While voicing contrasts in word-onset position are acquired relatively early, much less is known about how and when they are acquired in word-coda position, where accurate production of these contrasts is also critical for distinguishing words (e.g., dog vs. dock). This study examined how the acoustic cues to coda voicing contrasts are realized in…

Hyper-articulation of vowel and consonant contrasts is often reported in infant-directed speech (IDS), but is not universal cross-linguistically, and may be a side-effect of speaking rate. This study investigated the voicing characteristics of the four-way oral stop voicing contrast in Nepali IDS. Both lead and lag time of word-onset/g,…

Some children's speech impairment resolves spontaneously. Others have persistent problems affecting academic and social development. Identifying early markers that reliably predict long-term outcome would allow better prioritization for preschool intervention. This article evaluates the significance of different types of speech errors, made by 93…

This study sought to assess the level of correspondence between parent and teacher report of concern about young children's speech and specialist assessment of speech sound disorders (SSD). A sample of 157 children aged 4-5 years was recruited in preschools and long day care centres in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW). SSD was assessed…

Purpose: To undertake a community (nonclinical) study to describe the speech of preschool children who had been identified by parents/teachers as having difficulties "talking and making speech sounds" and compare the speech characteristics of those who had and had not accessed the services of a speech-language pathologist (SLP). Method:…

Background: Electropalatographic investigations have revealed that a proportion of children with articulation/phonological disorders exhibit undifferentiated lingual gestures, whereby the whole of the tongue contacts the palate simultaneously during lingual consonant production. These undifferentiated lingual gestures have been interpreted to…

Examines the relative contribution of phonological short term memory (STM) to vocabulary acquisition in 5-year-old children. The results show that work span, rhyme detection and nonword repetition predict concurrent vocabulary level at age 5. When the study was repeated with same subjects one year later, span and rhyme detection again predicted…