Speech Sound Changes

Front

Vowel changes

Back

Alterations in vowel sounds during speech.

Front

Substitution of consonants

Back

Replacing one consonant sound with another in speech.

Front

Consonant cluster reduction

Back

Simplifying a group of consonants into fewer sounds.

Front

Unstressed syllable reduction or deletion

Back

Omitting or shortening syllables that are not emphasized.

Front

Sound reversal (aks)

Back

Switching the order of sounds in a word, such as "aks" for "ask."

Front

Stressing initial syllables (po-lice)

Back

Emphasizing the first syllable in a word, like "po-lice."

Front

Speech and Language Learning Patterns

Back

Consistent with AAE final consonants may be absent

Front

Mastery of /th/ is later with prevocalic /r/

Back

Initial and final /s/ and final /z/ are mastered sooner than MAE

Front

Grammatical features acquisition

Back

Acquired similar to MAE speakers

Front

Word combination by age

Back

Combine words by 18 months with expected MLU level