ANALYSIS OF ERRORS IN CHILDREN WITH SIGMATISMUS IN THE BOSNIAN/CROATIAN/SERBIAN LANGUAGE

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the errors in the speech of pre-school children with sigmatismus in the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language, in terms of frequency of occurrence of certain types of incorrectly pronounced sounds in the group with sigmatismus, as well as to analyze the occurrence of sigmatismus and sigmatismus in combination with lambdacismus and rhotacismus, in dependence of the gender, the age of the subjects and their place of residence. The testing was executed on a sample of 1600 subjects, with chronological age from three to seven years, from both genders. The subjects were divided in relation to their place of residence. The articulation status of the subjects was examined. The results showed that the sigmatismus alone was the most common articulation disorder, compared to the combinations of sigmatismus with other types of articulation disorders. Sigmatismus occurred most often in the form of distortion and in a combination as distortion-substitution. The most frequent incorrectly pronounced sounds from the group with sigmatismus were the sounds [...], [∫], [s] and [z]. The female subjects showed better articulation of sounds from the group with sigmatismus. The frequency of sigmatismus slightly decreased with the increase of the chronological age of the subjects. The results showed that the subjects from urban areas in general have a higher incidence of this articulation disorder. There are no statistically significant differences between the groups of subjects (subjects who had solely sigmatismus, subjects with sigmatismus and rhotacismus and subjects with sigmatismus and lambdacismus) in relation to their place of origin and their gender. Having in mind the persistence of this speech disorders in pre-school age and the outcome of the results, it is important to ensure continuous monitoring process of the children even at this age, and at the same time provide careful and detailed assessment of the children who already have a sigmatismus, in order to offer timely treatment and work with these children. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

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Lejla JUNUZOVIKJ-ZUNIKJ

Amela IBRAHIMAGIKJ

Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation,

University of Tuzla

Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Recived: 20.10.2011

Accepted: 13.01.2012

Review article

Corresponding Address:

Lejla JUNUZOVIKJ-ZUNIKJ

Univerzitetska 1, 75 000 Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Phone: + 387 35 320 664; + 387 61 194 047

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the errors in the speech of pre-school children with sigmatismus in the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language, in terms of frequency of occurrence of certain types of incorrectly pronounced sounds in the group with sigmatismus, as well as to analyze the occurrence of sigmatismus and sigmatismus in combination with lambdacismus and rhotacismus, in dependence of the gender, the age of the subjects and their place of residence. The testing was executed on a sample of 1600 subjects, with chronological age from three to seven years, from both genders. The subjects were divided in relation to their place of residence. The articulation status of the subjects was examined. The results showed that the sigmatismus alone was the most common articulation disorder, compared to the combinations of sigmatismus with other types of articulation disorders. Sigmatismus occurred most often in the form of distortion and in a combination as distortion-substitution. The most frequent incorrectly pronounced sounds from the group with sigmatismus were the sounds [?], [J], [s] and [z]. The female subjects showed better articulation of sounds from the group with sigmatismus. The frequency of sigmatismus slightly decreased with the increase of the chronological age of the subjects. The results showed that the subjects from urban areas in general have a higher incidence of this articulation disorder. There are no statistically significant differences between the groups of subjects (subjects who had solely sigmatismus, subjects with sigmatismus and rhotacismus and subjects with sigmatismus and lambdacismus) in relation to their place of origin and their gender. Having in mind the persistence of this speech disorders in pre-school age and the outcome of the results, it is important to ensure continuous monitoring process of the children even at this age, and at the same time provide careful and detailed assessment of the children who already have a sigmatismus, in order to offer timely treatment and work with these children.

