. At age 5, a mean of 96% was already reached, and the consonant inventory was established except for /s/, /r/, /ɕ/. The norms on the SVANTE, also including a short version, will be useful in the interpretation of speech outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anette Lohmander
- a Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Department of Clinical Science , Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet , Stockholm , Sweden
- b Department of Speech and Language Pathology , Karolinska University Hospital , Stockholm , Sweden
| | - Inger Lundeborg
- c Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Department of Clinical Science and Experimental Medicine , University of Linköping , Linköping , Sweden
| | - Christina Persson
- d Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Speech and Language Pathology Unit, Sahlgrenska Academy , University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg , Sweden
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Cohen EG, Ben-David A. The role of allophony and frequency in the acquisition of the Hebrew rhotic. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2016; 30:101-118. [PMID: 26828805 DOI: 10.3109/02699206.2015.1115555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
This article investigates the role of allophonic variation in phoneme acquisition and the clinical implications of this role. Specifically, we investigate the Hebrew rhotic /ʁ/. We analyse its production by Hebrew-acquiring children in various corpora, comparing the deletion, substitution and production in word-initial onset, intervocalic and word-final coda positions. The results are compared to the frequency of rhotics in a child-directed speech (CDS) corpus and in a Hebrew lexicon analysis. The study shows rhotics are acquired first in word-final codas, then in intervocalic position and finally as word-initial onsets. The order of acquisition, demonstrated by the deletion and substitution patterns, and the actual production of Hebrew rhotics correlate with the degree of allophonic variation. It does not, however, correlate with the frequency patterns observed in CDS and the Hebrew lexicon. Further study of allophonic variation and acquisition should include additional phonemes in Hebrew, as well as other languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evan-Gary Cohen
- a Department of Linguistics, Tel-Aviv University , Tel-Aviv , Israel
| | - Avivit Ben-David
- b Department of Communication Disorders, Hadassah Academic College, Tel-Aviv University , Tel-Aviv , Israel
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Petinou K, Theodorou E. Early phonetic development in typically developing children: A longitudinal investigation from Cypriot-Greek child data. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2015; 30:12-28. [PMID: 26597650 DOI: 10.3109/02699206.2015.1095244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The current longitudinal study examined the acquisition of consonantal singleton segments in Cypriot-Greek. The study's aims were: (a) to determine the acquisition of segments for manner and place of articulation as a function of age and word position, (b) to provide preliminary normative data, and (c) to further support the cross-linguistic data pool regarding developmental phonology patterns. Participants were 14 Cypriot-Greek speaking typically developing toddlers, examined at ages 24, 28, 32 and 36 months. Spontaneously produced and elicited glossable utterances were used in constructing each child's inventory. Findings revealed an increase of segmental acquisition across all age levels. Group trend analysis for manner and place of articulation indicated bilabial and alveolar stops and nasals to be among the earlier segments to develop. A word medial position advantage was also evident. The findings are discussed in terms of phonological universals and language-specific factors. Implications for early evidence-based phonetic assessment are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kakia Petinou
- a Department of Rehabilitation Sciences , Cyprus University of Technology , Limassol , Cyprus
| | - Eleni Theodorou
- b Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture , Limassol , Cyprus
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Tresoldi M, Ambrogi F, Favero E, Colombo A, Barillari MR, Velardi P, Schindler A. Reliability, validity and normative data of a quick repetition test for Italian children. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2015; 79:888-894. [PMID: 25912630 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2015.03.