Phonology

Question 1

Phonology

Answer 1

Study of the sounds used in speech including how they are produced

Question 2

The 4 Phonological stages of development

Answer 2

1. Vegetative (0-4 months)
2. Cooing (4-7 months)
3. Babbling (6-12) (slight overlap)
4. Proto-words (9-12) (babbling overlap)

Question 3

Vegetative stage

Answer 3

Features: Sounds of discomfort/reflexive actions
Examples: Crying, Coughing, Burping, Sucking

Question 4

Cooing stage

Answer 4

Features: Comfort sounds and vocal play using open mouthed vowel sounds
Examples: Grunts+Sighs become like ‘coos’, Laughter, Hard consonants and vowels, Pitch (squeals and growls) and loudness (yells) practised

Question 5

Babbling stage (6-12)

Answer 5

Features: Repeated patterns of consonant and vowel sounds
Examples: Sounds linking to own language, Reduplicated sounds (ba-ba), Non-reduplicated sounds (variegated) e.g. agu

Question 6

Proto-words/Holophrases

Answer 6

Features: Word-like vocalisations, Not matching actual words but used consistently for the same meaning (‘scribble talk’)
Examples: ‘mmm’ to mean ‘give me that’ with accompanying gestures supporting the verbal message e.g. pointing

Question 7

Consonant (pre-verbal stage)

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Vowel (pre-verbal stage)

Answer 8

A sound made without closure or audible friction

Question 9

Production of Sound

Answer 9

• Sounds are produced by air from the lungs passing across the vocal cords.
  The production of consonant sounds is affected by:
• The Manner of articulating (how the air-stream is controlled)
• The Place of articulation (where it occurs) (lips, tongue, teeth, the roof of our mouth or combination
• Whether sound is voiced or unvoiced (vibrating or not vibrating the vocal cords)

Question 10

Phonemic expansion

Answer 10

When the variety of sounds a child produces increases

Question 11

Phonemic contraction

Answer 11

When the variety of sounds a child produces reduces to the sound they need for their own language

Question 12

Why is producing sounds crucial for child development?

Answer 12

Attention
Basic survival and emotional needs
Cooing/Babbling (marks start of prosodic features)
Pitch and tone encode meaning for listener/receiver of a verbal message
- This links to pragmatics development as prosody is important for social interaction

Question 13

Intonation importance

Answer 13

• Gives listener clues to meaning of speaker’s message
• Use of pitch to signal feelings (rising pitch e.g. excitement)
• Pitch can give listener notice we are giving up our turn to speak (rising intonation e.g. question)

Question 14

The 2 Vowels

Answer 14

• Monophthong
• Diphthong

Question 15

Monophthong

Answer 15

• Produced when a vowel is followed by one or more consonants in a syllable
  In IPA obvs
  Short: ‘ae’(apple), ‘a’(hot), ‘I’(tip)
  Long: ‘e’(me), ‘u’(chew), ‘au’ (author), /3/ ‘or’ work

Question 16

Diphthong

Answer 16

• Produced by combining 2 vowels in a single syllable where the sound begins as one vowel and moves towards another
  In IPA obvs
  Short: ‘ei’(tape), ‘ai’(ice), ‘u’(cube)
  Long: ‘oy’(boy), ‘ou’(mouth), ‘eer’(deer)

Question 17

The 6 consonant Phonemes

Answer 17

• Plosives
• Fricatives
• Affricates
• Approximants
• Nasals
• Laterals

Question 18

Plosives

Answer 18

When the airflow is blocked for a brief time (‘stop consonants’)
Voiced: b, d, g
Unvoiced: p, t, k

Question 19

Fricatives

Answer 19

When the airflow is only partially blocked and air moves through the mouth in a steady stream
Voiced: v, th(that), z, 3(vision)
Unvoiced: f, th(thigh), s, sh(ship), h

