This study investigated whether or not variability in the severity of speech sound disorders is related to variability in phonological short-term memory and/or variability in the accuracy of phonological representations. The aim was to determine speech processing predictors of severity of speech sound disorders. A total of 33 children, aged three to six years of age, were assessed on measures of nonword repetition, accuracy of phonological representations, accuracy of speech production, and language. The tests administered included the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals Preschool – 2 Australian, the Diagnostic Evaluation of Articulation and Phonology, the Nonword Repetition Test (modified), and the Phonological Representation Judgement Task (modified). The relationships between the results of these tests were established using a correlation analysis. The relationship between accuracy of phonological representations and the percentage of consonants correct was found to be mediated by language. There was no significant relationship between nonword repetition and percentage consonants correct. These findings may have been the result of small sample size, age of the participants, or co-morbid language difficulties. These findings imply that variability in severity of speech sound disorders may be related to a variable not directly assessed in this study. This variable may be a constraint relating to the stored motor programs within children’s speech processing systems. Implications for future research are discussed.

Remediation of skills deficient in students with dyslexia typically occurs via withdrawal interventions focusing on phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge. While one-on-one interventions are widely used, little attention has been paid to the alternative teaching approach of integrating multiple linguistic component interventions within the classroom. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the effectiveness of using word study within the classroom on the spelling skills of students with dyslexia. The study was divided into two parts: 1) examining the efficacy of incorporating a small group multiple linguistic intervention within the classroom on the spelling skills of 9-year-old students with dyslexia, and if there were similar effects for reading abilities; and 2) analysing the effects of word study instruction at the whole group level on student spelling. Two case study students (both 9-years of age) with dyslexia underwent small group multiple linguistic intervention, and were monitored for 8 weeks (3 days/week; 20 minutes/session) using baseline, intervention and post-intervention probes. Whole group word study instruction was enacted in a Year 4/5 classroom for 8 weeks (1 day/week; 1 hour/session), and the spelling performance of the 9-year-old students (i.e., n = 7) were compared to same age students from a control classroom (i.e., n = 7) in pre-post assessments. Both small group intervention case study students demonstrated significant improvements in spelling, yet minimal improvement was seen for reading. Whole group comparisons indicated no significant improvement. The findings for this study have implications for: a) research on effective interventions for older children with dyslexia, and b) the practical use of spelling interventions that are designed to co-exist within classroom instruction.

International studies of reading achievement demonstrate that significant inequalities in reading outcomes continue to exist among some of the world’s wealthiest countries, despite strong investment in initiatives directed towards raising literacy achievement for all children (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation—UNESCO, 2009; United Nations Children’s Fund—UNICEF, 2010). One approach towards the elevation of reading achievement is to investigate how key predictors of reading success are incorporated into everyday classroom literacy practices. Phonological awareness (PA) is widely recognised as a powerful predictor and underlying precursor to early reading success for both typically developing and at-risk readers (Al Otaiba, Kosanovich, & Torgesen, 2012; Blachman, Ball, Black, & Tangel, 2000; Goswami, 2001; Pressley, 2006). A majority of research demonstrating the benefits of PA to literacy growth has been conducted under controlled research settings outside of the classroom environment (Ehri, Nunes, Willows, Schuster, Yaghoub-Zadeh, & Shanahan, 2001; Gillon, 2000a, 2005; Gillon & McNeill, 2009), and thus less is known about whether such benefits hold true when integrated into the heterogeneous classroom setting. For this reason, four experiments reported in this thesis investigated whether PA can be efficiently and effectively integrated into the classroom literacy programme with the overarching aim of raising reading achievement and equalising reading outcomes for the majority of children in the first year of formal education. In the first experiment (reported in Chapter 3), time-efficiency and congruency of scores between a computer-based PA screening and monitoring tool (described in Chapter 2) and a paper-based equivalent were examined. Thirty-three children aged between four years 10 months and five years zero months participated in the study, 12 of whom presented with moderate-severe speech delay (MSD). Participants were randomly allocated to either Group A or Group B experimental assessment conditions. A crossover research design was employed where Group A received the paper-based version of the PA assessment followed two weeks later by the equivalent computer-based assessment (CBA). Group B received the same assessments but in the reverse order of delivery. That is, the computer-based PA assessment first followed two weeks later by the paper-based counterpart. Results demonstrated that: 