PURPOSE:
to characterize and to analyze the phonetic system, the phonological system and the altered distinctive features in different severities of phonological disorder.
METHODS:
speech data from 145 children with ages between 4:0 and 8:0 diagnosed with phonological disorders were analyzed. They were submitted to the Child's Phonological Assessment to observe: the phonetic inventory, the phonological system and the distinctive features. The children were grouped according to the severity of the phonological disorder, calculated through the Percentage of Correct Consonants. The data were compared and analyzed among the groups through the Kruskal-Wallis test, with significance level of 5%.
RESULTS:
in the phonetic inventory, it was noticed that the average of absent phones was higher in the severe disorder. The fricative, the plosives and the laterals were the most absent classes. In the same way, in the phonological system it was observed that the severe disorder was the most damaged, with the highest average of alteration for all analyzed classes of phonemes in all possible syllable and word positions. For the distinctive features, there was statistically significant difference among the disorder degrees, with more alterations in the severe disorder and less alterations in the mild disorder.
CONCLUSION:
as more severe the speech disorders are, more alterations and absence of sounds will be perceived in relation to the phonetic inventory and to the phonological system. The results which were obtained in this study reinforce the importance of knowing the qualitative characteristics of each degree of phonological disorder.
Speech; Speech Disorders; Language; Child Language; Articulation Disorders
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