Question 20

Affricates

Answer 20

Produced by putting plosives and fricatives together
Voiced: d3(judge)
Unvoiced: ch(church)

Question 21

Approximants

Answer 21

Similar to vowel sounds
Voiced: w, r, j(yes)

Question 22

Nasals

Answer 22

By air moving through the nose
Voiced: m, n, nl(ng)

Question 23

Laterals

Answer 23

By placing the tongue on the ridge of the teeth and then air moving down the side of the mouth
Voiced: l

Question 24

Pamela Grunwell (1987) -Phonological acquisition sequence

Answer 24

24 months (2 years)
- Phonemes: p,b,m,d,n,w,t
30 months (2.5 years)
- Phonemes: k,g,h,nl
36 months (3 years)
- Phonemes: f,s,j,l
42 months (3.5 years)
- Phonemes: ch,d3,v,z,sh,r
48+ months (4 years)
- th(that),th(thigh),3(vision)

Question 25

Grunwell’s Consonant difficulty

Answer 25

1) Plosives
2) Nasals
3) Approximants
4) Laterals (require tongue and teeth)
5) Fricatives (partial block)
6) Affricates (plosives and fricatives together)

Question 26

Hardest consonant sounds

Answer 26

• th (thin, thine) virtually unique to English language
• 3 (vision) never occurs at the beginning of English words but is common in others e.g. French (je)

Question 27

Phonological Errors

Answer 27

• Deletion e.g. do(g) cu(p)
• Substitution e.g. pip for ship
• Addition e.g. doggie
• Assimilation e.g. gog for dog
• Reduplication e.g. dada mama
• Consonant cluster reductions e.g. pider for spider
• Deletion of unstressed syllables e.g. nana for banana

Question 28

Deletion

Answer 28

Omitting the FINAL consonant in words
e.g. do(g), cu(p)

Question 29

Substitution

Answer 29

Substituting one sound for another e.g. ‘pip’ for ‘ship’

Question 30

Addition

Answer 30

Adding an extra vowel sound to the end of words
e.g. doggie

Question 31

Assimilation

Answer 31

Changing one consonant or vowel for another (early voiced plosive sounds ‘d’ and ‘b’) e.g. ‘gog’ for ‘dog)

Question 32

Reduplication

Answer 32

Repeating whole syllable e.g. dada, mama

Question 33

Consonant cluster reductions

Answer 33

Consonant clusters can be difficult to articulate so children reduce them to smaller units e.g. ‘pider’ for ‘spider’

Question 34

Deletion of unstressed syllables

Answer 34

Omitting the opening syllable in polysyllabic words (words containing 3+ syllables) e.g. ‘nana’ for ‘banana’

Question 35

Jean Berko Gleason and Roger Brown (1960)

Answer 35

Looked at children’s phonological errors to see how they link their understanding of words and ideas, as well as their ability to imitate language surrounding them.

Question 36

Jean Gleason and Roger Brown’s ‘fis’ phenomena

Answer 36

Study that found a child who referred to a plastic inflatable fish as a ‘fis’, substituting the ‘s’ sound for the ‘sh’, couldn’t link an adult use of ‘fis’ to the same object.
Child: A fis Adult: Is this your fis? Child: No
Child: A fis Adult: Is this your fish? Child: Yes, my fis
The child only responded to the adult’s correct pronunciation of the noun ‘fish’ as that is the word they are imitating in saying ‘fis’ (they are limited in the production of fricatives by their ability to control the manner and place of articulation.)

Question 37

Key phonology points:

Answer 37

• What phonemes does the child find difficult to produce
• What phonological errors can be found in the dialogue
• Do either of the above cause any issues with the quality of their communication
• Do they use any elided forms (dunno, wanna) of words that might be influenced by their environment
• How does their phonology link to Grunwell’s sequence
• Is there any marking in the transcript for intonation or other prosodic features (e.g. pitch) that indicates pragmatics awareness