1) the CBA generated comparable scores to the paper-based equivalent for both children with typical development and children with MSD, and 2) CBA took 31 per cent less time than paper-based administration. These results demonstrate that CBA can provide educators with a time-efficient approach to the screening and monitoring of PA development in the classroom while maintaining equivalency of scores with paper-based testing. Having established the time-efficiency of CBA, the next step was to investigate the use of the computer-based PA screening and monitoring tool as part of the beginning classroom reading programme. In the second experiment (reported in Chapter 4), the influence of a short and intensive period of teacher-implemented classroom PA instruction on reading outcomes in the first year of education was investigated. One-hundred and twenty-nine children aged five-years participated in the study. Using a quasi-experimental design, thirty-four children in two classrooms received 10 weeks of PA instruction from their teachers, as an adjunct to the ‘usual’ reading programme. Ninety-five children from 10 classrooms continued with the ‘usual’ reading programme, which included phonics instruction but did not target PA. Results demonstrated that children exposed to classroom PA instruction performed significantly higher on reading and spelling measures compared to children who received the ‘usual’ reading programme only. Of importance, the number of children experiencing word decoding difficulties after one year of schooling reduced from 26 per cent among children who followed the ‘usual’ reading programme to 6 per cent among children who received classroom PA instruction. These results provide evidence that a short and intensive period of classroom-wide PA instruction in the first year of schooling can have a positive influence on raising reading achievement. In the third experiment (reported in Chapter 5), the effect of classroom PA instruction on raising reading achievement and reducing inequality in literacy outcomes for children with spoken language impairment (SLI) was examined. The data from 129 five-year-old children who participated in the second experiment were extracted and analysed. End-of-year reading outcomes between children with SLI who received classroom PA instruction (n = 7) was compared to: 1) children with typical language development (TD) who received classroom PA instruction (n = 27), 2) children with SLI who followed the ‘usual’ reading programme (n = 21), and 3) children with TD who followed the ‘usual’ reading programme (n = 74). Children with SLI who received classroom PA instruction showed significant improvements in PA, reading and spelling acquisition immediately and up to six months following PA instruction. However, this cohort, in comparison to children with TD, appeared less able to transfer their enhanced PA knowledge to reading and writing tasks. Of importance, children with SLI who received PA instruction performed significantly higher than children with SLI who followed the ‘usual’ reading curriculum; and on par with children with TD who followed the ‘usual’ reading programme. Children with TD who received classroom PA instruction significantly outperformed all other cohorts in this experiment on end-of year reading measures. These results indicate that both children with TD and children with risk for reading difficulties can benefit from classroom-wide teacher-directed PA instruction. These findings have positive implications for elevating reading achievement and reducing inequality between good and poor readers. In the fourth experiment (reported in Chapter 6), the validity and reliability of the computer-based PA screening and monitoring tool was investigated and established. Using a longitudinal research design, the responses of 95 children to test items in the CBA at the start, middle and end of the first year at school were collated and analysed to provide evidence of content, construct and criterion validity, in addition to test-retest and internal consistency reliability. A number of statistical analyses were employed including Rasch Model analysis, exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. Results demonstrated that the majority of test items were appropriate for five-year-old children in the first year of school and sampled a spectrum of ability levels that would be present in a typical classroom environment. Rhyme oddity, initial phoneme identity and letter-knowledge tasks were most appropriate at school-entry while tasks of final phoneme identity, phoneme blending and phoneme segmentation became more suitable by the middle and end stages of the first year at school. Importantly, performance on the CBA predicted end-of-year reading status with 94 per cent accuracy, and in conjunction with language abilities accounted for 68.9 per cent of the variance in end-of-year reading performance. These findings indicate that the computer-based PA screening and monitoring tool developed and applied in this thesis has sufficient validity and reliability to be used confidently as a time-efficient assessment tool in the classroom. The results from the experiments reported in this thesis provide evidence that PA can be efficiently and effectively integrated into the beginning classroom reading programme from two complementary perspectives: 1) through use of computer-based screening and monitoring of PA skills, and 2) through implementation of a short and intensive period of teacher-directed classroom-wide PA instruction. The results reported in this thesis demonstrate that the evidenced-based integration of key predictors of literacy success, such as PA, into existing classroom programmes can support national and international initiatives that seek to raise reading achievement and reduce inequalities in literacy outcomes for all children.