Key words: sigmatismus, errors, Bosnian/Croatian/ Serbian language

Introduction

The speech sounds are created through the process of articulation (1). Articulation refers to the way in which we form sounds and it is a result of conducted movement directed towards a specific goal (2). The articulation involves pronunciation of sounds with the help of appropriate movements of the peripheral organs, their adjustment according to each voice individually, as well as to the all possible variations of the words' pronounced variables (3). Travis (4) and Nicolosi, Harryman and Kresheck according to Correa, Nye and Hans (5) define the articulation disorders as an incorrect pronunciation of speech sounds due to improper settings, time setup, direction, pressure, speed or integration of the lip movement, the tongue, the softpalate or the pharynx, which occurs due to total absence or inadequate articulation of the sounds. The articulation disorders represent an atypical production of speech sounds which cause substitution, omission, additions or distortions that can interfere with the speech intelligibility (4). The speech deviations represent a barrier for the individual and constrain the normal communication (6). Articulation disorders can occur at any age, however they usually occur during childhood (7). The articulation disorders in children occur in more than 50% of the cases compared to other speech disorders. It is considered that in the preschool institutions 30% of the children have articulation disorders, in the elementary schools 16% of the children suffer from this disorder and only 4% of adults are diagnosed with sigmatismus (8). In Bosnia and Herzegovina is measured 29, 69% prevalence of articulation disorders among the children from three to seven years of age (9). Children with specific impairment of speech sounds, which is defined with the term of articulation disorder, have clinically significant difficulties when producing speech sounds in their language, measured against what is being expected at their age (10). The spoken language in Bosnia and Herzegovina is Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian. The linguistic issue is regulated by the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the constitutions of its entities, so the names of the three official languages are: Bosnian language, Croatian language and Serbian language. All three languages together appear on a relatively small area where the people communicate among themselves and understand each other on their own language. Solely the linguistic differences are not big and can be reduced to specifics that go along with the names of the languages. The Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian language have a common origin and development, as well as other common features that correspond to one language, so-called diasystem, a language with three different names and three different standards (11). The mispronunciation within the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language happens more often with the consonants then the vowels (13, 14). One of the articulation disorders of the consonants is sigmatismus which is defined as mispronunciation of the sounds [ts], [s], [z] (smaller group) and the sounds [s], [t?], [ds], [d?], [s], [?] (wider group) (14). According to the same author, the mispronunciation of the sound [r] is called rhotacismus and the mispronunciation of sounds [l] and [?] is called lambdacismus.

The aim of the research presented in this paper was to analyze the errors in the speech of children with sigmatismus. The errors were analyzed in terms of the frequency of occurrence of incorrectly pronounced certain types of sounds in the group with sigmatismus. Further, analysis of the occurrence of sigmatismus and the sigmatismus in a combination with other types of articulation disorders (rhotacismus and lambdacismus) in relation to the gender, the age of the subjects and their place of residence, was established.

Materials and methods

The sample was consisted of 1600 subjects, from both genders and with chronological ages from three to seven. The subjects were divided into subjects from urban areas (N=800) and subjects from rural areas (N=800). All subjects were further divided into age groups with six months of difference in between. Each group was divided according to their place of residence and gender. There were no subjects with mental retardation or hearing impairment in the analyzed sample.

The sample of variables was consisted of the following: age, gender, form of sounds articulation disorder (OIG): normal articulation, distortion, substitution, omission, distortion-substitution, distortion-omission, substitution-omission, distortion-substitutionomission; Articulation features (AK); normal articulation, articulating deviation of the sounds [ts], [s], [z], [?], [t?], [ds], [d?], [s], [?]; articulation deviation of the sound [r]; articulating deviation of the sounds [l] and [?] ; articulating deviation of the sounds [ts], [s], [z], [?], [t?], [ds], [d?], [s], [?] and the sound [r]; and articulating deviation of the sounds [ts], [s], [z], [?], [t?], [ds], [d?], [s], [?] and the sounds [l] and [?]; articulating deviation of the sounds [l] and [?], and the sound [r]; articulating deviation of all 30 sounds of the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language: [a], [b], [ts], [?], [t?], [d], [ds], [d?], [e], [f], [g], [h], [i], [j], [k], [l], [?], [m], [n], [?], [o], [p], [r], [s], [s], [t], [u], [v], [z], [?]. For the purpose of this research, the results of the subjects that had only sigmatismus, or sigmatismus in combination with rhotacismus or lambdacismus were presented. The group of subjects with sigmatismus included subjects whose pronunciations were observed as distortions, consequence from displacement of the articulation (inter-dental pronunciation and lateral nasal pronunciation). The subjects who had a different type of speech distortion (only mild softening and reduced occlusion of affricates with the correct place of articulation) were not included in the testing. This research was a set up in accordance with the criteria specified by Vuletic (7) in her 'Test of Articulation' standardized for the Croatian language. The author states that, although the inter-dental pronunciation of sounds can be tolerated as a developmental phase, the child will be required to visit a speech therapist, so the disorder won't become inferior. She also points out that the inter-dental pronunciation should not be tolerated at all, because it reduces the inter-dental labiality. Waiting and not starting a correction process only reinforces the mistakes that the child does, and if there is a case of displacement of articulation, it rarely leads to a spontaneous recovery (7). This is also consistent with the authors' experience.

The testing was conducted by showing pictures to the children and asking them to name each one. While naming the pictures, the examiner recorded the articulation of the sounds in the targeted words and their position. The pictures that were used in the research were also used to create the first standardized test of articulation in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the frame of one pilot project. The research was conducted in kindergartens, elementary schools and health centers of five cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their rural environments. The study lasted one year.

