Chapter 8
Development of Speech Sounds and Cultural Variations in Speech & Language Production
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In traditional phonology, consonants are classified by all of the following except _________________________.
a. Place of articulation
b. Voicing
c. Manner of articulation
d. Phonological process
e. These are all classifications used in traditional phonology
2. The two words “Sue” and “zoo” are considered what?
a. Allophones
b. Phonemes
c. Cognate pairs
d. Customary productions
e. Voicing pairs
3. In phonetics, the term stop is used in reference to __________________________________________.
a. A consonant produced in an explosive manner
b. Somewhat vowel-like sounds that involve movement
c. A sound that involves directing the flow of air out of the mouth along the sides of the tongue.
d. A consonant that is produced with nasal resonance
e. A sound that requires forcing air through a narrow constriction
4. Which of the following are considered articulators? Circle all that apply
a. Lips
b. Teeth
c. Hard palate
d. Soft palate
e. Vocal folds (i.e. glottis)
5. The first sounds in the words “chin” and “juice” are considered what kind of sounds?
a. Stop
b. Vowel
c. Fricative
d. Affricate
e. Glide
6. The traditional phonetic method for describing consonant speech sounds identifies consonants according to:
a. Voicing
b. Manner of articulation
c. Place of articulation
d. B and C
e. A, B and C
7. A sound that is common in all languages and emerges first in developing children is known as a
__________________________________________.
a. Natural sound
b. Infant sound
c. Phoneme
d. Marked sound
e. Vowel
8. __________________________________________ is a common language that develops as speakers of a
nondominant language accept a few key words of the dominant language.
a. Creole
b. Dialect
c. Bilingualism
d. Pidgin
e. Standard American English
9. We expect that children at the following ages will have speech that is _____% intelligible, respectively:
2 years old, 3 years old, 4 years old
a. 25%, 50%, 75%
b. 50%, 60%, 70%
c. 25%, 75%, 95-100%
d. 50%, 75%, 95-100%
e. 50%, 95-100%, 95-100%
10. When we say the word “me,” the vowel is nasalized. What concept explains this?
a. Anticipatory coarticulation
b. Simplified coarticulation
c. Nasalized coarticulation
d. Retentive coarticulation
e. Resonant coarticulation
11. The sounds in the final position of “off” and “push” are considered what?
a. Stop
b. Vowel
c. Fricative
d. Affricate
e. Glide
12. In what order do we see speech sounds progress (earliest to latest)?
a. Vocal play, quasi-resonant nuclei, fully resonant nuclei, babbling
b. Quasi-resonant nuclei, fully resonant nuclei, babbling, first words
c. Fully resonant nuclei, quasi-resonant nuclei, babbling, words
d. Marginal babbling, vocal play, reduplicated babbling, first words
e. Quasi-resonant nuclei, fully resonant nuclei, protowords, babbling
13. How does Spanish significantly differ from English? Circle all that apply
a. Word order is an important aspect of Spanish syntax, where as English uses more inflections on words to
convey meaning
b. English contains less vowels and consonants
c. Word order is an important aspect of English syntax, where as Spanish uses more inflections on words to
convey meaning
d. Spanish contains less vowels and consonants
e. None of the above
14. The dimension(s) most affected by a regional dialect is __________________________________________.
a. Phonology
b. Semantics
c. Vocabulary
d. Grammar
e. Pragmatics
15. __________________________________________ is a term for cities along the eastern and southern coasts of
the United States from which most regional dialects have evolved.
a. Melting pot
b. Cultural hotspot
c. Regional hearth
d. Dialectical center
e. Cultural hearth
Short Answer & Fill-in-the-Blank Questions
1. Name two types of phonological processes:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
2. __________________________________________________________________________________________
is one difference often seen between SAE and AAE.
3. A/an ________________________________________________ indicates characteristics of speech or variations
in pronunciation.
4. What are three consonant sounds we would expect a child to use in the initial position of words during the
single-word period? _________________________________________________________________________
5. ________________________________________________ theories view speech sounds as consisting of
several constituents that make them different from each other.
Essay Questions
1. Define the following terms: phonology, phoneme, allophone
2. An acquaintance comes to you with a concern about her 24-month-old son’s speech. She provides the following
examples of his speech that are concerning to her:
tɑ/stɑr, tʌ/kʌp, do/go, wɛ/rɛd, ti/si
(Note: this format indicates that the first word is the child’s production followed by the target word; ta/star
means the child is saying “ta” for the target word “star”).
She thinks she can understand about 60% of what he says. In 1-2 paragraphs, compose a response just as you
would say it to her. Be sure to define phonological processes in parent-friendly language and name the processes
that he is using. Also be sure to suggest what her next step should be with the assumption that there are no other
speech/language concerns and the examples she gave are representative of all of his speech errors.
3. Contrast the babbling drift theory and the discontinuity theory relative to babbling and true speech. Why has
each been rejected as a sole explanation of the relationship between babbling and speech?
Discuss the differences that separate dialects. Select one social/cultural or regional dialect and describe its historical
and geographical influences, as well as several characteristics of the dialect.
Development of Speech Sounds and Cultural Variations in Speech & Language
Production
TEST BANK ANSWERS