This study aimed at analyzing and comparing the phonological changes that occur in the different degrees of phonological disorder severity in individuaIs treated with the Modified Maximum Opposition Model (Bagetti,Mota & Keske-Soares, in press) as well as verifYingthe way of approaching the distinctive features in the target sounds (contrast or reinforcement) which lead to major phonological changes. The phonological disorder (PD) diagnosis was carried out by means of phonological and complementary assessments. The subjects' speech data were analyzed through the performance of the Child's Phonological Assessment (CPA) proposed by Yavas, Hemandorena & Lamprecht (1991). After the phonological assessment, the percentage of correct consonants (PCC) proposed by Shriberg & Kwiatkowski (1982) was calculated and the subjects were then classified in the degrees of severity of the phonological disorder: severe (SD), moderate-severe (MSD), mild-moderate (MMD) and mild disorder (MD). The studied group was composed by seven subjects, four males and three females aged from 3:10 to 6:9. For the treatment, the Modified Maximum Opposition Model (Bagetti, Mota & Keske-Soares, in press), which is based on the Maximum Opposition Model (Gierut, 1992), wasused. After 20 therapeutic sessions, the CPA was performed again, the PCC was calculated and the phonological changes referent to the PCC were analyzed, as well as the number of sounds acquired during the therapy and generalizations (to items not used in the treatment, to another position of the word, within a class of sounds and to other classes of sounds). The phonological changes were analyzed before and after the treatment, considering and not considering the way ofpresenting the stimulus (contrast or reinforcement). It was analyzed whether there was a statistically significant difference (Wilcoxon Non-Parametric Test, p<0.05). A comparison of the phonological changes among the different degrees of severity of the PD was performed considering and not considering the form of presenting the stimulus. After, the phonological changes within each degree of PD severity were analyzed, one subject treated by contrast approach and the other by reinforcement approach. The phonological changes among the groups treated by both approaches were also analyzed, as well as whether there was a statistically significant difference among them (Kruskal-Wallis Test, p<0.05). It was verified that in the total group there was a statistically significant increasing of the PCC (p<0.0 17), of the number of acquired phonemes (p<O.O17) and of the generalizations to items not used during the treatment (p=O.OO5), to another position of the word, (p=O.OO7), within a class of sounds (p=O.OO6)and to other classes of sounds (p=O.OOO9) after therapy. The group of subjects treated by the contrast approach showed an increase in the PCC and in the number of the phonemes acquired, but such increment was not statistically significant (p=O.067). They presented a statistically significant evolution in relation to the generalizations to items not used in the treatment (p=0.027), to another position ofthe word (p=O.042),within a class ofsounds (p=O.OI7)and to other classes ofsounds (p=O.017).The major phonological changes in the different degrees of phonological disorder severity without considering the form of presenting the stimulus and the subjects treated by the contrast approach occurred in the groups with intermediate phonological disorder severity (MSD and MMD) when compared to the group with a more severe (SD) or less severe (MD) degree. Among the subjects with different degrees of PD severity treated by the reinforcement approach, the major phonological changes were observed in the subject with SD followed by the MMD and the MD. In the comparative analysis within each degree, it was verified that in the severe and medium degrees, the subjects treated by the reinforcement approach presented the major phonological changes and in the medium-moderate degree and the subject treated by the contrast approach presented the major changes. In relation to the comparative analysis between the total group treated by both approaches, it was observed that both groups presented changes in their phonological systems and there was no statistically significant difference between them. / Este estudo teve como objetivo analisar e comparar as mudanças fonológicas ocorridas nos diferentes graus de severidade do desvio fonológico em sujeitos tratados pelo modelo de Oposições Máximas Modificado (Bagetti, Mota & Keske-Soares, no prelo) e verificar a maneira de abordagem dos .traços