A preliminary report on the English phonology of typically developing English-Mandarin bilingual preschool Singaporean children

Background: There are no published data on typical phonological development for Singaporean children. There is therefore the risk that children's speech in Singapore may be misdiagnosed or that clinicians may set goals erroneously. Aims This paper reports a preliminary study on the English phonology of typically developing 4;0–4;5-year-old Chinese Singaporean children who speak English and Mandarin. Method & Procedures Seventy children were recruited throughout Singapore, and speech samples were collected in English using the Phonology Assessment of the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology (DEAP). The participants were divided equally into two groups: English-dominant and Mandarin-dominant. Their speech samples were compared with British English targets (BT) and Singapore English targets (ST) in terms of phonological accuracy and types of phonological processes used. Outcomes & Results The results showed that Singaporean children's phonological accuracy scores increased significantly when scored against ST instead of BT. When scored against ST, English-dominant children were found to perform similarly to their DEAP counterparts. However, Mandarin-dominant children had significantly less accurate consonant production in English and exhibited more interference effects from Mandarin phonology than English-dominant children. Conclusions & Implications In this preliminary study, the results highlight the importance of speech and language therapists using local dialect pronunciations to be the target of speech assessments so as to provide appropriate assessment and intervention. It is also essential to account for the language background and language dominance of the children. More local normative data are needed for the typical acquisition of Singapore English in children, especially for children whose dominant language is not English

Occurrence of Phonological Processes Within Two Pragmatic Categories in Normal and Speech-Delayed Children

Research into the eventual suppression of phonological processes among children has centered on the influence of phonetic context and semantic-syntactic factors. Researchers have described various factors that would account for the variability found in normal and speech-delayed children\u27s use of phonological processes. Researchers have found associations between phonological process use and language form and content, although there is a paucity of information pertaining the effect of language use on phonological performances. This study examined the phonological process use within two pragmatic functions-assertiveand responsive utterances-used by 15 normally developing and 15 speech-delayed 3-year-olds. These groups were matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status, all passed a hearing screening at 25 dB and scored at least 85 on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development or the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. A 10-minute parent/child speech sample of each 3-year-old was orthographically and phonetically transcribed. Each first occurrence utterance was coded as either assertive or responsive, depending on the particular. pragmatic function it served. Percentage of phonological process use was determined for both groups within each pragmatic category, after analysis in the Pepper Program. Data were analyzed for significant differences between the two groups in the percentage of phonological processes used within the assertive and responsive categories. Results indicated that the speech-delayed group used more processes in both categories, although pragmatic function of the utterances did not have a significant effect on percentage of phonological processes used by either group. It was noted that children in the speech-delayed group were only mildly delayed, thus making them fairly intelligible to their listeners. Both groups were more assertive than responsive and used longer utterances during assertive speech acts; however, neither factor appeared to have any bearing on their phonological performances. It was concluded that the two groups appeared to show no significant difference in their phonological performances when comparing one pragmatic category to the other. Results indicated that the assertive speech acts examined held no motivation factors that influence the phonological performance of normal or mildly speech-delayed 3-year-old when compared to responsive speech acts

Occurrence of Phonological Processes Within Two Pragmatic Categories in Normal and Speech-Delayed Children

Research into the eventual suppression of phonological processes among children has centered on the influence of phonetic context and semantic-syntactic factors. Researchers have described various factors that would account for the variability found in normal and speech-delayed children\u27s use of phonological processes. Researchers have found associations between phonological process use and language form and content, although there is a paucity of information pertaining the effect of language use on phonological performances. This study examined the phonological process use within two pragmatic functions-assertiveand responsive utterances-used by 15 normally developing and 15 speech-delayed 3-year-olds. These groups were matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status, all passed a hearing screening at 25 dB and scored at least 85 on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development or the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. A 10-minute parent/child speech sample of each 3-year-old was orthographically and phonetically transcribed. Each first occurrence utterance was coded as either assertive or responsive, depending on the particular. pragmatic function it served. Percentage of phonological process use was determined for both groups within each pragmatic category, after analysis in the Pepper Program. Data were analyzed for significant differences between the two groups in the percentage of phonological processes used within the assertive and responsive categories. Results indicated that the speech-delayed group used more processes in both categories, although pragmatic function of the utterances did not have a significant effect on percentage of phonological processes used by either group. It was noted that children in the speech-delayed group were only mildly delayed, thus making them fairly intelligible to their listeners. Both groups were more assertive than responsive and used longer utterances during assertive speech acts; however, neither factor appeared to have any bearing on their phonological performances. It was concluded that the two groups appeared to show no significant difference in their phonological performances when comparing one pragmatic category to the other. Results indicated that the assertive speech acts examined held no motivation factors that influence the phonological performance of normal or mildly speech-delayed 3-year-old when compared to responsive speech acts

