Phonological Development

Ages and Stages

Discussion Outline
 Normal Developmental Stages
 Developmental Norms
• segmental norms vs phonological processes
 Theories of Phonological Acquisition
• Cognitive Model of Phonological Acquisition
 Components of Early Phonological
Development
 Differences in Assessing Early vs Later
Phonological Abilities
Discussion Outline (continued)
 Types of Analyses
• Independent + Relational
 Profile of Typical 2 year old
 Who are Late Talkers?
 Profiles of “Late Talkers”
• Rescorla & Ratner
• Williams & Elbert
 Develop a Protocol for Late Talkers
 4 Stages of Development
 1. Prelinguistic (0 - 1 year)
• reflexive vocalizations
• cooing
• vocal play
• babbling
• variegated babbling
 2. First Words (1 - 1.6)
 Whole-word strategy
 Unanalyzed “wholes”
 Progressive idioms
 3. Phonemic Development
(1.6 - 4)
 Rule-governed strategy
 50 word vocabulary
 4. Stabilization
 Acquisition of later sounds
 Developmental Norms
 Segmental acquisition studies
 Phonological process norms
Theories of Phonological Acquisition

 Universalist-Linguistic  Cognitive
• Unfolding of abilities • non-linear
(linear progression) development
• passive learner • acti ve learner
• universal order of acq • individual differences
(all children develop
in same way)
Theories of Phonological Acquisition
 Universalist-Linguistic  Cognitive
• learning to pronounce
is lower level skill->
developmental
sequence
– related to/constrained
by anatomical/physio
characteristics of
human auditory/artic
tracts
• phonemes and
individual sounds are
the units of acquisition
• acquisition of phono is
cognitive process in
the way child:
– a. forms categories
– b. recognizes patterns
– c. forms rules
• processes of acquis
– selectivity
– creativity
– hypothesis formation
Summary of Cognitive Model of
Phonological Acquisition
 Process of Acquisition  Evidence
• whole-word acquisition • progressive idioms
(unanalyzed)

• recognizes similarities b/w • experimentation

classes of sounds and
constructs rules for
relating similar sounds and
formulate rules

• develops a rule and applies

• hypothesis formation
it to other related items
Summary of Cognitive Model of
Phonological Acquisition
 Process of Acquisition  Evidence
• Child’s categories not • Overgeneralization/
necessarily same as Regression
adult’s

• Recognizes new and • Changes Hypotheses

relevant information

• Creates new rules

• Hypothesis Formation
3 Components of Early Phonological
Development (Stoel-Gammon, 1991)

 General Patterns of
Development
• at 24 mo, generally
have expressive vocab
of ~ 300 words
• ~ 50% of what they say
is understood by
strangers
• by 3 yrs, 75%
intelligibile with vocal
of ~ 1000 wds and MLU
of 3.1
3 Components (continued)
 Individual Differences
• Lot of variation among
2 year olds, but certain
commonalities:
– final inventory never
greater than initial
inventory
– tendency for stops,
nasals, glides before
frics, liquids, affrics
– front consonants
appear before back
consonants
3 Components (continued)
 Atypical Development
/ RED FLAGS
• numerous vowel
errors
• frequent initial
consonant deletion
• substitution of glottal
stop of [h] for various
consonants
• deletion of final
consonants at 3 years
Differences in Assessing Early vs Later
Linguistic Behaviors (Stoel-Gammon, 1991)

 Given the tremendous individual variation

in early development (babbling ->first
words->word combinations), MUST use
broad evaluations rather than focus on
indidividual phonemes
 Normal development at this age can’t be
determined by comparing child’s
performance with set of norms like those
used for older children
Stoel-Gammon (1991) Continued
 Must include size and nature of phonetic
inventory, correct productions, error types,
and overall intelligibility (INDEPENDENT +
RELATIONAL ANALYSES)

 ALSO:
• age of onset of meaningful speech
• lexicon size
Two Types of Analyses Used in
Assessing Younger Children
 Independent Analysis
• focuses on the sound types and syllable structures
produced by the child independent of the adult target
– phonetic inventory (by WI/WF positions)
– syllable structure
 Relational Analysis
• compares child’s pronunciation of word with adult
form and identifies what is correct/ incorrect in
relation to adult target
– PCC
– error patterns (phonological processes)
Profile of Typical 2 Year Old
(Stoel-Gammon, 1987)
 Syllable Structure
• Simple structure

