Speech and Language Development

Prosodic Features/Suprasegmentals

• Stress and intonation are prosodic features
• Prelinguistic stage spans from birth to 12 months
• Meaninfgul speech begins around 12-18 months

What is Speech?

• Speech is a system relating meaning to sound
• Primary and initial modality for language acquisition
• Language is an arbitrary system of signs with rules within a linguistic community
• Phonemes are minimal sound units distinguishing language

Morpheme Errors

• A child may not correctly pluralize words ("s")
• Syntax is the ordering of words in a sentence
• Semantics refers to word meaning

Organs/Subsystems of Speech Production

• Respiratory system (lungs, airway, ribcage, diaphragm) provides airflow for speech
• Diaphragm is the chief muscle for inhalation
• Phonatory system (larynx/"voice box") includes cartilage and muscles

Types of Phonetics

• Phonetics studies speech sounds, production, and acoustic properties
• Experimental techniques aim to study speech sounds and their production
• Articulatory/physiological phonetics focuses on how speakers produce sounds
• Acoustic phonetics analyzes sound waves traveling from speaker to listener
• Perceptual phonetics explores how listeners perceive sounds
• Applied phonetics applies knowledge to real-world scenarios

Consonants

• Place: Location of airflow constriction (e.g., alveolar, palatal, bilabial)
• Manner: Degree of closure (e.g., stop, fricative, nasal)
• Voicing: Vibration of vocal folds (voiced/voiceless)

Vowels

• Distinctive features determine vowel characteristics based on articulation
• Coarticulation refers to the influence of one sound on another in connected speech

Phonological Patterns

• Phonological patterns are systematic sound changes affecting sound classes or sequences, aiming for simpler production
• Syllabic structures include the deletion of unstressed syllables/words
• Reduplication is repeating a syllable
• Epenthesis is adding an unstressed vowel between consonants
• Diminutization adds a suffix
• Coalescence merges two successive sounds
• Consonant deletion eliminates consonant sounds
• Cluster reduction simplifies consonant clusters
• Substitution involves replacing sounds with others

Assimilation

• Assimilation describes the influence of sounds on each other in connected speech
• There are anticipatory and retentive types

Articulation vs Phonology

• Articulation refers to observable motor components of speech production
• Phonology is a broader, more abstract concept encompassing rules governing sound patterns in language

Suprasegmentals (Prosodic Features)

• Stress is the emphasis on a syllable, word or utterance
• Intonation is the variation of pitch in speech conveying emotional state.
• Loudness is a measure of intensity in speech, influenced by emotional state
• Pitch level reflects the high/low tone of speech, impacting emotional expression
• Juncture refers to vocal pauses or intonational differences, representing vocal punctuation

General Stages of Phonological Development

• Development involves prelinguistic stages, first words and phonemic stages, and finally stabilization stages (with emphasis on complete phonemic inventory before age 8-years-old). These stages continue progressing.