PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES
(The undesirable substitutions, deletions and additions children do
when trying to simplify and reconstruct adult words systematically)
OMISSIONS
A. Syllables
1. SYLLABLE REDUCTION
 Reducing the number of syllables in a word to one syllable
 Deletion of a syllable nucleus in a multi-syllabic word

i.e.: vowel, diphthong, vocalic consonant (ɚ)
 e.g.: flower  [] , basket  __
2. CONSONANT SEQUENCE REDUCTION / Weak syllable deletion
 AKA- Cluster Reduction
 Deletion of a consonant in a sequence of two or more
 Common in adults as well as children – not a disorder
 i.e.: CC → C, CCC→C, or CCC→CC = string to sing or sring
 e.g.: basket → []
3. MULTISYLLABICITY PROBMEMS
 Most children can produce multisyllabic words by 6 years of age
 e.g.: extinguisher  [__]
B. Singleton Consonants
1. PREVOCALIC SINGLETON CONSONANT OMISSION (word-initial)
 AKA- Initial Consonant Deletion
 Deletion of a singleton consonant that initiates a syllable / CV syllable
 Less common
 i.e.: leaving off the first part of a word
 e.g.: zipper → []
2. INTERVOCALIC (word-medial)
 Occur when children delete word-medial singleton consonants
 e.g.: bucket  [_]
3. POSTVOCALIC SINGLETON CONSONANT OMISSION (word-final)
 AKA- Final Consonant Deletion
 CV used by 12 months
 Deletion of a singleton consonant that terminates a syllable
 More common – seen in toddlers of 18 months
 i.e.: dropping off the last consonant sound – in a word or syllable
 e.g.: leaf → [l] ; baseball → []
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C. Consonant Sequence/Clusters
1. REDUCTIONS (Consonant sequence reduction)
 Extremely common
 Occurs when one consonant (or more) in a sequence is omitted w/ at least one
consonant remaining
 e.g.: truck  [t_k]
2. DELETIONS
 The omission of all of the consonants in the sequence
 e.g.: truck  [_]
MAJOR SUBSTITUTIONS
1. FRONTING
 The substitution of an anterior/front consonant for a posterior/rear consonant
 i.e.: /k/, /g/, //, /h/
 Usually continues into the same manner
 i.e.: The velar becomes an alveolar or a bilabial
 e.g.: cowboy → [tb]
 k→t
 g→d
2. BACKING
 The substitution of a posterior/back consonant for an anterior/front consonant
 Less common than fronting
 i.e.: alveolar and bilabials become a velar
 e.g.: soap → [] ; taupe → [k]
3. STOPPING
 The substitution of a stop consonant for a continuant
 i.e.: /p/, /b/, / t/, /d/, /k/, /g/
 e.g.: mouth → [d]
4. GLIDING
 The substitution of a glide (/w, or j/) for another phoneme
 i.e.: going from a liquid to a glide
 e.g.: rock → []
5. VOWELIZATION
 The substitution of a vowel (a pure vowel) in the place of a vocalic liquid, or postvocalic
liquid
 i.e. the schwar “  ”= dropping the “ r ”
 e.g.: square → [skw]
 e.g.: battle  [b]
 e.g.: car  [k], belt  [b]
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6. PALATALIZATION
 Adding a palatal component to a non-palatal phoneme
 i.e.: making a sound at the palate when it should be made somewhere else
 e.g.: soap → []
7. DEPALATALIZATION
 Deleting the palatal component from a palatal phoneme
 i.e.: moving the sound being made away from the palate to somewhere else
 e.g.: shoe → []
8. AFFRICATION
 Adding a stop component to a continuant phoneme
 The addition of the combination of stop and fricative
 i.e.: turning a fricative (/s, f, v, , , ,/ into an affricate (/, /)
 e.g.: shoe → [ ]
9. DEAFFRICATION
 The substation of an affricate with a continuant or a stop
 The loss of the combination of stop and fricative
 i.e.: taking away the stop portion of the affricate
 e.g.: chair → [] or jump→ [dmp]
MAJOR ASSIMILATIONS