distintivos nos sons-alvo ("contraste" ou "reforço") que conduz a maiores mudanças fonológicas. O diagnóstico de desvio fonológico (DF) foi realizado através de avaliações fonoaudiológicas e complementares. Os dados da fala dos sujeitos foram analisados por meio da aplicação da Avaliação Fonológica da Criança (AFC) proposta por Yavas, Hemandorena & Lamprecht (1991). Após a realização da avaliação fonológica, foi calculado o percentual de consoantes corretas (PCC) proposto por Shriberg & Kwiatkowski (1982) e os sujeitos foram classificados nos graus de severidade do desvio fonológico: desvio severo (DS), moderado-severo (DMS), médio-moderado (DMM) e médio (DM). O grupo pesquisado foi constituído por sete sujeitos, quatro do sexo masculino e três do feminino (idades entre 3:10 e 6:9). Foi utilizado para o tratamento o Modelo de Oposições Máximas Modificado (Bagetti, Mota & Keske-Soares, no prelo), baseado no Modelo de Oposições Máximas (Gierut, 1992). Após 20 sessões terapêuticas, aplicou-se novamente a AFC, foi calculado o PCC e analisadas as mudanças fonológicas, referentes ao PCC, número de fonemas adquiridos com a terapia e generalizações (a itens não utilizados no tratamento, para outra posição da palavra, dentro de uma classe de sons e para outras classes de sons). Foram analisadas as mudanças fonológicas, pré e pós-tratamento, sem considerar a forma de apresentação do estímulo e considerando-se a forma de apresentação do estímulo ("contraste" e "reforço") e analisado se houve diferença estatisticamente significante (Teste Não Paramétrico Wilcoxon, p<0,05). Foi realizada uma comparação das mudanças fonológicas entre os diferentes graus de severidade do DF sem considerar a forma de apresentação do estímulo e considerando-se a forma de apresentação do mesmo. Em seguida, foram analisadas as mudanças fonológicas dentro de cada grau de severidade do DF, sendo um sujeito tratado pelo "contraste" e outro pelo "reforço". Também foram analisadas as mudanças fonológicas entre o grupo de sujeitos tratados pelo "contraste" e o grupo tratado pelo 'reforço', e observado se houve diferença estatisticamente significante (Teste Kruskal-Wallis, p<0,05) entre eles. Verificou-se que, no grupo total de sujeitos, houve um aumento estatisticamente significante do PCC (p<0,0 17), do número de sons adquiridos (p<0,0 17) e das generalizações a itens não utilizados no tratamento (p=0,005), para outra posição da palavra (p=0,007), dentro de uma classe de sons (p=0,006) e para outras classes de sons (p=0,0009) após a terapia. O grupo de sujeitos, com diferentes graus de severidade do DF, tratados pelo "contraste", apresentou um aumento no PCC e no número de sons adquiridos, mas este aumento não foi estatisticamente significante (p=0,067). Apresentaram evolução estatisticamente significante em relação às generalizações a itens não utilizados no tratamento (p=0,027), para outra posição da palavra (p=0,042), dentro de uma classe de sons (p=0,017) e para outras classes de sons (p=0,017). O grupo de sujeitos com diferentes graus de severidade do desvio fonológico tratados pelo "reforço" apresentou evolução, mas esta não foi estatisticamente significante em relação ao PCC (p=0,108), número de sons adquiridos (p=O,108) e generalizações a itens não utilizados no tratamento (p=0,67), para outra posição da palavra (p=0,67), dentro de uma classe de sons (p=0,126). Este grupo também apresentou evolução em relação à generalização para outras classes de sons, e esta evolução foi estatisticamente significante (p=0,017). As maiores mudanças fonológicas nos diferentes graus de severidade do desvio fonológico, sem considerar a forma de apresentação do estímulo, como também nos sujeitos tratados pelo "contraste", ocorreram nos grupos com desvios fonológicos com graus de severidade intermediários (DMS e DMM), quando comparados ao grupo com grau de severidade mais acentuado (DS) ou menos acentuado (DM). Nos sujeitos tratados pelo "reforço" com diferentes graus de severidade do DF, as maiores mudanças fonológicas foram observadas no sujeito com DS, seguido do sujeito com DMM e DM. Na análise comparativa dentro de cada grau, verificou-se que, nos graus severo e médio, os sujeitos tratados pelo "reforço" apresentaram maiores mudanças fonológicas, e no grau médio-moderado o sujeito tratado pelo "contraste" apresentou maior mudança fonológica. Quanto à análise comparativa entre o grupo total de sujeitos tratados pelo "contraste" e o grupo tratado pelo "reforço", verificou-se que ambos os grupos apresentaram mudanças em seus sistemas fonológicos e não houve diferença estatisticamente significante entre eles.

