Types of Phonological Processes
Phonological processes: patterns of sound errors that typically developing children use to simplify speech as they learn to talk. They do this because they lack the ability to appropriately coordinate their lips, tongue, teeth, palate, and jaw for clear speech. By age five, most children naturally outgrow their use of phonological error patterns.
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Overview of Arizona-4 Assessment
Substitution Processes: replacing one class of sounds for another class of sounds
Gliding – the substitution of a liquid sound (typically letter “l” or “r”) with a glide sound (letters “w” “y” or “j”)
- Examples
- “rail” may be pronounced “wail”
- “play” may be pronounced “pway”
- “yellow” may be pronounced “yeyyo”
- Usually outgrown by age five
Backing – the substitution of a sound produced in the front of the mouth (like “t” or “n”) with a sound produced in the back of the mouth (like “k” or “g”)
- Examples
- “duck” may be pronounced “kuck”
- “dog” may be pronounced “gog”
- “cat” may be pronounced “cak”
- Typically only occurs in children with more sever phonological delays
Vowelization – the substitution of a vowel sound for “l” or “er” sounds
- Examples
- “apple” may be pronounced “appoh”
- “river” may be pronounced “rivuh”
- “care” may be pronounced “cayuh”
- Age of elimination of this process varies from child to child
Stopping – the substitution of a stop sound (“b” “p” “t” “d” “k” “g”) for a fricative sound (“f” “v” “s” “z” “h” “th” and “sh”)
- Examples
- “sun” may be pronounced “tun”
- “puzzle” may be pronounced “puddle”
- “ship” may be pronounced “tip”
- Depending on the fricative sound this process is eliminated between the ages of three and six
Fronting - the term used when sounds that should be made in the back of the mouth (velar) are replaced with a sound made in the front of the mouth (alveolar)
- Examples
- “cookie” may be pronounced “tootie”
- “car” may be pronounced “tar”
- “gate” may be pronounced “date”
- Usually eliminated between ages 3-4
Syllable Structure Processes: syllables are reduced, omitted or repeated
Cluster reduction – the reduction of a consonant cluster (two consonants next to one another) to one consonant
- Examples
- “tree” may be pronounced “tee”
- “stay” may be pronounced “say”
- “free” may be pronounced “fee”
- Usually outgrown by 4 years old except for words starting with “s”
Final Consonant Deletion – the elimination of the final consonant in a word
- Examples
- “cat” may be pronounced “ca”
- “road” may be pronounced “roh”
- Usually eliminated by age 3
Initial consonant deletion – the elimination of the beginning consonant of a word
- Examples
- “dog” may be pronounced “og”
- “cape” may be pronounced “ape”
- Typically experienced by children with more sever phonological delays
Syllable reduction – the elimination of a syllable from a word that contains two or more syllables
- Examples
- “banana” may be pronounced “nana”
- “vanilla” may be pronounced “nilla”
- “remote” may be pronounced “mote”
- The unstressed syllable is usually the one children eliminate
Assimilation processes: when sounds/syllables start to sound like surrounding sounds
Assimilation – when a consonant sound in a word starts to sound the same as another consonant in the word
- Examples
- “cup” may be pronounced “kug”
- “name” may be pronounced “mame”
- Typically outgrown by age three but can linger until age nine in more severe cases of phonological delay
Reduplication – the repetition of a complete or incomplete syllable in substation for a word
- Examples
- “bottle” may be pronounced “baba”
- “bubbles” may be pronounced “bubu”
- “water” may be pronounced “wawa”
- Typically outgrown by age three
Denasalization – the substitution of a nasal consonant (“n” or “m”) with a non-nasal consonant (“b” or “d”)
- Examples
- “nose” may be pronounced “doze”
- “maybe” may be pronounced “baby”
- Typically eliminated by 2.5 years of age
Sources:
http://mommyspeechtherapy.com/?p=2158
http://littlebeespeech.com/resources/pdf/phonological_processes.pdf