Phonological Development Profile in Typically Developing Hindi Speaking Children

Abstract

The present cross sectional study aimed to delineate the phonological development across 2 ½ to 6 ½ years of typically developing Hindi speaking children. A total of 80 children from Mumbai who were further sub divided into 4 groups i.e. 2 ½ - 3 ½ years, 3 ½ -4 ½ years, 4 ½ -5 ½ years and 5 ½ - 6 ½ years with each group constituting 10 females and 10 males participated in the study. The inclusion criteria for the children was native Hindi speaking with normal oral peripheral mechanism, attending Hindi medium school and with no associated problems. The Photo articulation test in Hindi was administered on all the children. A total of 16 vowels, 30 consonants and 11 blends were assessed. The children responses were recorded using Sony digital audio recorder and further transcribed in broad IPA by the researcher. A phoneme acquisition criteria of 80% and above was selected for all the phonemes to be considered as acquired. The data was subjected to descriptive statistical analysis to identify mean and standard deviation values and further the mean scores were converted into percentages. The results indicated a clear correlation between the features of the phonemes and their age of acquisition. This age wise wide range of data will add to the present normative information in Hindi speaking population and can be used to differentiate between phonological disorders and normal acquisition.