La representación teórica dew1 objeto o de un proceso constituye la hipó­tesis del investigador sobre qué es tal objeto o cómo se lleva a cabo dicho proceso. La fonología es un área privilegiada en la que se puede observar esto con facilidad: la ontología fonológica -el conjunto de objetos que confor­man los procesos o fenómenos fonológicos-no está dada a priori ; debe ser construida teóricamente por el lingüista con el fin de dar cuenta de los daros de que dispone. En esta presentación, muestro distintas maneras de representar el conocido fenómeno fonológico de descenso o apertura de las vocales del quechua, desde la concepción de Trubetzkoy hasta la teoría de laoptimalidad.

This study investigated the performance of children with phonological disorders in the working memory skills and in the phonological awareness skills, which are parts of the phonological processing and, whether such skills are related to each other, to the chronological age and to the degree of the phonological deviation. The sample was composed of 28 children with phonological deviation, ranging from 4 years old to 6 years and 7 months old, illiterate, with a hypothesis of pre-syllabic writing and, it was divided into two groups as follows: one with 21 children with a more severe phonological deviation and the other with 7 children with a softer phonological deviation. Speech-language and hearing evaluations were undertaken in order to diagnose the phonological deviation along as phonological assessments to determine the phonological system and to rate the degree of the speech impairment through a qualitative analysis. The children s performance in the working memory assessments was checked through the repetition of a sequence of four digits to assess the central executive and the phonological memory and, the repetition of non-words task to assess specifically the phonological memory, according to Baddeley and Hitch s proposal (1974 apud GATHERCOLE & BADDELEY, 1993), revised by Baddeley (1986). The performance in the phonological awareness evaluation was also checked, including the syllabic and phonemic awareness. In order to analyze the correlation among the evaluations, Pearson s and Spearman s Coefficients were used and, the results are as follows: 1) the sample has presented a lower performance in the phonological memory and phonological awareness when compared to the performance of children with normal phonological development; 2) there has been a significant correlation between the repetition of non-words task and the syllable awareness; 3) there was a statistical correlation between age and the repetition of non-words task and, a weak correlation between age and the digit repetitions and, between age and phonological awareness. Comparing the groups, in order to check whether the mean differences were significant, the testes t and Kruskal-Wallis were used and, it was found that the children with a more severe phonological deviation have performed lower in all the tasks when compared to the group of softer deviations and, such difference was significant in the total scores of the phonological and in the phonemic awareness. It concluded that the preschoolers with phonological deviation, when considered as a group and not individually, have presented worse performance in tasks of phonological awareness and phonological memory than groups of children with normal phonological development and, that such skills are correlated in a significant way. Children with more severe phonological deviation have presented worse performance than children with less speech impairments, with a statistical difference in the phonological awareness tasks. / Este estudo teve por objetivo investigar o desempenho de crianças com desvio fonológico nas habilidades em memória de trabalho e em consciência fonológica, as quais fazem parte do processamento fonológico, e verificar se estas habilidades estão relacionadas entre si, com a idade cronológica e com a severidade do desvio fonológico. A amostra foi formada por 28 crianças com desvio fonológico, com idades entre 4 anos e 6 anos e 7 meses, não alfabetizadas, com hipótese de escrita pré-silábica, e foi dividida em dois grupos, sendo um com 21 crianças com desvio fonológico mais severo e outro com 7 crianças com desvio fonológico mais leve. Avaliações fonoaudiológicas e audiológica foram realizadas para o diagnóstico do desvio fonológico juntamente com avaliações fonológicas para determinar o sistema fonológico e classificar a severidade da fala através de uma medida qualitativa. O desempenho das crianças na avaliação da memória de trabalho foi verificado através da tarefa de repetição de seqüências de dígitos para avaliar o executivo central e a memória fonológica, e da tarefa de repetição de não-palavras para avaliar especificamente a memória fonológica, segundo a proposta de Baddeley & Hitch (1974 apud GATHERCOLE & BADDELEY, 1993), revisada por Baddeley (1986). O desempenho na avaliação de consciência fonológica também foi verificado, incluindo tarefas de consciência silábica e fonêmica. Para analisar a correlação entre as medidas foram utilizados os testes Coeficiente de Pearson e Coeficiente de Spearman, através dos quais verificou-se que: 1) a amostra apresentou desempenho inferior em memória fonológica e consciência fonológica quando comparadas ao desempenho de crianças com desenvolvimento fonológico normal; 2) houve correlação significativa entre a tarefa de repetição de não-palavras e de consciência de sílabas; 3) houve uma correlação estatisticamente significativa entre idade e tarefa de repetição de não-palavras e uma fraca correlação entre idade com a repetição de dígitos e com a consciência fonológica. Na comparação entre os grupos, para verificar se as diferenças de médias eram significativas utilizaram-se os testes t e Kruskal-Wallis, e verificou-se que as crianças com desvio fonológico mais severo apresentaram desempenhos inferiores em todas as tarefas do que o grupo com desvio fonológico mais leve, sendo esta diferença significativa nos escores totais de consciência fonológica e na consciência fonêmica. Concluiu-se que crianças com desvio fonológico em idade pré-escolar, quando consideradas como um grupo e não individualmente, apresentaram pior desempenho em tarefas de consciência fonológica e memória fonológica do que grupos de crianças com desenvolvimento fonológico normal, e que estas habilidades estão correlacionadas significativamente. Crianças com desvio fonológico mais severo apresentam pior desempenho do que crianças com menos alterações na fala, com diferença estatisticamente significativa nas tarefas de consciência fonológica.