– CV, CVC, CVCV, CVCVC

• Few or no clusters

– only WF
Profile (continued)
 Phonetic Inventory
• Word-Initial Inventory
– 9-10 different sounds
– stops, nasals, frics,
glides

• Word-Final Inventory
– 5-6 different sounds
– primarily stops with
some nasals, frics,
liquids
Profile (continued)
 Accuracy

• about 70% accuracy

• this suggests that

children kept their
vocabulary IN their
phonology
Who are “Late Talkers”?
 At 24 months, child
has < 50 word
vocabulary; AND/OR

 phonetic inventory
with only 4-5
consonants and
limited variety of
vowels
Phonetic Profiles of Toddlers with
SLI-E (Rescorla & Ratner, 1996)
 Variables that distinguished SLI-E children from TD
children at 24-31 months included:
• vocalization rate
– SLI-E vocalized less
– potentially perpetuate exp lang delay by losing
opportunities for vocal practice
• size of consonant inventory
– SLI-E had restricted inventories (b,d, nasals, glides,
h)
• syllable shape preferences
– SLI-E used V and CV shapes primarily
Rescorla & Ratner Conclusions
 Results suggest that non-grammatical (I.e.,
phonetic) factors contribute to the development
of expressive language deficits in toddlers

 Suggest a bidirectional association between

child vocalization and maternal interaction
• limited phonetic capacity interacts with
caregivers’ interactions in a way that further
reduces opportunities for exp lang learning
and practice
A Prospective Longitudinal Study of
Phonological Development in Late Talkers
(Williams & Elbert, 2003)

 Independent Analyses

• Phonetic Inventory (WI/WF)

• Syllable Structure
– Preferences (frequency of occurrence) TOKEN
– Complexity (clusters)
– Diversity (# different syllable structures) TYPE
Williams & Elbert (continued)
 Relational Analyses
• PCC
• Sound Variability (stability of sound system)
– # diff cons attempted/# diff cons produced
– no variability = 1.0
– one-to-many correspondence (phoneme collapse) = > 1.0
– many-to-one correspondence (free variation) = < 1.0
• Error Patterns
• MLU and Lexicon Size
Phonological Delay Vs Phonological
Deviance (Williams & Elbert, 2001)
 Delay  Deviance
• Larger inventories • Limited inventories
– 13-15 WI; 8-11 WF (at 32 – 6-9 WI; 1-5 WF (at 32
months) months)

• Greater syll diversity • Limited syll diversity

– 9.2 different syllables at – 7.5 different syllables at
22-33 mo 30-41 mo

• More complex syll • Simple syll structures

– 5.4 complex syllables at – 1.1 complex syllables at
22-33 months 30-41 months
Phonological Delay Vs Phonological
Deviance (Williams & Elbert, 2001)
 Delay  Deviance
• Higher PCC (.56) at 31- • Lower PCC (.34) at 40-
33 months 41 months

• Lower variability (1.2) • Greater variability

at 31-33 months (1.74) at 40-41 months

• Typical errors • Atypical errors

• Fast rate of resolution • Slow or no resolution

Conclusions (Williams & Elbert,
2003)
 Quantitative aspects of phonological and
language skills (inventory size, lexicon size,
MLU) were NOT diagnostic markers for
identifying DELAYED vs DEVIANT
 Instead, qualitative differences (greater
variability and unusual sound errors) were
identified markers of long-term delay
• However, the extent of the delay was greater for
the kids who did not catch up
Develop a Protocol for Assessing Early
Linguistic Behaviors of Late Talkers

 How would you elicit the sample?

 How would you analyze the sample?
 Complete Analysis on Nicholas
• Go beyond analysis to synthesis/summary -> what is
significant?
 Diagnosis
• Normal Vs Delayed Vs Deviant?
• Compare results to Stoel-Gammon
– a. Profile of typical 2 year old
– b. Red flags
• Compare results to Williams & Elbert’s Red Flags