2.1.4
Phonological Simplification
Phonological Simplification
Phonological Simplification
A child will often use techniques to simplify the pronunciation of words. These include:
Deletion
Deletion
- A child drops a consonant from a word when it is surrounded on one or both sides by vowels.
- This usually (but not always) occurs at the end of words. For example, a child may say /dɒ/ instead of /dɒg/ - they have deleted the end-position voiced velar plosive (/g/) from the word.
Consonant cluster reduction
Consonant cluster reduction
- This is when a child reduces a set of consonants that are all together. For example, in the word ‘spider’, they may reduce the ‘sp’ digraph (two letters) by removing the ‘s’ from the cluster.
Addition
Addition
- This is when a child adds a spurious consonant or vowel to a word. For example, adding the ‘y’ sound onto words like ‘dog’ to form the diminutive ‘doggy’.
Substitution
Substitution
- This is when a child changes one sound for another (usually one easier to say). For example, children often substitute the voiced palatal approximant (/j/) for the voiced alveolar lateral approximant (/l/) in the word ‘yellow’.
Assimilation
Assimilation
- This is when a sound later on in the word has an influence on other sounds in the word.
- For example, the /b/ sound in ‘rabbit’ might assimilate to the front-position of the word to form ‘babbit’.
Phonological Simplification - Child Mispronunciation
Phonological Simplification - Child Mispronunciation
A useful theory when looking at children mispronouncing things is the ‘fis-fish’ phenomenon. The ‘fis-fish’ phenomenon proved that children can notice mistakes, but not recognise that they are making these mistakes.
Berko and Brown
Berko and Brown
- Conducted by Berko and Brown, the ‘fis-fish’ phenomenon happened when a child was talking to their caregiver about what they called their plastic ‘fis’.
- When the caregiver repeated this to them, they were able to recognise that the caregiver had said ‘fis’ and not ‘fish’, but could not then pronounce ‘fish’. This shows that comprehension precedes competency.
1Language Levels
1.1Assessment Objectives
1.2Lexis
1.2.1Introduction
1.2.2Common, Proper, Abstract & Concrete Nouns
1.2.3Collective Nouns
1.2.4Adjectives
1.2.5Main, Auxiliary & Copular Verbs
1.2.6Dynamic & Stative Verbs
1.2.7Transitive, Intransitive, Active & Passive Verbs
1.2.8Mood of Verbs
1.2.9Adverbs
1.2.10Personal, Possessive & Reflexive Pronouns
1.2.11Relative & Demonstrative Pronouns
1.2.12Determiners
1.2.13Conjunctions
1.2.14Synonyms, Antonyms & Phonological Features
1.2.15End of Topic Test - Lexis
1.3Grammar
1.4Semantics & Pragmatics
1.5Discourse Structure, Graphology & Orthography
2Language, The Individual & Society
2.1Children’s Language Development
2.2Children's Language Development - Theories
2.3Literacy Development: Reading
3Language Diversity & Change
3.1The Importance of Gendered Language
3.2Social Groups
3.3Occupational Groups
3.4Accents & Dialects
3.5Language Change
Jump to other topics
1Language Levels
1.1Assessment Objectives
1.2Lexis
1.2.1Introduction
1.2.2Common, Proper, Abstract & Concrete Nouns
1.2.3Collective Nouns
1.2.4Adjectives
1.2.5Main, Auxiliary & Copular Verbs
1.2.6Dynamic & Stative Verbs
1.2.7Transitive, Intransitive, Active & Passive Verbs
1.2.8Mood of Verbs
1.2.9Adverbs
1.2.10Personal, Possessive & Reflexive Pronouns
1.2.11Relative & Demonstrative Pronouns
1.2.12Determiners
1.2.13Conjunctions
1.2.14Synonyms, Antonyms & Phonological Features
1.2.15End of Topic Test - Lexis
1.3Grammar
1.4Semantics & Pragmatics
1.5Discourse Structure, Graphology & Orthography
2Language, The Individual & Society
2.1Children’s Language Development
2.2Children's Language Development - Theories
2.3Literacy Development: Reading
3Language Diversity & Change
3.1The Importance of Gendered Language
3.2Social Groups
3.3Occupational Groups
3.4Accents & Dialects
3.5Language Change
Unlock your full potential with GoStudent tutoring
Affordable 1:1 tutoring from the comfort of your home
Tutors are matched to your specific learning needs
30+ school subjects covered