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2015] [Revised: 03/27/2015] [Accepted: 03/28/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES A quick repetition test can be useful as a screening or preliminary investigation to select children who need to be assessed with a more specific articulation test. Schindler's repetition test lasts about 2 min and requires the repetition of a 30 words list, each word targeting a specific phoneme or cluster. The aims of the study are: to assess reliability of Schindler's repetition test; to establish normative data for speech development in Italian-speaking children; to analyse validity of this instrument. METHODS Six-hundred-two Italian children, aged range between 3;0 and 10;8 years, were included in the study: 557 without clinical sign of speech impairment and 45 had a speech sound disorder. Reliability. One-hundred-five children were tested the same day by two examiners (inter-rater reliability); the administration of the repetition test to 45 children was audio-recorded (intra-rater reliability); 105 children underwent the repetition test twice, with a 2 weeks interval (test-retest reliability). Data were compared through Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC). Normative data. Percentages of children without clinical sign of speech impairment in each age group who repeated correctly, omitted or produced distorted target phonemes of Schindler's repetition test were reported. VALIDITY To assess the ability of the test to record improvement in mean values with age (construct validity), the proportion of correct repetitions obtained by children from different age groups were compared through logistic regression. The speech abilities of 45 children were also analysed through a more comprehensive articulation test (concurrent validity). Scores were compared through Bland-Altman plot. RESULTS Reliability. All ICC were superior to 0.9. Normative data. Despite language-specific pattern of acquisition emerged, data showed many similarities to data reported in international studies on speech sound development. VALIDITY Logistic regression demonstrated a significant effect of age groups. Bland-Altman plot showed relatively narrow limits of agreement between Schindler's repetition and Rossi's articulation test. CONCLUSIONS Schindler's repetition test can be considered a reliable and valid instrument for preliminary assessment of speech abilities in Italian-speaking children aged from 3 to 6 years old. Application of Schindler's repetition test is recommended in clinical practice, as a screening test or as a first clinical assessment instrument.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Tresoldi
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences "L. Sacco", University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Federico Ambrogi
- Department of Clinical Sciences and Community Health, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Elena Favero
- Department of Audiology and Phoniatrics, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Anna Colombo
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences "L. Sacco", University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | | | - Patrizia Velardi
- Department of Audiology and Phoniatrics, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
| | - Antonio Schindler
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences "L. Sacco", University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
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Alfwaress F, Maaitah EA, Al-Khateeb S, Zama ZA. The relationship of vocal tract dimensions and substitution of the palatal approximant /j/ for the alveolar trill /r/. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2015; 17:518-526. [PMID: 25861878 DOI: 10.3109/17549507.2015.1024165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE To investigate the relationship of the vocal tract dimensions and dental arches in participants with substitution of palatal approximant /j/ for the trill variant of /r/. METHOD Cephalograms and dental casts of 60 native speakers of Arabic were used for comparison. The experimental group included 30 participants with substitution of /j/ for the trill variant of /r/ (17 males and 13 females, age ranged between 15-20 years, M = 18.7 years, SD = 1.27). The control group included 30 normal speakers (15 males and 15 females, age ranged between 15-20 years, M = 18.3 years, SD = 1.67). Both groups had class I occlusion. RESULT The experimental group showed significantly shorter maxillary length, p < 0.05, and narrower vocal tract dimensions compared to the control group, p < 0.05. Tongue length (TGL) and height (TGH) and soft palate length (PNSP) and thickness (MPT) were statistically significantly reduced in the experimental group compared to the control group, p < 0.05. The distance between the hyoid bone and retrognathion or C3 was significantly shorter in the experimental group compared to the control group, p < 0.05. Inter-canine widths and dental arch lengths were significantly shorter in the experimental group compared to the control group, p < 0.05. CONCLUSION The substitution of /j/ for the trill variant of /r/ is associated with altered dimensions of the vocal tract. These alterations may explain the residual articulation disorder during the production of the trilled /r/ compared to other sound classes that respond to speech therapy. Orthodontic and Maxillo facial surgery consultation might be needed when providing therapy to individuals with this particular articulation disorder.