Data analysis

The data was analyzed by using the statistical computer packages SPSS 16.0 and Statistica 5.0. To study the frequency of certain forms of articulation disorders (distortion, substitution, omission, and the combination of those), the frequency of articulation of sounds from different sound groups, the frequency of normal and pathologic articulation of sounds and the development of differences in the articulation, the absolute and relative frequencies were calculated. To determine the significance of the differences between the subjects according to their place of origin and gender, a variance analysis was executed.

Results

Of the total number of subjects (N=1600), for the purpose of this study were analyzed only the subjects who only had sigmatismus (N=178) or sigmatismus in a combination with lambdacismus (N=70) and rhotacismus (N=34).

Of the total number of subjects with sigmatismus (N=282), sigmatismus alone had 63, 12% of the subjects. Sigmatismus combined with lambdacismus had 24,82% of the subjects, while 12,06% subjects had sigmatismus and rhotacismus (Fig.1).

The most common form of articulation disorders with the subjects that have only sigmatismus was manifested in the form of distortion (88, 76%), followed by the combination of distortionsubstitution of sounds (10, 12%). The subjects who had sigmatismus and rhotacismus or sigmatismus and lambdacismus, most frequently had a combination of the forms distortion-substitution, where the substitution was often related to the sound [r] or the sounds [l] and [?] (Table 1).

From Table 2 can be noticed that most often the subjects from the group with sigmatismus incorrectly pronounced the sounds [?], (13,28%), [s] (13,17%), [s] (13%) and [z] (12,56%). These sounds were most often spoken in the form of distortions which was generally most occurring in the articulation of sounds in the group with sigmatismus. The substitution of sounds in the sigmatismus group was rare and most common for the sounds[?], [s], [?]. The omission was the rarest and most common for the sounds [?], [s], [?]. These results mainly show the complexity of the articulation of the sounds [s] and [?], since they were most often faulty pronounced in all three forms: distortion, substitution and omission.

From the total of 178 subjects that had only sigmatismus, most of them had mispronounced three sounds from the group of sigmatismus (36.52%), after which follows the frequency of deviation for mispronunciation of all nine sounds from the wider group (14.05%). One sound was misarticulated in 10,11%, two sounds in 10,67%, four sounds in 10,11%, five sounds in 7,3%, six sound in 8,99%, seven sounds in 1,69% and eight sound in 0,56% of the subjects.

In relation to the gender of the subjects, it is obvious that the male subjects had to some extent more common sigmatismus disorder as a single form of disability (53.94%), as well as in a combination with rhotacismus (55.89%) or lambdacismus (52.86%) (Table 3).

In relation to the age of the subjects in Table 4, it can be noticed that sigmatismus is the most common among children from the age of 3 to 3.5 years (15,17%), with a slight declination among the children aged between 3.5 and 4 years (11,8%), between 4 and 4.5 years (15,7%) and 5 and 5.5 years (15,7%). The sigmatismus in a combination with rhotacismus was the most common in the ages between 3.5 and 4 years (35,3%) and sigmatismus in a combination with lambdacismus in children aged between 3.5 and 4 years (18.57%) and 5 and 5.5 years (18.57%).

Table 5 shows the distribution of subjects in relation to their place of origin where can be noticed that the subjects from urban areas usually have larger occurrence of sigmatismus (52,13%), as a single articulating disorder (52,81%) and sigmatismus in a combination with lambdacismus (52,49%). Unlike the subjects from the urban areas, the subjects from the rural areas had more frequently sigmatismus in a combination with rhotacismus (55,88%).

A variance analysis was applied to test the differences between the subjects in relation to their place of origin and their gender. The results have shown that there are no statistical differences between the three groups of subjects (subjects that had only sigmatismus, subjects with sigmatismus and rhotacismus and subjects with sigmatismus and lambdacismus) in relation to the place of their origin and their gender (Table 6).

