Phonological Characteristics of Late-Talkers through Phonological Whole-Word Analysis

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to investigate the phonological characteristics of late-talkers by examining whether there were differences in phonological ability between children with normal language development and late-talkers in terms of phonological proximity and variability based on phonological whole-word analysis. Methods: Ten late-talkers (age, 24-35 months) and ten age-matched, typically developing children participated in the study. Target words were produced as a naming task in a structured play situation. The words produced by the children were transcribed and then analyzed according to phonological mean length of utterance (PMLU), proportion of whole word proximity (PWP), and proportion of whole word variability (PWV) with phonological whole-word analysis. Results: First, there were significant differences in phonological proximity between the two groups. Late-talkers scored lower in PMLU and PWP. Second, there were also significant differences in phonological variability between the two groups. Late-talkers showed higher PWV. Conclusion: These findings indicate that late-talkers experience difficulty producing complex syllable structures with accurate pronunciations and thus produce words with lower intelligibility than typically developing children. They also tend to show more inconsistent phonological patterns. The findings imply a need to evaluate phonological ability as a predicting factor of language development in late-talkers and to consider phonological intervention when establishing intervention goals for late-talkers.