Assimilation involves altering a phoneme so that it takes on a characteristic of another sound in
the word even if that sound has been omitted.
Common in adult speech
 Bank  [bk]
1. LABIAL (Regressive or progressive)
 Regressive assimilation affects a sound earlier in the word
 Progressive assimilation influences a later sound
 i.e.: when a sound is an artifact of assimilation even though a word-final sound is
omitted:
 e.g.: so  [to], but [po] for soap = /p/ for /s/ is an artifact of assimilation
 Labial is fairly common
 e.g.: swim  [fwm]
2. VELAR
 Occurs in the speech of some preschoolers w/
 e.g.: doggie  [ggi]
3. ALVEOLAR
 An alveolar consonant is substituted because of another alveolar in the word
 Can be differentiated from fronting by having the child say two words, one with an
alveolar (e.g. cat) and one without (e.g. car)
 If they substitute /t/ in both words it’s fronting, if only in one word, then it is
alveolar assimilation
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 e.g.: duck  [dt]
4. PALATAL
 e.g.: juice  []
5. NASAL
 e.g.: bone  [mon]
6. LIQUID
 e.g.: yellow  [ll]
GLOTTAL STOP REPLACEMENT
 Some children mark final consonants by substituting a glottal stop intil they are able to
produce word endings
 Children with palatal anomalies often produce glottal stops excessively
 Glottal stops sometime are produced because of dialects and in specific contexts (button 
[bun]
SYLLABLE-STRUCTURE/CONTEXT-RELATED CHANGES
1. METATHESIS
 The transposition of phonemes or syllables within words, or across word boundaries
 e.g.: masks → [ks] ; kung pow → [p k]
2. MIGRATION
 Similar to metathesis, but only one phoneme is moved to another place in the word
 e.g.: star → [ts]
3. COALESCENCE
 The replacement of two phonemes by another phoneme that contains characteristics of
both original phonemes
 e.g.: spoon → [fn]
 The /f/ has same stridency features of /s/ and the labial feature of the /p/
4. REDUPLICATION
 Repetition of phonemes or syllables
 e.g.: Santa Clause → [ ], truck  [_]
5. EPENTHESIS
 The addition of consonants or vowels
 i.e.: adding a sound that should not be there
 e.g.: fish → [f]
6. DIMUNITIVE
 When /i/ is added to nouns
 Often done when speaking to toddlers
 e.g.: horsie
7. CLUSTER CREATION
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 When a second consonant is added to a singleton
 e.g.: see  [sti]
VOICING ALTERATIONS
1. PREVOCALIC VOICING
 cup  [gp]
2. PREVOCALIC DEVOICING
 gum  [km]
3. POSTVOCALIC DEVOICING (normal)
 page  [pe]
4. POSTVOCALIC VOICING (rare)
 leaf  [liv]
VOWEL ALTERATIONS
1. VOWEL DEVIATION
 The substitution of a vowel that might affect meaning
 i.e.: one change of pronunciation changes the word
 e.g.: pit → [pt]
A. Neurtalization –
 bed  [bd]
B. Dialectal – many vowel differences are related to dialects (Southern America)
 eye  []
IDIOSYNCRATIC RULES
Sometimes children have individual preferences that cannot be categorized as any type of deviation.
Some have a preferred sound that they substitute for most sounds. Others may restrict these
substitutions to certain positions in words
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OTHER DEVIATIONS / DISTORTIONS
A. MINIMAL PLACE OF ARTICULATION SHIFTS (Phonemic)
Such as substitutions of some anterior stridents (e.g.: /f/) for the interdental fricatives often cannot be
identified unless the listener sees the child’s mouth
1. /f, v, s, z/ for “th”
 teeth  [tf]
B. MINIMAL PLACE OF ARTICULATION SHIFTS (Phonetic)
1. Lisps for sibilants (stridency maintained)
A. Frontal/Interdental Lisp – stridency is maintained, but the tongue placement is forward
 see  [si]
 see  [si]
B. Lateral lisp – not a phonemic difference (i.e. does not result in a change in meaning)
2. Other tongue protrusion – for alveolar consonants must be seen to be identified
 note  []
3. Nasalizations – a nonphonemic alteration that sometimes is related to oral structure difficulties ()
 e.g. velopharyngeal incompetence

see  [s]
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