Between-Word Simplification Patterns in the Continuous Speech of Children With Speech Sound Disorders, Article Review Example

“Between-Word Simplification Patterns in the Continuous Speech of Children with Speech Sound Disorders” by Harriet B. Klein and May Liu-Shea (New York University, New York) observes the hypothesis stating that due to contradictions between the intelligibility of single-word samples and that of continuous speech, phonological changes commonly unobserved with single words can be demonstrated in word combinations.

The participants of the study were decided to be four boys with developmental speech sound disorders. Through the experiment they provided patterns of continuous speech and single words. By single word substitutions and deletions two categories of between-word segment mismatches, observed and novel, were defined. Formed mismatches were allocated among four types of between-word simplifications typical for normal phonological development: between-word consonant deletion, between-word cluster reduction, between-word consonant sequence reduction, and between-word assimilation.

As the result of the study the authors revealed that continuous speech demonstrated both observed and novel patterns. The novel pattern that was revealed more regularly was the one involving deletion of a coda consonant within a between-word consonant sequence. Segment mismatches were demonstrated differentially according to the between-word simplification environments.

The authors conclude that single-word production cannot serve as the basis for prediction of substitutions and deletions between words in continuous speech among children with speech sound disorders. The importance of the study for health care and school settings lies in the significance that the identification of potential contexts for such mismatches may have for the evaluation of continuous speech samples of children with speech sound disorders. The authors as well claim that “these findings support the necessity of including a between-word analysis of a continuous speech sample as an integral part of a complete phonological assessment”, contributing to the effectiveness of clinical applications. However, the findings of the present research are far from being a basis for strong conclusions, since the group being examined is too small to be treated as a sufficient support.