The Intelligibility in Context Scale (ICS) is a parent report questionnaire for assessing children's speech intelligibility. The original version was developed in English and was based on Environmental Factors identified within the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health-Children and Youth Version (ICF-CY). The ICS has been translated into over 30 languages, including Traditional Chinese (ICS-TC). The aims of the current study were to examine the psychometric properties of the ICS-TC with Cantonese-speaking parent--child dyads and to identify speech measures that were more sensitive to the ICS-TC ratings. A total of 72 Cantonese-speaking preschoolers with (n = 39) and without speech sound disorders (SSD; n = 33) were recruited. Native Cantonese-speaking parents completed the ICS-TC independently. The measure showed good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Correlations with speech performance on the Hong Kong Cantonese Articulation Test (HKCAT), and significant difference in ICS-TC mean scores between the two groups provided preliminary support for the validity of ICS-TC and suggested that ICS-TC can differentiate between children with and without SSD with a large effect size of d = 0.74. The optimal cutoff was estimated using Receiver Operative Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, giving a sensitivity of 0.70 and specificity of 0.59. ICS-TC mean scores showed a positive correlation with the percentage of initial consonants correct and negative correlation with frequency of atypical errors, and both were moderate in strength. Given the satisfactory psychometric properties of ICS-TC, it may be a valuable clinical tool for screening Cantonese-speaking preschool children's intelligibility.

The acquisition of Cantonese showed similarities with English acquisition yet also had specific characteristics. Factors that contributed to the acquisition rate were functional load, articulatory ease, consonant-vowel interactions, phonetic variations, and the behavior of vowels and their allophones.

The aim of this article was to describe phonetic variations and sound changes in Hong Kong Cantonese (HKC) to provide speech-language pathologists with information about acceptable variants of standard pronunciations for speech sound assessments. Study 1 examined the pattern of variations and changes based on past diachronic research and historical written records. Nine phonetic variations were found. Five in syllable-initial and syllabic contexts: (1) [n-] → [l-], (2) [ŋ-] → Ø-, (3) Ø- → [ŋ-], (4) [k(w)ɔ-] → [kɔ-], (5) syllabic [ŋ̍] → [m̩]; and four in syllable-final contexts: (6) [-ŋ] → [-n], (7) [-n] → [-ŋ], (8) [-k] → [-t], (9) [-t] → [-k]. Historical records demonstrated the pattern of variation and changes in HKC across time. In study 2, a large-scale synchronic study of speakers of differing ages was undertaken to determine acceptable phonetic variations of HKC for speech sound assessments. In the synchronic study, single-words were elicited from 138 children (10;8-12;4) and 112 adults (18-45 years) who spoke Cantonese and lived in Hong Kong. Synchronic evidence demonstrated five acceptable variants in syllable-initial and syllabic contexts: (1) [n-] → [l-], (2) [ŋ-] → Ø-, (3) Ø- → [ŋ-], (4) [k(w)ɔ-] → [kɔ-] and (5) syllabic [ŋ̍] → [m̩] and four incomplete sound changes in syllable-final contexts: (6) [-ŋ] → [-n], (7) [-n] → [-ŋ], (8) [-k] → [-t] and (9) [-t] → [-k]. The incomplete sound changes may still be accepted as variants in speech sound assessments unless related speech problems are indicated.

This study investigated whether intonation deficits were observed in 19 Cantonese-speaking adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) when compared to 19 matched neurotypical (NT) controls. This study also investigated the use of sentence-final particles (SFPs) and their relationship with intonation in both groups. Standard deviations (SDs) of the fundamental frequency (F0), the total number and the type of SFPs were calculated based on narrative samples. The HFA group demonstrated significantly higher SD of F0 and a positive correlation between the type of SFPs and SD of F0. Both groups produced a similar total number and type of SFPs. The results supported the universality of atypical intonation in ASD. The relationship between intonation and SFPs could be further explored by focusing on sentences containing SFPs.

A large body of work has been done on the deficient conversation skills in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), yet little is known about their performance in other discourse types such as persuasion. The study investigated the persuasion skills in Chinese children with high-functioning ASD. Ten school-age Chinese children with ASD were gender, age, and language matched with 10 typically developing (TD) peers. Persuasion was evaluated via a role-play and a direct temptation task in terms of the participants’ persistence and the persuasive strategies used. Results showed no difference in persistence between the two groups. The TD group performed significantly better in their persuasive strategies used. A significant main effect of task was observed where children in both groups performed better in the role-play than the direct temptation task. The present findings provide an account of why children with high-functioning ASD often experience unsuccessful persuasion outcomes in real-life situations.

Narrative assessment can be standardized to be a reliable and valid instrument to assist in the identification of children with language impairment. Syntactic complexity is not only a strong predictor of grade but was also particularly vulnerable in Cantonese-speaking children with specific language impairment. Further diagnostic research using narrative analysis is warranted.

The mechanisms that allow for both language-specific and universal constraints in language development are not fully understood. According to the rhythm detection hypothesis, sensitivity to rhythm is the underlying mechanism that is fundamental to language development. Support from a number of Western languages, as well as Mandarin, has led to the proposal that rhythm detection may provide a language-universal account of language development. However, claims of universality may be premature because most research has addressed reading (rather than language) development, only a small number of languages have been investigated, and pitch is a better predictor of reading than rhythm in Mandarin children. Therefore, we examined language development using a narrative story-retelling task in children who speak Cantonese (a more complex tone inventory than Mandarin) and also assessed temporal and pitch-based auditory abilities to consider whether temporal processing drives development in a tone language. Both temporal and pitch abilities correlated with language development, but only pitch explained unique variance in language after age. The findings support the role of basic auditory processing mechanisms in language development, but they extend beyond the rhythm detection hypothesis by demonstrating that the fundamental cues for development are dependent on the specific processing demands of each language, rather than being universal.

Background This study evaluated the validity of the Intelligibility in Context Scale–Traditional Chinese (ICS-TC) and explored its potential as a screening tool for speech sound disorder (SSD) in Cantonese-speaking children in Hong Kong. Method The parents of 789 Cantonese-speaking children aged between 2;4 (years;months) and 6;9 completed the ICS-TC. Children were categorized into 2 groups: (a) an SSD group whose initial consonant scores in a standardized assessment were equal to or lower than −1.33 SD and (b) a non-SSD group whose scores were higher than −1.33 SD . The screening accuracy of ICS-TC using a previously proposed cutoff was appraised. A cutoff score for each age group was determined when the effect of age on the ICS-TC mean scores was significant and the corresponding screening accuracy was appraised. Results When the previously proposed cutoff was applied to the whole sample, sensitivity and specificity were unsatisfactory. Given the significant age effect, new cutoff scores for each age group were estimated. The new cutoff scores only led to remarkably improved screening accuracy for Age Group 4 (4;0–4;5) but little to no improvement for other age groups. Conclusions There is limited clinical use of ICS-TC as a screening tool with a single cutoff score for children at different ages. Its clinical utility might be limited to children of about 4 years of age, where ICS-TC scores demonstrated the best differentiation between children with and without speech concerns. Future studies could refine the screening criteria to further minimize the number of false positives.