Descriptive Analyses of Phonological Development in Typically Developing Hindi-Speaking Children

Abstract

Phonology refers to the speech sound systems of a language. It involves the study of classification and organization of speech sounds in a language. The term ‘phonemic’ refers to speech sound use (functions/behavior/organization of the speech sound system). Most of the previous research reveals that phonological skills develop with age and thus older children had more accurate speech and fewer error patterns in their speech. However, in Indian contexts, limited studies are noted in the area of language development in typically developing Hindi-speaking children. Thus, the present study aimed to obtain extensive phonological data among in Hindi-speaking typically developing children across four age groups 4-4.5years, 4.5-5 years, 5-5.5 years, and 5.5-6 years. Following the guidelines of LARSP on sample collection, a series of toys and pictures were used and data was collected by video recording the interaction between the clinician and the client.

The results revealed that phonology develops significantly with the age. Thus, older children had more accurate production and fewer error patterns in their speech relative to younger group. A comparison with related studies has been discussed clearly in the paper which reveals a number of studies supporting the finding. The present study has significant implications for the assessment of developmental speech disorders among Hindi-speaking group of Indian population.