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Gangji N, Pascoe M, Smouse M. Swahili speech development: preliminary normative data from typically developing pre-school children in Tanzania. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2015; 50:151-164. [PMID: 25134791 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2013] [Accepted: 05/26/2014] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Swahili is widely spoken in East Africa, but to date there are no culturally and linguistically appropriate materials available for speech-language therapists working in the region. The challenges are further exacerbated by the limited research available on the typical acquisition of Swahili phonology. AIM To describe the speech development of 24 typically developing first language Swahili-speaking children between the ages of 3;0 and 5;11 years in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. METHODS & PROCEDURES A cross-sectional design was used with six groups of four children in 6-month age bands. Single-word speech samples were obtained from each child using a set of culturally appropriate pictures designed to elicit all consonants and vowels of Swahili. Each child's speech was audio-recorded and phonetically transcribed using International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) conventions. Children's speech development is described in terms of (1) phonetic inventory, (2) syllable structure inventory, (3) phonological processes and (4) percentage consonants correct (PCC) and percentage vowels correct (PVC). RESULTS & OUTCOMES Results suggest a gradual progression in the acquisition of speech sounds and syllables between the ages of 3;0 and 5;11 years. Vowel acquisition was completed and most of the consonants acquired by age 3;0. Fricatives/z, s, h/ were later acquired at 4 years and /θ/and /r/ were the last acquired consonants at age 5;11. Older children were able to produce speech sounds more accurately and had fewer phonological processes in their speech than younger children. Common phonological processes included lateralization and sound preference substitutions. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS The study contributes a preliminary set of normative data on speech development of Swahili-speaking children. Findings are discussed in relation to theories of phonological development, and may be used as a basis for further normative studies with larger numbers of children and ultimately the development of a contextually relevant assessment of the phonology of Swahili-speaking children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nazneen Gangji
- Division of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
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Icht M, Ben-David BM. Oral-diadochokinetic rates for Hebrew-speaking school-age children: real words vs. non-words repetition. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2015; 29:102-114. [PMID: 25259403 DOI: 10.3109/02699206.2014.961650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
Oral-diadochokinesis (DDK) tasks are a common tool for evaluating speech disorders. Usually, these tasks involve repetitions of non-words. It has been suggested that repeating real words can be more suitable for preschool children. But, the impact of using real words with elementary school children has not been studied yet. This study evaluated oral-DDK rates for Hebrew-speaking elementary school children using non-words and real words. The participants were 60 children, 9-11 years old, with normal speech and language development, who were asked to repeat "pataka" (non-word) and "bodeket" (Hebrew real word). Data replicate the advantage generally found for real word repetition with preschoolers. Children produced real words faster than non-words for all age groups, and repetition rates were higher for the older children. The findings suggest that adding real words to the standard oral-DDK task with elementary school children may provide a more comprehensive picture of oro-motor function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michal Icht
- Department of Communication Disorders, Ariel University , Ariel , Israel
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Albustanji YM, Albustanji MM, Hegazi MM, Amayreh MM. Prevalence and types of articulation errors in Saudi Arabic-speaking children with repaired cleft lip and palate. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol 2014; 78:1707-15. [PMID: 25128449 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2014.07.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2014] [Revised: 07/17/2014] [Accepted: 07/20/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to assess prevalence and types of consonant production errors and phonological processes in Saudi Arabic-speaking children with repaired cleft lip and palate, and to determine the relationship between frequency of errors on one hand and the type of the cleft. Possible relationship between age, gender and frequency of errors was also investigated. METHODS Eighty Saudi children with repaired cleft lip and palate aged 6-15 years (mean 6.7 years), underwent speech, language, and hearing evaluation. The diagnosis of articulation deficits was based on the results of an Arabic articulation test. Phonological processes were reported based on the productivity scale of a minimum 20% of occurrence. Diagnosis of nasality was based on a 5-point scale that reflects severity from 0 through 4. All participants underwent intraoral examination, informal language assessment, and hearing evaluation to assess their speech and language abilities. The Chi-Square test for independence was used to analyze the results of consonant production as a function of type of CLP and age. RESULTS Out of 80 participants with CLP, 21 participants had normal articulation and resonance, 59 of participants (74%) showed speech abnormalities. Twenty-one of these 59 participants showed only articulation errors; 17 showed only hypernasality; and 21 showed both articulation and resonance deficits. CAs were observed in 20 participant. The productive phonological processes were consonant backing, final consonant deletion, gliding, and stopping. At age 6 and older, 37% of participants had persisting hearing loss. CONCLUSIONS Despite early age at time of surgery (mean 6.7 months) for the studied CLP participants in this study, a substantial number of them demonstrated articulation errors and hypernasality. The results showed desirable findings for diverse languages. It is especially interesting to consider the prevalence of glottal stops and pharyngeal fricatives in a population for whom these sound are phonemic.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mahmoud M Albustanji
- King Abdul-Aziz University, Research Methods and Evaluation, Psychology and Counseling Department, PO Box 80269, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
| | - Mohamed M Hegazi
- Plastic Surgery Department, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
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Kim SJ. Phonological Error Patterns of Conversational Speech Produced by 2- and 4-Year-Old Children. COMMUNICATION SCIENCES & DISORDERS 2014. [DOI: 10.12963/csd.14101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
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Phoon HS, Abdullah AC, Lee LW, Murugaiah P. Consonant acquisition in the Malay language: a cross-sectional study of preschool aged Malay children. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2014; 28:329-345. [PMID: 24446796 DOI: 10.3109/02699206.2013.868517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
To date, there has been little research done on phonological acquisition in the Malay language of typically developing Malay-speaking children. This study serves to fill this gap by providing a systematic description of Malay consonant acquisition in a large cohort of preschool-aged children between 4- and 6-years-old. In the study, 326 Malay-dominant speaking children were assessed using a picture naming task that elicited 53 single words containing all the primary consonants in Malay. Two main analyses were conducted to study their consonant acquisition: (1) age of customary and mastery production of consonants; and (2) consonant accuracy. Results revealed that Malay children acquired all the syllable-initial and syllable-final consonants before 4;06-years-old, with the exception of syllable-final /s/, /h/ and /l/ which were acquired after 5;06-years-old. The development of Malay consonants increased gradually from 4- to 6 years old, with female children performing better than male children. The accuracy of consonants based on manner of articulation showed that glides, affricates, nasals, and stops were higher than fricatives and liquids. In general, syllable-initial consonants were more accurate than syllable-final consonants while consonants in monosyllabic and disyllabic words were more accurate than polysyllabic words. These findings will provide significant information for speech-language pathologists for assessing Malay-speaking children and designing treatment objectives that reflect the course of phonological development in Malay.
