Normative Features of Phoneme Acquisition in Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze the influence of gender, age, and types of school (public or private) on phoneme production, and provide normative data on phonological acquisition in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Patients and Methods: The sample consisted of 733 children (ages 3 years to 8 years and 11 months), all monolingual speakers of BP with typical phonological development. Participants were evaluated using the spontaneous naming task from the Phonological Assessment Tool (Instrumento de Avaliação Fonológica -INFONO). The children's speech production was audio-recorded, transcribed, and submitted to phonological analysis. Results: The effect of age was significant for all phonemes and syllable structures, especially when analyzed in combination with types of school and gender. Overall, phoneme production accuracy increased with age and varied depending on the types of school attended by the children, but did not differ between genders. Conclusion: Age had a greater impact on phoneme production. The normative data on phonolog-ical acquisition highlighted the differences between the ages of mastery for different phonemes, with elements such as the /r/ sound and complex onsets being acquired much later in development than some of the other phonemes analyzed.

Movimentos de língua na produção do /l/ em crianças com e sem distúrbios dos sons da fala em diferentes faixas etárias

“…Nevertheless, the gestural tongue patterns of /l/ production are similar to the patterns of older children, both typical and atypical. This is because the phonological development of atypical children occurs in a similar order to the phonological acquisition order of typical children, however, later on 3,23,24 . It is important to highlight that the mean tongue contours, regardless of the phonological acquisition, suggest a way towards a pattern of differentiation of the tongue gestures, although there is a tendency for better coordination of the gestures of the root and tip of the tongue in typical children.…”

“…Speech errors in children with SSD, specifically in phonological disorders, are omissions, substitutions, and distortions. In the phonological acquisition, each class of sounds is acquired at a different moment of development, wherein the Brazilian Portuguese (BP) the liquid consonants /l/, /ʎ/, /R/ and /ɾ/ belong to the later acquisition class of typical speech development, being the ones that more difficulties offer for children with SSD (3) . Especially in the sound /l/, the first of the liquid class to be acquired, there are two distinct articulatory gestures of the tongue, while in the /r/, there are also two distinct gestures of the tongue, however with greater tip constriction and retraction of the root (4) .…”