Aspects of Phonological Development in Sidaamu Afoo Speaking Children
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Date
2015
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study tries to describe the phonological developments noted in Sidaamu Afoo
speaking children. The research took a descriptive design, employing perceptual phonetic
and phonological analysis. Data was collected from 6 children aged between 3; 6 and 5; 0
years. The data were collected by having the children repeat lists of single-words and
sentences. The repetition tasks were supplemented by pictures describing the words and
sentences that the children were supposed to say following the research's utterances.
Spontaneous continuous speech were also recorded by having the children tell stories,
narrate activities, etc. SONY digital tape and video recorders were employed to capture
audio and video signals, as the chi ldren talk. Data collection was carried out in two
domains: at home and school. The data were first recorded orthographically and then
transcribed using IP A and ExtIP A, when deemed necessary.
The data were first analyzed individual ly, i.e., evclY child's phonological profile was
analyzed and presented as separate case studies. The common speech production features
were grouped together and presented as summaries of the phonological processes attested
in the children. Attempts were also made to compare the results of the present study with
other reports in the literature.
The findi ngs of this study showed that although most of patterns of phonological
dcvclopmcnts observed in Sidaamu Afoo speaking children are also common in other
languages, there are still some language specific features that are particular tG individual
languages. These differences mainly arise from the fact that languages differ in their
phonemic inventories, phonotactic tules, and even overall phonological systems. An
example of language specific-feature noted in Sidaamu-Afoo speaking chi ldren, i.e.,
feature not reported for other languages, is the ejectivisation of the implosive /efl, i.e.,
realization of /efl as [1']. This pattern was noted in most of the children, implying that,
although ejectives and implosives are both glotta lic sounds, ejecti visation appears to be
eas ier for children to acquire first than implosives. This relates to the additional
physiological efforts and aerodynamic complexity that implosives require to be produced.
Thi s study is by no means complete and conclusive and in fact suffers from
generalizations and shallow analysis. It is just an attempt to describe an aspect of the
phonological development of the children in question. But, it is hoped that the study can
be a preliminary ground for fu rther research to build up on.
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Keywords
Sidaamu Afoo Speaking Children