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Al-Tamimi F, Khamaiseh Z, Howell P. Phonetic complexity and stuttering in Arabic. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2013; 27:874-887. [PMID: 23944195 DOI: 10.3109/02699206.2013.823242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
The current study investigated whether phonetic complexity affected stuttering rate in Jordanian Arabic speakers. Speakers were assigned to three age groups (6-11, 12-17 and 18+ years). An Arabic index of phonetic complexity (AIPC) was developed. Each word was given a score based on the number of complex phonetic properties out of a total of nine that it contained in the AIPC. The results showed that stuttering on function words for Jordanian Arabic did not correlate significantly with the AIPC score for any age group. The AIPC scores of content and function-content words correlated positively with stuttering rate for the 6-11 age group alone with the function-content words affecting fluency more severely than did the content words. The AIPC scores of stuttered function, content and stuttered function-content words were higher than those of fluent words. The non-stuttered words had lower AIPC scores than the stuttered corresponding classes. This showed that the higher the AIPC score on stuttered words, the greater the chance for these word categories to be stuttered. The AIPC factors that most affected fluency in Jordanian Arabic were place of articulation, manner of articulation, word length, word shape and consonant length. We conclude that Arabic is similar to other languages with regard to the loci of stuttering, their phonetic complexity and AIPC factors affecting stuttering most. The correlation between phonetic complexity and the order of the AIPC factors are different between Arabic and other languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feda Al-Tamimi
- Department of English Literature and Linguistics, Qatar University , Doha , Qatar
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Boudelaa S, Marslen-Wilson WD. Morphological structure in the Arabic mental lexicon: Parallels between standard and dialectal Arabic. LANGUAGE AND COGNITIVE PROCESSES 2013; 28:1453-1473. [PMID: 24347753 PMCID: PMC3856529 DOI: 10.1080/01690965.2012.719629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2010] [Revised: 07/31/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
The Arabic language is acquired by its native speakers both as a regional spoken Arabic dialect, acquired in early childhood as a first language, and as the more formal variety known as Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), typically acquired later in childhood. These varieties of Arabic show a range of linguistic similarities and differences. Since previous psycholinguistic research in Arabic has primarily used MSA, it remains to be established whether the same cognitive properties hold for the dialects. Here we focus on the morphological level, and ask whether roots and word patterns play similar or different roles in MSA and in the regional dialect known as Southern Tunisian Arabic (STA). In two intra-modal auditory-auditory priming experiments, we found similar results with strong priming effects for roots and patterns in both varieties. Despite differences in the timing and nature of the acquisition of MSA and STA, root and word pattern priming was clearly distinguishable from form-based and semantic-based priming in both varieties. The implication of these results for theories of Arabic diglossia and theories of morphological processing are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sami Boudelaa
- Department of Linguistics, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, UAE
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - William D. Marslen-Wilson
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Medical Research Council Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
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Van Severen L, Gillis JJM, Molemans I, Van Den Berg R, De Maeyer S, Gillis S. The relation between order of acquisition, segmental frequency and function: the case of word-initial consonants in Dutch. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2013; 40:703-740. [PMID: 22853849 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000912000219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
The impact of input frequency (IF) and functional load (FL) of segments in the ambient language on the acquisition order of word-initial consonants is investigated. Several definitions of IF/FL are compared and implemented. The impact of IF/FL and their components are computed using a longitudinal corpus of interactions between thirty Dutch-speaking children (age range: 0 ; 6-2 ; 0) and their primary caretaker(s). The corpus study reveals significant correlations between IF/FL and acquisition order. The highest predictive values are found for the token frequency of segments, and for FL computed on minimally different word types in child-directed speech. Although IF and FL significantly correlate, they do have a different impact on the order of acquisition of word-initial consonants. When the impact of IF is partialed out, FL still has a significant correlation with acquisition order. The reverse is not true, suggesting that the acquisition of word-initial consonants is mainly influenced by their discriminating function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lieve Van Severen
- Department of Linguistics, University of Antwerp, CLiPS Research Center, Antwerpen, Belgium.
