Intraword Variability in Typical Speech Development

Abstract

Variability is prevalent in the speech of typically developing 2- and 3-year-olds and was observed even in the oldest children. Future work is needed to determine at what age this type of phonemic variability is no longer prevalent in typical speech development. Clinicians should use caution in interpreting the presence of intraword variability as indicative of specific subtypes of speech disorder.

Profiling Speech Sound Disorders for Clinical Validation of the Computer Articulation Instrument

“…This indicates that these tasks do contribute to the diagnostic differentiation between typical and atypical development. In studies on speech development, speech variability, as assessed with the WR and NWR tasks, has been found to be relatively high in young typically developing children (2-and 3-year-olds; Sosa, 2015), and such variability decreases with age (Holm, Crosble, & Dodd, 2007). In a previous study (van Haaften et al, 2019), we also found minor decreases of the PWV with age.…”

An exploratory study of the influence of load and practice on segmental and articulatory variability in children with speech sound disorders

“…‘wabbit’ and ‘rabbit’) is said to exhibit variability that signals the transition toward a more stable and mature pattern. In typically developing children, segmental variability decreases with age (Holm, Crosbie, & Dodd, 2007; Sosa, 2015) as children become more systematic in their application of phonological regularities.…”

Intraword Variability in Children With Cochlear Implants: The Long-Term Development up to 5 Years of Age and a Comparison With Children With Normal Hearing

“…For instance, in a recording of the Dutch-speaking boy Maarten at age 1;11.08 (years;months.days), the child produced the proper name "Dominiek" /dominik/ in at least five different ways: [dɔmənik], [dɔmnik], [mik], [əmik], [mənik], [dənik] (Gillis, 2000). This type of intraword or token-to-token variability in typically developing children with normal hearing's (NH) early word productions has received ample attention in the literature (e.g., Sosa, 2015). Whether this phenomenon is equally frequent and develops in a similar fashion in children with congenital hearing impairments who received a cochlear implant (CI) in comparison with their peers with NH has hardly been investigated.…”