Children's mastering the rules of pronunciation of sounds

In mastering the sounds of speech, children also have their own laws: This process involves the joint activity of the auditory and speech motor analyzers. Acoustic images of speech, which are imprinted in the auditory memory of a child; serve as the basis for playing sounds. By matching the pronounced sounds with the speech patterns of others, children improve their pronunciation, achieve complete coincidence with the pronunciation of adults. At the same time, children first learn not the sounds that they hear well, but those that are easier for them to pronounce. What sounds are the easiest to pronounce and why?

Earlier and easier, children begin to utter sounds whose articulation corresponds to reflex reactions: breathing, sucking, swallowing, screaming. Of vowel sounds, this is usually - [a]. The sequence in mastering other vowels is determined by the following logic: children first learn the sounds that are most different from each other in their articulation: [and] and [y]. Only then in their speech sounds "intermediate" appear: [e] and [o]. The greatest difficulty of the vowels causes [s].

In mastering consonant sounds, different paths are possible. Sometimes children immediately begin to pronounce one or another sound correctly. As a rule, labial and back lingual consonants cause the least difficulties: their articulation is similar to swallowing and sucking.

Sounds, the articulation of which is substantially removed from the innate reflex reactions, require additional effort from the baby. These include, for example, sounds like [w], [w], [l], and [p]. Their child develops gradually, first replacing them with other sounds similar in articulation. So, instead of [p], he first says [l], and then [r]. Such substitutions (substitutes) can be fixed in his speech, and the intervention of a speech therapist is required,

so that the little man joins the correct pronunciation.

It is necessary to point out that the process of speech development in early childhood has an individual character. Some children may experience a short period of complete silence, which is replaced by the rapid assimilation of almost all sounds. In some cases, there is a long-term (sometimes up to 5 years) delay of speech development at a transitional stage, which is a consequence of the limited speech communication of the child with others or his lack of sufficient need for communication with adults (for example, twins). However, when taking into account the individual characteristics of the development of pronunciation, it can still be noted that usually the stop consonants are assimilated earlier by fissure and fused, deaf to previously voiced, soft, front-lingual, previously solid and whistling to earlier sizzling.

In mastering the “difficult” pronunciation of sounds, children resort to substitute sounds. In science, there are two types of substitution: phonological and anthropophonic . A phonological substitution is the replacement of a difficult to pronounce sound by another belonging to the Russian language system, for example, instead of sound [p], sound [r]; [s] - instead of [w], etc.). The anthropophonic substitution uses the sounds that are not in the pronunciation system of the Russian language as an alternate. For example, instead of [f] and [v] - double-lip [w]; here one can also include throat (velor or uvular) articulation [p], replacement [l] with sound [w], etc.). It is an anthropophonic substitution, sanctioned further by the hearing of a child, that can turn into permanent defects of pronunciation that require speech therapy intervention. Under unfavorable circumstances, a phonological substitute may also become a defect in pronunciation. However, this is observed much less frequently.

There are two ways to master a new sound using a substitute: linear and branched. The linear method of sound assimilation is carried out by successively replacing One sound with another:

[g] → [p]

An extensive method of education from one substitute - two regulatory sounds:

l ← [l] → l`

In some cases, you can find a combination of linear and branched paths of sound formation. An example of such a combination is the learning of hissing sounds. First, a semi-mild alveolar sound with, then a soft alveolar c 'and then a soft tooth (linear path) will appear at the sizzling spot. After this, a branching takes place: the soft sound with 'turns into a hard one, acquires a hissing shade and finally becomes the sound sh. On the other hand, from the soft c 'gradually formed with a slight hissing shade and, finally, u.

Sometimes in the course of learning new sounds, a phenomenon called hypercorrection occurs. The newly acquired sound begins to be used not only where it is required, but also not for the intended purpose, in the place of the former substitutes or simply the sounds close to the articulation. So, for example, having learned with the support of a substitute for a new sound w, the child replaces the sound with them consistently everywhere (together with the correctly pronounced word fur, he replaces the word sledge, pronounces hats, etc.). Under normal conditions of child development, hypercorrection is quite quickly replaced by the normative pronunciation of sounds.

Improving his pronunciation, the child is usually normal, by the age of 5-6 years, fully masters the phonemic structure of words, the orthoepic norms of pronunciation of speech sounds.