Discussion

By analyzing the results of this research, it can be concluded that sigmatismus as an independent disorder, as well as in a combination with lambdacismus and rhotacismus, is the most common articulation disorder in the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language, with a frequency of 17,6% compared against other articulation disorders. Similar results were obtained from other researchers. In the research done in Bosnia and Herzegovina, established also among preschool children between the ages of five and seven years, the most misarticulated sounds were the same ones registered within the sigmitismus group [ts], [s], [z], [?], [t?], [ds], [d?], [s], [?] (14) and the consonants [l] and [r] (15). From other studies, Miccio (16) has concluded that the fricative and affricative sounds are the most usual groups of sounds that are incorrectly pronounced in children that are learning English. The results from the extensive research of articulation of sounds with first graders from elementary schools in the Czech Republic have shown that besides the mispronunciation of the sound /r/, in the Czech language the most frequent articulation disorders in the group with sigmatismus are for the sounds /s/ and /z/, (17). An explanation for the often misarticulated sound /s/ was given by Karson at al. (18) who stresses the importance of the motor control of the internal and external muscles of the articulation organs during articulating the sound /s/. As a possible reason for the most commonly incorrect articulation of this sound in the sigmatismus group is the extremely complex articulation process, for which the articulation is of the outmost importance for proper and accurate placement of the speech organs and creating the appropriate air flow. This is important in order to produce adequate friction, so that these sounds can be considered as correctly spoken. The distortion of sounds is the most common form of articulation disorder among those who have only sigmatismus. A study of children with articulation disorder from early grades also confirmed that the most common form of disorder in children at this age is distortion, with the stigmatism group having the most common misarticulated sounds (12). Among younger children that spoke Finish with articulation disorders, the most errors were the distortion of the sound /s/ (19-21), with a distortion that manifests to different degrees (20, 22). In most cases with functional articulation disorders, the most common misarticulated sounds are [s] and [z] (22). Misarticulating of the group of sounds [ts], [s], [z], [?], [t?], [ds], [d?], [s], [?] as a form of combination of distortionsubstitution is also often present. The most common articulation disorders that are identified during the screening programs for children are distortion and substitution of the sounds /s/ and /z/ (23) and most commonly substituted sounds are the sounds /s, z, c/ with the sounds /s, z, c/ and vice versa (17). The results in this paper showed the exceptional complexity of articulation of the sounds [s] and [?], these sounds being the most frequently misarticulated in all three forms, distortion, substitution and omission, in the group with sigmatismus. During the articulation of these sounds, in the Bosnian/ Croatian/ Serbian language the lips are protruding and rounded, the distance between the upper and lower teeth is a small. The tip of the tongue is raised and placed behind the upper incisors and the alveola. The middle of the tongue groove and the side edges of the tongue are adjoining the upper molars, the softpalate is raised and the air passing the groove tongue and the resonators between the tongue and the teeth and the teeth and the lips creates a noise characteristic for the articulation of these sounds, the vocal fold work for the articulation of the sound [?] (24). Comparison of the articulating errors in different languages is very difficult to execute, since the articulation of sounds and especially those that are misarticulated differs in most languages (22). The results show that the frequency of sigmatismus is higher among male subjects compared to female subjects, which confirms the fact that girls generally have better articulation skills than boys, even in the early ages, but it wasn't confirmed any statistically significant differences between the boys and girls from the three questioned groups. The literature offers several explanations regarding these results. Boys make more errors then girls in the form of distortion, because the boys fall behind girls in their motor development, so the distortion in the speech reflects with delays or deficits in the motor speech processing (21, 22, 25). Generally, it can be concluded that the articulation skills in children improve as their chronological age or mature increases. The results show that the urban environment has a greater number of children who have sigmatismus alone and sigmatismus in a combination with lambdacismus. However, the results also conclude that there is no statistically significant difference between the groups in relation to their place of origin. One of the reasons can be the fact that there are more and more speech and language clinics open in the rural areas. In addition, today's technological advances allow quick and easy access to information, so the information that tell us about the problems of children who have speech disorders and the importance of timely involvement of children in the treatment is widespread.

Conclusion

language is the most frequent articulation disorder. It usually occurs as an isolated disorder, but it is not uncommon in a combination with lambdacismus and/or rhotacismus. Sigmatismus is mostly characterized by the distortion of sound, but it is not rare to have cases of sound substitution. Boys at the age from three to seven years, more often have sigmatismus then girls. The children from the urban and rural areas do not differ statistically significant in regards to the articulation of sounds in the sigmatismus group, and the groups with sigmatismus in a combination with lambdacismus and rhotacismus. Speech therapists should be aware of these points in the screening process of preschool children, especially in the enrollment of children in kindergartens, to ensure timely treatment and work with these children. Very often these disorders pass unnoticed until the children start primary school. The reason for this is that in most kindergartens in Bosnia and Herzegovina speech pathologist are not employed, so the problem is not noticed for a long time, or the parents do not think it is significant and they rather consider it as cute habit that will pass along time. Only when their children start school, it is the time when they start their first treatment and it usually happens when their attention is turned by the school teacher, or when their peers start to make fun of them.

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