2. Phonological processes are the patterns that
young children use to simplify adult speech. All
children use these processes while their speech
and language are developing. For example, very
young children (ages 1 to 3) may say “wa-wa” for
“water” or “tat” for “cat.” Other children may
leave out the final sound in words (for example,
“pi” for “pig” or “ha” for “hat.”) Up to age 3,
these are appropriate productions. As children
mature, so does their speech and they stop using
these patterns to simplify words. In fact, by age 5,
most children stop using all phonological
processes and their speech sounds more like the
adults around them.
3. As children stop using phonological processes, their
speech becomes more understandable. This allows them
to become better communicators. For example, between
1 1⁄2 and 2 years of age, typically developing children
may produce around 50 words. Between the ages of 4
1/2 and 5 years, children are able to produce up to
2,000 words. When children continue to apply these
processes or patterns to their speech AND learn new
words at the same time, their speech can become very
difficult to understand. Many times the children do not
hear the differences in the words and will say one word
to mean three different ones. For example, children
who continue to delete the initial consonant from a
word may say “all” to mean each of these words: fall,
ball, wall.
4. The following processes are frequent, systematic
mistakes made by normally developing children. You
many notice some unusual spellings in the examples
that are provided. This is to help you understand the
changes in sounds. Read the words out loud to help
you hear the differences between the adult
pronunciation of the word and the sounds produced
by a child with the phonological process.
6. • Weak Syllable Deletion • Final Consonant Deletion
•
- Description: The omission of a - Description: This process occurs
weak (unstressed) syllable that when a child reduces a syllable by
either comes before or after a omitting the final consonant of
stressed syllable. that syllable.
- Examples: "telephone" - Examples: "pot" pronounced as
pronounced as "tefone" "paw"
"yellow" pronounced as "yell" "bake" pronounced as "bay"
"above" pronounced as "bov" "nice" pronounced as "nie"
“tomato" pronounced as "may-toe" "cat" pronounced as "ca"
"probably" pronounced as "prob- "coat" pronounced as "koe"
lee" "phone" pronounced as "foe"
"paper" pronounced as "pape"
7. • Reduplication Cluster Reduction
Description: Reduplication is - Description: When a consonant is
characterized by the repetition of deleted from a consonant cluster the error
a syllable. There are two types of is referred to as a cluster reduction. If
reduplication, total reduplication there are three adjacent consonants in the
and partial reduplication. same syllable, one or two of the
- Examples: "daddy" pronounced consonants may be deleted.
as "dada" - Examples: "snow" pronounced as "no"
"baby" pronounced as "bay-bay" " help" pronounced as "hep"
"movie" pronounced as "moo- "play" pronounced as "pay"
moo" "stripe" pronounced as "tripe" or "type" or
"water" pronounced as "wawa "ripe"
"green" pronounced as "geen"
8. Stopping Fronting
- Description: The substitution - Description: The substitution of a
of a stop for a fricative or an velar consonants and palatal
affricate . consonants with an alveolar place of
- Examples: "sake" pronounced articulation .
as "take" (fricative replaces a - Examples: "cat" pronounced as
stop) "tat" (velar fronting)
"zoo" pronounced as "do" "get" pronounced as "det" (palatal
(fricative replaces stop) fronting)
"Jane" pronounced as "dane" "cookie" pronounced as "tootie"
(affricate replaces stop) (velar fronting)
"match" pronounced as "mat"
(palatal fronting)
9. Deaffrication Gliding
- Description: The - Description: Replacing the
substitution of a fricative for consonants /l/ and /r/ with the
an affricate. consonants /w/ and /j/.
- Examples: "rabbit"
- Examples: "chip" pronounced as "wabbit"
pronounced as "ship" "hello" pronounced as "heyo"
"matches" pronounced as "look" pronounced as "wook"
"mashes" "carrot" pronounced as
"ledge" pronounced as "lez" "cawet"
"chalk" pronounced as
"shock"
10. Vocalization Labial Assimilation
- Description: This process is also - Description: The production of a
referred to as "vowelization" because nonlabial phoneme with a labial
it is the substitution of a vowel for an place of articulation. This happens
/l/ or /r/ that follows a vowel. This because there is a labial phoneme
process is commonly found in words elsewhere in the word.
that end in "r" and "el" sounds. - Examples: "book" pronounced as
- Examples: "tiger" pronounced as "buhp"
"tie-goo" "mad" pronounced as "mab"
"turn" pronounced as "ton" "cap" pronounced as "pap"
"third" pronounced as "thud"
"water" pronounced as "wato"
11. Velar Assimilation Alveolar Assimilation
- Description: This process occurs - Description: This process occurs
when a phoneme is produced with a when a phoneme is produced with
velar place of articulation due to the an alveolar place of articulation due
presence of a velar phoneme to the presence of an alveolar
elsewhere in the word. phoneme elsewhere in the word.
- Examples: "cup" pronounced as - Examples: "time" pronounced as
'kuk" "tine"
"gone" pronounced as "gong" "bat" pronounced as "dat"
"take" pronounced as "kake" "neck" pronounced as "net"
"doggy" pronounced as "goggy" "shut" pronounced as "sut"
12. Prevocalic Voicing Devoicing
- Description: When an unvoiced - Description: When a syllable-final
consonant preceding the vowel of a voiced phoneme that precedes a
syllable is voiced, it is called pause or silence between words is
prevocalic voicing. unvoiced, it is called devoicing.
- Examples: "pig" pronounced as - Examples: "bad" pronounced as
"big" "bat"
"cup" pronounced as "gup" "led" pronounced as "let"
"pear" pronounced as "bear" "card" pronounced as "cart"
"train" pronounced as "drain" "flag" pronounced as "flack"
