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Phonological Processes

Patterns of sound errors that typically developing children use to simplify speech

Syllable Structure Processes

Evident between ages 1 year and 6 months and 4 years

  • Suppression: elimination of a phonological process

Reduplication

  • Repeats a syllable

    • ex. "wawa" for water​

  • Common during 50 word stage

  • Total reduplication: exact reduplication of the first syllable

  • Partial reduplication: second syllable is varied

    • ex. "babi" for bottle​

  • Suppression by 2 years

Final Consonant Deletion

  • Doesn't pronounce final consonant/ the coda

    • ex. "ca" for cat"

  • Suppression by 3 years

Unstressed Syllable Deletion

  • Omits an unstressed syllable of a word

    • ex. "nana" for banana

  • Sometimes called "weak syllable deletion"

  • Suppression by 4 years

    • Can be seen in some 5 year olds​

Cluster Reduction

  • Two consonant clusters are reduced by one element, or three consonant clusters reduced by one or two elements

    • ex. "pane" for plane

    • ex. "taw" for straw

  • Suppression by 4 years

    • Can be seen in some 5 year olds​

Consonant Cluster Substitution

  • Substitutes part of a cluster

  • One of the latest processes suppressed

  •  Suppression by 9 years​

Epenthesis

  • Inserts a sound segment into a word, changing the syllable structure

    • ex. "balue" for blue

    • ex. "palease" for please

  • Suppression by 8 years​

Substitution Processes

Changes in Place of Articulation

Fronting

  • Replaces palatals and velars with alveolar consonants

    • Frequent palatal fronting: [ʃ] to [s]

      • may also be [​tʃ] to [ts] and [dʒ] to [dz]

      • ex. "wiss" for "wish"

    • Frequent velar fronting: [k] to [t] and [d] to [g]

      • ex. "tar" for car​

  •  Suppression by 3 years​ and 6 months

Labialization

  • Replaces a nonlabial sound with a labial one

    • ex. "fing" for thing

Alveolarization

  • Replaces a nonalveolar sound with a alveolar one

    • ​mostly replaces interdental and labiodental sounds​

    • ex. "sum" for thumb

Suppression by age 7

  • Stops: [p, b, t, d, k, g]

  • Fricatives: [f, v, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, θ, ð]

    • Sibilants: [s, z, ʃ, ʒ] 

  • Nasals: [m, n, ŋ]

  • Affricates: [ʧ, ʤ]

  • Approximants:

    • Glides: [w, j]

    • Liquids: [l, ɹ] 

  • Rhotic= [ɹ] 

  • Lateral = [l]

Changes in Manner of Articulation

Stopping

  • Replaces a sound with a stop​​

    • Often replaces a stop for a fricative or affricates

    • ex. "pan" for fan

    • ex. "dret" for dress

  • Suppression varies based on the sound

    • [ʃ] by 2 years, 6 months

    • [f] by 3 years​

    • [s] by 3 years

    • [tʃ] by 3 years

    • [v] by 3 years, 7 months

    • [z] by 3 years, 7 months

    • [dʒ] by 4 years

    • [θ] by 5 years, 6 months

    • [ð] by 5 years, 6 months

Gliding

  • Replaces [r] and [l] with [w] and [j]

    • ex. "wun" for "run"

  •  Suppression by 6 years

    • Can be seen in some 7 year olds​

Affrication

Vowelization

Denasalization

  • Replaces fricative sound with an affricate

    • ex. "choo" for shoe

Deaffrication

  • Replaces affricate sound with a fricative

    • ex. "shew" for chew

  • Replaces nasal sound with a stop

    • ex. "doe" for no

  • Replaces syllabic liquids and nasals with a vowel

    • ​Most often replaces [l], [ɚ], and [n] with vowels​

    • ex. "taybo" for table

    • ex. "batteh" for batter

Derhotacization

  • Loss of r-coloring in central vowels with r-coloring

    • ​Most often replaces [ɝ] and [ɚ]

    • ex. "bed" for bird

    • ex. "laddah" for ladder

Changes in Voicing

Voicing

  • Replaces a voiceless sound with a voiced sound

    • ​ex. "dack" for tack

Devoicing

  • Replaces a voiced sound with a voiceless sound

    • ​ex. "peak" for beak

Assimilation Processes

aka "Harmony Processes"

Suppression by 3 years

  • aka continuous assimilation

  • change in directly adjacent sound

    • ex. ​"jumb" for jump

  • aka noncontinuous assimilation

  • change in sounds separated by at least one sound

    • ex. ​"lellow" for "yellow"

  • aka perseverative assimilation

  • sound impacting a following sound

    • ex. ​"jumb" for jump

  • aka anticipatory assimilation

  • sound impacting a previous sound

    • ex. ​​"lellow" for "yellow"

  • aka complete assimilation

  • two sound segments become identical

    • ex. ​​"lellow" for "yellow"

  • changes in one or more phonetic features of a sound

    • ex. "jumb" for jump

Contact Assimilation

Remote Assimilation

Progressive Assimilation

Regressive Assimilation

Total Assimilation

Partial Assimilation

Idiosyncratic Processes

Found in children with phonological disorders

Initial Consonant Deletion

  • ex. [dʌk] to [ʌk]

Backing of Stops

  • ex. [fʌn] to [ʃʌn]

Glottal Replacement

Denasalization

Stops Replacing Glides

Fricatives Replacing Stops

Backing of Fricatives

  • ex. [tʌb] to [kʌb]

  • ex. [jɑɚn] to [dɑɚn]

  • ex. [gʌm] to [ʔʌm]

  • ex. [ni] to [di]

  • reversal of two sounds

  • ex. [stɛp] to [tsɛp]

  • ex. [toʊ] to [soʊ]

Metathesis

Affrication

  • a nonaffricate becomes an affricate

  • ex. [tap] to [tʃap]

Migration

Unusual Cluster Reduction

Unusual Substitution Process

  • movement of sound from one position in a word to another

  • ex. [soʊp] to [oʊps]

  • ex. [pleɪn] to [leɪn]

  • ex. [pleɪn] to [teɪn]

Vowel Processes

  • ex. [bɛd] to [bʌd]

Bauman-Wängler, J. A. (2020). Articulation and phonology in speech sound disorders: a clinical focus (6th ed.). Hoboken: Pearson Education.

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