Orientador: Gladis Massini-Cagliari / Banca: Luciani Ester Tenani / Banca: Flaviani Romani Fernandes Svartman / Banca: Rosane de Andrade Berlinck / Banca: Renata Maria Facuri Coelho Marchezan / Resumo: O objetivo desta tese consiste em estudar a maneira como regueiros maranhenses da zona rural da cidade de São Luís, falantes monolíngües de português brasileiro, variedade rural ludovicense, adaptam fonética e fonologicamente o inglês dos reggaes que cantam nessa língua, com vistas a obter seqüências que façam sentido na sua língua materna. Analisando os padrões fonológicos do Português Brasileiro Rural Ludovicense (PBRL), variedade linguística nativa dos sujeitos da pesquisa, e a interferência de uma língua "estrangeira" que é nativizada no som, com finalidades de obtenção de um sentido também "nativo", buscou-se também discutir a identidade fonológica do Português. A hipótese inicial consiste em verificar a tendência para a manutenção de vogais tônicas e de traços de consoantes em posições tônicas, substituição / adaptação / supressão / reinterpretação de vogais e consoantes em posições átonas, prevalecendo a percepção de falantes de português, não fluentes em inglês, daquilo que ouvem nas músicas, e a busca de sentido em uma seqüência sonora aparentemente sem sentido. No entanto, no decorrer da pesquisa, são identificados processos utilizados pelos falantes do PBRL para a adaptação fonológica da língua original (Inglês) em direção à língua alvo, sendo tais processos a manutenção da qualidade da vogal tônica, a monotongação, a ditongação, a semelhança entre consoantes, a simplificação e a complexificação do padrão silábico e a manutenção da posição do acento. Dentre estes processos, há uma incidência maior na semelhança entre consoantes, da manutenção da posição do acento e da manutenção da qualidade da vogal tônica / Abstract: The purpose of this work consists in studying how the reggae musicians from Maranhão state, living in the rural area of Sao Luis, as monolingual speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, rural variety from São Luis, adapt phonetically and phonologically the English language of the reggae music that they sing, in order to achieve sequences that can actually make sense in their mother language. Analyzing the phonological patterns of Brazilian Rural Portuguese from São Luis do Maranhão (Português Brasileiro Rural Ludovicense - PBRL), the native linguistic variety of the research subjects, and the interference of a "foreign" language that is turned into native language in speech in order to reach some native meaning, we also sought to discuss the Portuguese phonological identity. The initial assumption consists in verifying the trend to maintain stressed vowels and consonant traces in stressed positions, replacement / adaptation / suppression / reinterpretation of vowels and consonants in non-stressed positions, in which prevail the Portuguese speakers‟ perception, non-fluent in English, of what they hear in the songs and the search for some meaning in a sound sequence that is apparently meaningless. However, throughout this work, we identified some processes taken by these PBRL speakers for the phonological adaptation of the original language (English) towards the target language, such as the maintenance of the stressed vowel quality, the monophthongization, the diphthongization, consonant similarity, simplification and complexification of the syllabical pattern and the maintenance of the stress position. Among these processes, there is a greater incidence of the consonant similarity, the maintenance of stress position and the maintenance of the stressed vowel quality / Doutor

Orientador: Eleonora Cavalcante Albano / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T06:01:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Freitas_MariaClaudiaCamargode_M.pdf: 3699582 bytes, checksum: f78f5c605030b317dca7617cf52fe349 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Durante o processo de estabelecimento de contrastes fônicos, as crianças experienciam diferentes formas de marcar distinções entre os sons em aquisição até apresentar os contrastes considerados padrão na língua. Em algumas crianças, entretanto, esse processo se diferencia do observado na maioria dos seus pares etários. Abordagens mais tradicionais tratam essa diferenciação como decorrente de alterações na estrutura e/ou funcionamento do aparelho fonador. Para refutar essa visão, surgiram estudos baseados em teorias lingüísticas, sobretudo, em