Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2022, Page 148

Þóra Másdóttir, Sharynne McLeod og Kathryn Crowe. 2021. Icelandic children’s acquisi-
tion of single consonants and consonant clusters. Journal of Speech, Language, and
Hearing Research 64:1490–1502. <https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00463>.
Lykilorð: hljóðkerfisþróun, hljóðferlagreining, hljóðmyndun, málhljóðaröskun, íslenska
Keywords: phonological development, phonological process analysis, articulation, speech
sound disorder, Icelandic

summary
‘Phonological processes in the speech of three- and four-year-old Icelandic
children with a speech sound disorder’

Children with suspected speech sound disorders are usually assessed by administering a
standardized test of articulation and phonology. Data are collected by testing speech
sounds in different word positions, initial, medial, and final. Error patterns in children’s
speech are, however, commonly assessed by conducting a phonological process analysis.
Phonological processes are systematic changes and simplifications that can affect entire
categories of phonemes based on place and manner of articulation and voicing, in addi-
tion to assimilation processes and segment deletions. This type of analysis is still not
widely used by speech and language therapists (SLTs) in Iceland. In order to use it as an
appropriate clinical tool, developmental norms have already been established (Anna Lísa
Benediktsdóttir 2018). However, it is also important to gain insight into the speech of
children with speech sound disorders, so phonological process analysis can be further
adjusted to the needs of SLTs and their clients. The main objective of this study was to
compare the phonological processes of Icelandic-speaking children diagnosed with a
speech sound disorder to those with typical speech sound development, to further
strengthen the phonological process analysis in the Icelandic context. More specifically,
whether the number and types of processes were the same or different between the two
groups of participants.
Twenty-eight Icelandic-speaking preschool-children diagnosed with a speech sound
disorder participated in the study. The children were divided into two age groups, 3;0–
3;11 and 4;0–4;11. The study was based on the developmental norms de scribed by Anna
Lísa Benediktsdóttir (2018). The data for this study were examined using phonological
process analysis as had been applied in the developmental study.
The results show that phonological processes present in the speech of children in the
experimental group were comparable to the ones found in the speech of children in the
control group; both groups used similar processes. However, the number of active phono-
logical processes was significantly higher statistically for children in the experimental
group. Further, the variability of processes was greater among children in the experimental
group. On the other hand, the number of active processes decreased with age. The results
further support that disordered speech in older children resembles speech patterns of
younger typically developing children.
Þóra Másdóttir o.fl.148