Phonological processes in Dutch language impaired children

Abstract

Process analyses were made of the spontaneous speech of 15 Dutch language impaired children. The processes that were applied by these children are presented as a rank order of their frequency of occurrence in 24 samples of these children. This rank order was compared to a rank order of processes occurring in the speech of 32 Swedish phonologically impaired children as well as to English data. Some processes were applied equally often in the three languages (e.g. Cluster reduction, Pretonic syllable deletion, Devoicing). Since these are processes that are often mentioned in the literature it is suggested that there is a universal aspect to them. Other processes (e.g. Gliding, Stopping. Velarisation) differ in their frequency of occurrence. Sometimes this could be explained by the specific language the children were acquiring, thereby suggesting that there is influence of the phonological characteristics of the ambient language on the speech of the children.

Key Words:

• phonological disorder
• process analysis
• language-specific processes