LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Phonological Processes in English Speaking Indian Children

Rajesh Ranjan, M.S.L.P.

Introduction

All children, of all languages, at the beginning of their linguistic activity share the "same" language, or every child, of every language, speaks from the beginning its own language (Francescato 1968). The study of children's speech sound error is an important aspect of the larger arena of children's acquisition of language.

The beginning of phonological development is often associated with child's first meaningful words. Therefore, specific sound combinations that occur more or less frequently in these initial words have been verified. According to Stampe (1969, 1979) the pattern of speech, that is, its phonological organization is governed by certain "universal phonological processes". He claims that there is a universal set of natural phonological processes, which are innate. Thus, "A phonological process is a mental operation that applies in speech to substitute for a class of sounds or sound sequences presenting a common difficulty to the speech capacity of the individual, an alternative class identical but lacking the difficult property". According to him, learning the sound system of a language involves suppressing a number of innate simplifying processes. As these processes are eliminated, the child develops an increased number of contrasts and eventually acquires the full set of sounds of the adult model.

More than 40 different processes have been identified as occurring in child phonology. Only a handful of them occur with any frequency. The processes that occur frequently during the development of language in normal are called as natural processes, while those that occur rarely in normal child phonology are called unusual processes.

The common phonological processes can be categorized into three types: Syllable structural processes, Substitution processes and Assimilation processes. The study of typical phonological development has great relevance for the clinical population and helps to determine whether a child is phonologically disordered and needs professional help. Hence a good understanding of normal phonological development is essential. Studying normal phonological acquisition will lead to an understanding of delayed or disordered phonological development and eventually to more efficient and effective ways of approaching management.

The period of phonemic development that roughly corresponds to 1 year 6 months to 4 years is the most relevant, as this is the period in which the child establishes the basis of the system. At the end of this period, the child is expected to suppress most of the simplifying processes. Thus by the time a child is 3 years 6 months to 4 years old, one can, with reasonable confidence, determine whether any intervention is required.

A few studies on phonological processes in Indian languages have been done (John 1998, Jayashree, 1999, Sameer. 1998, Sam 1999, Barathy 2001 Ranjan 2001 and Santosh, 2001) and comparisons made with western literature. However, the developmental pattern of phonological process in English speaking Indian children has been not studied.

Aim of the Study

The aim of this study was to obtain the developmental data on phonological process in 3-5 years old English speaking Indian Children.

Method

Total 60 subjects were taken for study, 30 subjects were in the age range of 3-4 years and 30 in the age range of 4-5 years.

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