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Shafiro V, Levy ES, Khamis-Dakwar R, Kharkhurin A. Perceptual confusions of American-English vowels and consonants by native Arabic bilinguals. LANGUAGE AND SPEECH 2013; 56:145-161. [PMID: 23905278 DOI: 10.1177/0023830912442925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
This study investigated the perception of American-English (AE) vowels and consonants by young adults who were either (a) early Arabic-English bilinguals whose native language was Arabic or (b) native speakers of the English dialects spoken in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where both groups were studying. In a closed-set format, participants were asked to identify 12 AE vowels presented in /hVd/ context and 20 AE consonants (C) in three vocalic contexts: /aCa/, /iCi/, and /uCu/. Both native Arabic and native English groups demonstrated high accuracy in identification of vowels (70 and 80% correct, respectively) and consonants (94 and 95% correct, respectively). For both groups, the least-accurately identified vowels were /o/, /(see text)/, /ae/, while most consonant errors were found for /(see text)/, which was most frequently confused with /v/. However, for both groups, identification of /(see text)/ was vocalic-context dependent, with most errors occurring in liCil context and fewest errors occurring in luCu/ context. Lack of significant group differences suggests that speech sound identification patterns, including phonetic context effects for /(see text)/, were influenced more by the local English dialects than by listeners' Arabic language background. The findings also demonstrate consistent perceptual error patterns among listeners despite considerable variation in their native and second language dialectal backgrounds.
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Van Severen L, Van Den Berg R, Molemans I, Gillis S. Consonant inventories in the spontaneous speech of young children: a bootstrapping procedure. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2012; 26:164-187. [PMID: 21787143 DOI: 10.3109/02699206.2011.595527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Consonant inventories are commonly drawn to assess the phonological acquisition of toddlers. However, the spontaneous speech data that are analysed often vary substantially in size and composition. Consequently, comparisons between children and across studies are fundamentally hampered. This study aims to examine the effect of sample size on the resulting consonant inventories. A spontaneous speech corpus of 30 Dutch-speaking 2-year-olds was used. The results indicate that in order to construct and compare inventories reliably, they should be drawn from speech samples that are equally large. A new consonant inventory procedure is introduced. The implementation of this procedure demonstrates considerably less variation in inventory size across children and word positions than reported previously. This finding has important implications for clinical studies that constructed and compared inventories of typically and atypically developing children without normalizing the sample size.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lieve Van Severen
- CLiPS Research Centre, Department of Linguistics, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium
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Khamis-Dakwar R, Froud K, Gordon P. Acquiring diglossia: mutual influences of formal and colloquial Arabic on children's grammaticality judgments. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2012; 39:61-89. [PMID: 21489345 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000910000784] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
There are differences and similarities between Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and spoken varieties of Arabic, in all language domains. To obtain preliminary insights into interactions between the acquisition of spoken and standard varieties of a language in a diglossic situation, we employed forced-choice grammaticality judgments to investigate morphosyntactic knowledge of MSA and the local variant of Palestinian Colloquial Arabic (PCA), in 60 Arabic-speaking children aged 6 ; 4 to 12 ; 4, from a school in Nazareth. We used morphosyntactic structures which either differed or were similar between PCA and standard Arabic. Children generally performed better on items presented in PCA than in standard Arabic, with the exception of constructions involving negation. Children performed better on items when the two constructions were similar in both language varieties. We discuss the results with respect to the multiple factors that affect acquisition in a diglossic situation, and relate our findings to the possibility of interference effects of diglossia on learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reem Khamis-Dakwar
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY 11530, USA.
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