modelos lineares e não lineares em fonologia. Apesar de proporcionarem um grande avanço no entendimento do funcionamento lingüístico dessas crianças, esses estudos, por serem direcionados por unidades de análise estáticas, deixam de lado algumas tentativas das crianças de marcar um determinado contraste fônico. O objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar aspectos sincrônicos e diacrônicos do processo de estabelecimento de contrastes fônicos em crianças com padrões não mais esperados para sua faixa etária, enfocando a gradiência e a natureza dinâmica de tal processo. Para tanto, direcionados pelos princípios da Fonologia Acústico-Articulatória (ALBANO, 2001a), realizamos um estudo longitudinal com duas crianças: KSO e RCA. Em KSO observamos o estabelecimento de contraste entre as fricativas e plosivas coronais surdas e em RCA o estabelecimento de contraste entre as fricativas coronais surdas alveolar e palatal. Cada criança foi gravada separadamente, em uma sala acusticamente tratada, por meio de equipamento digital de alta fidelidade. O corpus foi composto por palavras dissílabas paroxítonas, nas quais os sons obstruintes coronais apareciam em posição de inicial de palavra seguidos, preferencialmente, das vogais [a], [i] e [u]. Para obter o registro das palavras do corpus, as mesmas foram inseridas na frase-veículo ¿fala ¿ palavra ¿ de novo¿. Foi realizada análise acústica dos dados, direcionada por diferentes parâmetros, a saber: duração, pico espectral, transição formântica, centróide, variância, assimetria e curtose. A caracterização e quantificação desses achados foram possibilitadas pelo tratamento estatístico, direcionado pelo teste T, pela ANOVA de medidas repetidas e pelo teste Post-hoc de Scheffé. Os achados desta dissertação ¿ contrastes encobertos, produções gradientes, não-linearidade, hesitações e coexistência de diferentes tentativas de marcar uma distinção fônica ¿ nos permitiram valorizar os processos aquisicionais em curso e, sobretudo, apreender características da relação criança/língua. Permitiram, ainda, levantar hipóteses, à luz da Fonologia Acústico-Articulatória, de deslizamentos temporais e/ou variações da magnitude de determinados gestos nas diferentes tentativas das crianças em marcar o contraste fônico em aquisição / Abstract: During the sound contrast construction process, children not only experience different forms of dealing with distinctions among the sounds being acquired, but also present contrasts different from the adult standards. However, in some children this process is different from the one observed in the majority of their age peers. More traditional approaches treat this difference as the result of an alteration in the structure and/or functioning of the vocal tract. In order to refute this point of view, there emerged other studies based on linguistic theories, mainly on linear and non-linear phonological models. Despite providing a great advance towards understanding the linguistic functioning of these children, such studies, inasmuch as their analysis units are discrete, leave aside some of the children¿s attempts to deal with a given sound contrast. At any rate, we depart from the hypothesis that the children¿s endeavour to acquire a sound contrast encompasses both categorical productions ¿ which correspond to the extreme values of a classificatory parameter ¿ and gradient productions ¿ which correspond to intermediate values of the same parameter. By means of a longitudinal study, two children with sound patterns unexpected for their age range were observed. With one of them, the focus was the contrast between the voiceless coronal fricatives and voiceless coronal stops; and, with the other, the focus was the contrast between alveolar and palatal voiceless coronal fricatives. The acoustic analysis included several parameters, namely: duration, spectral peak, formant transition, centroid, variance, skewness, and kurtosis. Statistical techniques, were used to characterize and quantify these data, namely: T-test, repeated measures ANOVA and Scheffé post-hoc test. The findings of this thesis ¿ namely: covert contrast, gradient productions, non-linearity, hesitations and coexistence of different attempts of marking a sound contrast ¿ have allowed us to bring out the acquisition dynamics, besides getting some insight into the relationship between the child and the language under construction / Mestrado / Mestre em Linguística

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