Swahili speech development: preliminary normative data from typically developing pre‐school children in Tanzania

Abstract

The study contributes a preliminary set of normative data on speech development of Swahili-speaking children. Findings are discussed in relation to theories of phonological development, and may be used as a basis for further normative studies with larger numbers of children and ultimately the development of a contextually relevant assessment of the phonology of Swahili-speaking children.

Speech Acquisition in Monolingual Children Acquiring isiZulu in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

“…Building on this single case, Naidoo et al (2005) analysed phoneme acquisition, syllable structure and phonological processes in 18 isiZulu-speaking children aged between 3;0 and 6;2 using the children's naturalistic speech samples. Naidoo et al (2005) suggested that vowels develop before the age of 3;0 in isiZulu, similar to the Bantu languages of Kiswahili (described by Gangji, Pascoe & Smouse, 2015); Setswana (Mahura & Pascoe, 2016) and isiXhosa (Maphalala, Pascoe & Smouse, 2014). The isiZulu-speaking children between the ages of 3;0 and 4;0 had complete inventories of nasals, plosives and approximants.…”

“…The studies by Maphalala et al (2014) on isiXhosa, Gangji et al (2015) on Kiswahili, and Mahura and Pascoe (2016) on Setswana are similar in terms of sample size (24 -36 participants). These studies developed and used picture-naming assessments to collect data.…”

“…In Setswana, the inventory of plosives and fricatives was complete by 3;6-3;11 (Mahura & Pascoe, 2016). For isiXhosa, these groups remained incomplete at 6;0, the oldest age group in Maphalala et al 's study (2014), while in Kiswahili only fricatives and trills remained to be acquired at 3;0 (Gangji et al, 2015). In Kiswahili, the last consonants to develop are /θ/ and /r/.…”

“…These were then reviewed by expert panels to check for age and cultural appropriateness. Pilot studies took place, after which further refinements were made by generating cues to assist participants in producing the target word without modelling (Gangji et al, 2015;Mahura & Pascoe, 2016;Maphalala et al, 2014).…”

“…Most consonants are acquired before the age of 3;0 in isiXhosa (Maphalala et al, 2014;Mowrer & Burger, 1991;Tuomi, Gxhilishe & Matomela, 2001), Kiswahili (Gangji et al, 2015) and Setswana (Mahura & Pascoe, 2016); while in Sesotho most consonants are acquired before 2;0 (Demuth, 2007). In isiXhosa, Kiswahili and Setswana, nasals appear to develop before the age of 3;0 (Gangji et al, 2015;Mahura & Pascoe, 2016;Maphalala et al, 2014;Tuomi et al, 2001). In Setswana, the inventory of plosives and fricatives was complete by 3;6-3;11 (Mahura & Pascoe, 2016).…”