PHONOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN THE ORAL AND WRITTEN PRODUCTION OF SUBJECTS WITH DOWN SYNDROME: AN INTERPRETATION VIA GEOMETRY OF PHONOLOGICAL AND METRIC THEORY OF SYLLABLE

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Among the several descriptions that the medical literature registers about the characteristics of the person with Down Syndrome (DS), we highlight the cognitive deficit and the slow language development, a rather peculiar utterance that presents omissions, changes of segments, etc. These features, in oral production, impair the phonological-phonetic performance and somehow may impair the intelligibility of these peoples’speech. Considering the importance of this aspect for communication and for the literacy process, in this work we present a study about the phonological processes in the speech and writing of people with SD in light of the The Geometry of Phonological Features, outlined in Clements and Hume (1995), and the Metric Theory of the Syllable, proposed in Selkirk (1982). We have as hypotheses: a) that the exchanges and omissions found in speech configure phonological processes of both substitution and syllabic structure; B) that the processes found in speech are reflected in its written production; and; C) that the theoretical models mentioned can help us to understand the phonological processes that may occur in the speech and writing of these subjects. This work develops out in two main stages: the first one consisted of analysis of hearingand phonetic transcription of the oral production of 12 subjects with SD, aged between 10 and 30 years, and later identification and cataloging of the phonological processes detected in such productions; and afterwards was realized the acoustic analysis of some of processes found, through the software Praat (BOERSMA; WEENINK, 2006); the second stage consisted in the a written production's analysis of four subjects with SD in literacy process. Through it the occurrences were identified, cataloged and transcribed. Then, we confront the phonological processes found in speech with those that occurred in writing. In our analyzes we found that: i) in oral production, there is a tendency to simplify segments and more complex structures, similar to what occurs during oral acquisition, even in adult individuals; ii) there are evidences of phonological non-specification of the value of feature in the speech of some subjectsiii) most of the errors found in the writings analyzed are common to the initial writing; iv) processes, which occur in speech, reappear in writing; and v), although the learning process occurs more slowly, subjects with DS investigated follow the same steps as learners of writing without the syndrome.