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Phonological Processes
Phonological processes are patterns of articulation that are developmentally appropriate in children learning to speak up until the ages listed below.
Data from: Stoel-Gammon & Dunn (1985), Pena-Brooks & Hedge (2007), Bowen, C. (1998) Developmental phonological disorders. A practical guide for families and teachers. Melbourne: ACER Press
PHONOLOGICAL PROCESS DESCRIPTION AGE ACQUIRED
Initial Consonant Deletion Omitting first consonant (hat → at)
Consonant Cluster Deletion Omitting both consonants of a consonant cluster (stop → op)
Reduplication Repeating syllables (water → wawa)
Final Consonant Deletion Omitting a singleton consonant at the end of a word (nose → no)
Unstressed Syllable Deletion Omitting a weak syllable (banana → nana)
Affrication Substituting an affricate for a nonaffricate (sheep → cheep)
Stopping /f/ Substituting a stop for /f/ (fish → tish)
Assimilation Changing a phoneme so it takes on a characteristic of another sound (bed → beb, yellow → lellow)
Velar Fronting Substituting a front sound for a back sound (cat → tat, gum → dum)
Backing Substituting a back sound for a front sound (tap → cap)
Deaffrication Substituting an affricate with a continuant or stop (chip → sip)
Consonant Cluster Reduction (without /s/) Omitting one or more consonants in a sequence of consonants (grape → gape)
Depalatalization of Final Singles Substituting a nonpalatal for a palatal sound at the end of a word (dish → dit)
Stopping of /s/ Substituting a stop sound for /s/ (sap → tap)
Depalatalization of Initial Singles Substituting a nonpalatal for a palatal sound at the beginning of a word (shy → ty)
Consonant Cluster Reduction (with /s/) Omitting one or more consonants in a sequence of consonants (step → tep)
Alveolarization Substituting an alveolar for a nonalveolar sound (chew → too)
Final Consonant Devoicing Substituting a voiceless final consonant for a voiced consonant (bag → back)
Stopping voiceless ‘th’ Substituting a stop for voiceless ‘th’ (thing → ting)
Stopping voiced ‘th’ Substituting a stop for voiced ‘th’ (them → dem)
Metathesis/Transposition Transposing sounds within a word (because → causebe)
Gliding Substituting /w/ or /j/ for another consonant, such as /l/ or /r/ (run → wun, lamp → wamp)
Epenthesis Adding a sound between two consonants (black → balack)
2 yrs.
3 yrs.
3 - 4 yrs.
4 yrs.
4 - 5 yrs.
4 - 6 yrs.
3 ½ - 5 yrs.
5 yrs.
7 yrs.
8 yrs.
