LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Syllable Awareness in Kannada Speaking Children
with Cerebral Palsy

Angel Mercy Ruby Selvakumar, MASLP
Sunila John, Ph.D.
G Kanaka, Ph.D.
B Rajashekhar, Ph.D.

Abstract

Syllable awareness is a metaphonological skill that is acquired by children before acquisition of phoneme awareness skills. Its importance has been documented in alphabetic languages where it functions as a predictor of later reading success. However, it has been less researched in alphasyllabary languages with dearth of knowledge in childhood disorders like cerebral palsy. In the present study, the skills of syllable stripping and syllable oddity for words and non-words were studied using the Metaphonological Skills Test (Prema, 1997) in Kannada speaking children with cerebral palsy (n=12) and language-age (> 8 years) matched with typically developing peers (n=30). The findings revealed that performance for syllable stripping and syllable oddity for words was on par for both groups. However, children with cerebral palsy (CWCP) performed poorly on syllable oddity for non-words proving that the ability to engage in overt articulation has an indirect influence on their performance.

Key words: Syllable awareness, Kannada speaking children, cerebral palsy

Introduction

Phonological awareness is that one possesses about the sound structure of a spoken word (Gillon, 2004). It has multiple levels consisting of awareness at word level (awareness that a sentence is comprised of individual words), syllable level (awareness that words can be divided into syllables), onset-rime level (awareness at intra-syllabic level that syllables can be divided into onsets and rimes) and phoneme level (awareness that words are comprised of individual sounds) (Gillon, 2004; Lane, Pullen, Eisele, & Jordan, 2002). Syllable awareness is the knowledge that a word is comprised of smaller constituent units known as syllables. It is one of the metaphonological skills that a typically developing child will acquire from three to five years of age (Hodson, 2005, cited in Rhyner, 2009).

The sequential order of development of syllable awareness is syllable segmentation, syllable blending, syllable deletion and syllable manipulation. Syllable segmentation is the ability to divide a word into its constituent syllables or identification of the number of syllables in a word by clapping or tapping. Syllable blending is the ability to blend together segmented syllables. Both syllable segmentation and blending are evident in 4-5 year old children. Syllable deletion (syllable stripping) is the ability to produce a word after deletion of the target syllable, observed in children aged 5 years. Syllable manipulation emerges around 7 years and involves the ability to manipulate syllables within a word to form a new/nonsense word. The ability to add, delete or manipulate syllables at the end of a word develops before the ability to do the same with the initial syllable followed by the medial syllable (O’Keefe, 2000, cited in Schreiber, 2008). Syllable oddity is the ability to detect the odd one out among a set of four presented words (Prema, 1997) which emerges later than syllable manipulation, being a task that requires analysis.

The importance of syllable awareness has been documented in alphabetic languages. Syllable segmentation is reported to be a predictor of later reading success (Liberman, Shankweiler, Fischer, & Carter, 1974) as spelling ability depends on it. Syllable blending is necessary for both spelling and reading (Ehri, 2000). Syllable awareness is a predictor of early reading skills (Plaza & Cohen, 2007). Syllable awareness along with articulatory skills and rime awareness predict later phoneme awareness (Carroll, Snowling, Hulme, & Stevenson, 2003). In CWCP, the ability to speak influences performance on tasks requiring the use of overt articulation like syllable segmentation (Card & Dodd, 2006; Larsson & Dahlgren Sandberg, 2008). Quality of articulation influences phonological awareness in CWCP and is related to their phonological short term memory (Peeters, Verhoeven, de Moor, & van Balkom, 2009).

Although it has received less research attention in children learning non-alphabetic languages, syllable awareness develops equally well in children exposed to alpha-syllabary language systems like Kannada. Syllable stripping skills mature earlier than syllable oddity for words and non-words (Prema, 1997). Ramakishan (1989) and Ramaa (1993, cited in Karanth, 2003) reported a strong relationship between syllable segmentation abilities and school achievement. In contrast, however, Karanth and Prakash (1996) documented that syllable stripping ability is the foremost indicator of reading ability in beginning readers of Kannada. Relevant studies in the domain of syllable awareness in CWCP exposed to Kannada are lacking. In order to shed light on their skills, it is essential to study the syllable awareness skills in Kannada speaking CWCP. With this aim, the objectives of this research were to investigate the syllable stripping and syllable oddity skills in this population.

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Angel Mercy Ruby Selvakumar, MASLP
Assistant Professor
Department of Speech and Hearing
School of Allied Health Sciences
Manipal University
Manipal 576104
Karnataka
India
angel.selvakumar@manipal.edu

Sunila John, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Speech and Hearing
School of Allied Health Sciences
Manipal University
Manipal 576104
Karnataka
India
sunila.john@manipal.edu

G Kanaka, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Speech and Hearing
School of Allied Health Sciences
Manipal University
Manipal 576104
Karnataka
India
g.kanaka@manipal.edu

B Rajashekhar, Ph.D.
Professor & Dean
Department of Speech and Hearing
School of Allied Health Sciences
Manipal University
Manipal 576104
Karnataka
India
b.raja@manipal.edu

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