It appears you don't have support to open PDFs in this web browser. To view this file, Open with your PDF reader
Abstract
The framework of Optimality Theory has been recently used to develop constraint-based approaches to the analysis of speech patterns produced by children with phonological disorders. A significant benefit of this type of nonlinear analysis is the power to predict interword and intraword variability of phonological productions. Such variability, also known as inconsistency, is a speech characteristic frequently cited by researchers and clinicians as one that (a) critically aids in differentially diagnosing childhood apraxia of speech and (b) supports the theoretical perspective that childhood apraxia of speech is a motor speech disorder. This study applies a constraint-based approach to the phonological analysis of the speech of a single child suspected to present with childhood apraxia of speech. Transcriptions of the participant's speech were obtained from therapy notes written by the clinicians providing his speech services. A thorough phonological analysis of the sample was performed yielding a consonant inventory, two quantitative measurements of variability, and several constraint-based predictions of variability at the segmental and prosodic levels. The results of this study confirm variability as a characteristic of this child's speech. Relatively common and rare variations were successfully predicted by a phonological constraint hierarchy, revealing a rule-based deficit discordant with the theoretical perspective that childhood apraxia of speech is a pure motor speech disorder. It is suggested that the results presented in this study indicate a breakdown in the transformational stage of speech production similar to that of phonological disorders. Implications of this theoretical perspective for future research and clinical practice are discussed.
You have requested "on-the-fly" machine translation of selected content from our databases. This functionality is provided solely for your convenience and is in no way intended to replace human translation. Show full disclaimer
Neither ProQuest nor its licensors make any representations or warranties with respect to the translations. The translations are automatically generated "AS IS" and "AS AVAILABLE" and are not retained in our systems. PROQUEST AND ITS LICENSORS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES FOR AVAILABILITY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, NON-INFRINGMENT, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Your use of the translations is subject to all use restrictions contained in your Electronic Products License Agreement and by using the translation functionality you agree to forgo any and all claims against ProQuest or its licensors for your use of the translation functionality and any output derived there from. Hide full disclaimer