Phonological and Speech Motor Abilities in Children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech and Phonological Disorder

This thesis investigated whether childhood apraxia of speech (CAS) differs from phonological disorder (PD) regarding their causal origin. After developing and validating measures targeting components of phonology and speech motor control, we explored if speech motor ability constrained phonological development in CAS more than in PD. This thesis demonstrated children with CAS show a distinct profile of speech impairments but little evidence that their motor deficit constrains phonological development in a way distinct from PD

Which phonetic features should pronunciation Instructions focus on? An evaluation on the accentedness of segmental/syllable errors in L2 speech

Many English language instructors are reluctant to incorporate pronunciation instruction into their teaching curriculum (Thomson 2014). One reason for such reluctance is that L2 pronunciation errors are numerous, and there is not enough time for teachers to address all of them (Munro and Derwing 2006; Thomson 2014). The current study aims to help language teachers set priorities for their instruction by identifying the segmental and structural aspects of pronunciation that are most foreign-accented to native speakers of American English. The current study employed a perception experiment. 100 speech samples selected from the Speech Accent Archive (Weinberger 2016) were presented to 110 native American English listeners who listened to and rated the foreign accentedness of each sample on a 9-point rating scale. 20 of these samples portray no segmental or syllable structure L2 errors. The other 80 samples contain a single consonant, vowel, or syllable structure L2 error. The backgrounds of the speakers of these samples came from 52 different native languages. Global prosody of each sample was controlled for by comparing its F0 contour and duration to a native English sample using the Dynamic Time Warping method (Giorgino 2009). The results show that 1) L2 consonant errors in general are judged to be more accented than vowel or syllable structure errors; 2) phonological environment affects accent perception, 3) occurrences of non-English consonants always lead to higher accentedness ratings; 4) among L2 syllable errors, vowel epenthesis is judged to be as accented as consonant substitutions, while deletion is judged to be less accented or not accented at all. The current study, therefore, recommends that language instructors attend to consonant errors in L2 speech while taking into consideration their respective phonological environments

The Impact of Listening Phonological Errors on Speaking: A Case Study on English Education

Phonological errors in communicating will let the listener gain a different meaning and communication becomes impeded. The students’ errors are due to their lack of understanding of the sound system of language, as their second-language acquisition. The problem in this research is what type of phonological errors are made by students when they are listening to the short story and will impact on their speaking. The data is conducted in the language laboratory of The National University in Jakarta by secondsemester students in the subject of Spoken English. in the Faculty of Letters, English Department. The purpose of this research study is to learnthe difficulties of students when learning Basic Spoken English. The method used is descriptive with content analysis techniques. The result showed the most the biggest of surface structure taxonomy of phonological errors created by the students when they are listening to the short story and has impacted on speaking is global errors in diphthong (61,29%). This is because in Indonesian there is no sound of a diphthong. These global errors will have an effect on good communication. The students should study the phonological system in the target language, especially diphthong sound, in addition to vowels and consonants. It is expected that the lecturer often guides students’ pronunciation based on the point and the manner of articulation and improve if they are not able to

The Impact of Listening Phonological Errors on Speaking: A Case Study on English Education

Phonological errors in communicating will let the listener gain a different meaning and communication becomes impeded. The students’ errors are due to their lack of understanding of the sound system of language, as their second-language acquisition. The problem in this research is what type of phonological errors are made by students when they are listening to the short story and will impact on their speaking. The data is conducted in the language laboratory of The National University in Jakarta by secondsemester students in the subject of Spoken English. in the Faculty of Letters, English Department. The purpose of this research study is to learnthe difficulties of students when learning Basic Spoken English. The method used is descriptive with content analysis techniques. The result showed the most the biggest of surface structure taxonomy of phonological errors created by the students when they are listening to the short story and has impacted on speaking is global errors in diphthong (61,29%). This is because in Indonesian there is no sound of a diphthong. These global errors will have an effect on good communication. The students should study the phonological system in the target language, especially diphthong sound, in addition to vowels and consonants. It is expected that the lecturer often guides students’ pronunciation based on the point and the manner of articulation and improve if they are not able to

Aspekte der Charakterisierung phonologischer Sprachstörungen vs. verzögerter Spracherwerb bei jordanischem Arabisch sprechenden Kindern

Bader S'da SI. Issues in the characterisation of phonological speech impairment vs. delayed acquisition in Jordanian Arabic-Speaking children. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University; 2010.Eine Studie des Spracherwerbs des jordanischen Arabisch bei jungen Muttersprachlern.A study with children speaking or acquiring Jordanian Arabic with or without phonological impairments