first-language acquisition

My kid is, at 31 months, not yet saying /k/, /g/, or /x/. Should I worry?

Michael Hamm
AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis
Fine print:
http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ ... legal.html

In article tl.edu,
Michael Hamm wrote:

My kid is, at 31 months, not yet saying /k/, /g/, or /x/. Should I worry?

Michael Hamm
AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis
Fine print:
http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ ... legal.html


The glottal sounds often come late. I wouldn't worry.
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

In article tl.edu, Michael
Hamm says...

My kid is, at 31 months, not yet saying /k/, /g/, or /x/. Should I worry?

Probably not at 2 1/2 years old.

My son at four hadn't acquired these sounds yet - he was substituting 'hardened'
t's for the k-sound, etc. It was diagnosed as a mild articulation deficit
(meaning 'he can't make particular sounds') and speech therapy got him talking
correctly in a few months. The (wonderful!) therapist touched with a pencil the
areas in his mouth that he was supposed to feel when he makes sounds.

She was provided by the local school district without charge.

I'd ask my pediatrician about it, and by a certain point that the pediatrician
cites, if he hasn't gotten the sounds, you can take steps to address it.

Banty

Michael Hamm wrote:
My kid is, at 31 months, not yet saying /k/, /g/, or /x/. Should I worry?

Michael Hamm
AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis
Fine print:
http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ ... legal.html


Boys may be 6 or 7 before they pronounce these properly.

/dan

In article , Daniel Ganek says...

Michael Hamm wrote:
My kid is, at 31 months, not yet saying /k/, /g/, or /x/. Should I worry?

Michael Hamm
AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis
Fine print:
http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ ... legal.html


Boys may be 6 or 7 before they pronounce these properly.

Based on what? Do you have a source for this? And why boys in particular?

Banty

Banty wrote:
In article , Daniel Ganek says...

Michael Hamm wrote:

My kid is, at 31 months, not yet saying /k/, /g/, or /x/. Should I worry?

Michael Hamm
AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis
Fine print:
http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ ... legal.html


Boys may be 6 or 7 before they pronounce these properly.


Based on what? Do you have a source for this? And why boys in particular?

Banty



Our pediatrician told us this when our son was having some minor problems
at age 5.

Don't know why it's boys.

/dan

Michael Hamm wrote:
My kid is, at 31 months, not yet saying /k/, /g/, or /x/. Should I worry?

Michael Hamm
AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis
Fine print:
http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ ... legal.html


Try looking at
http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_B...quisition.html

There is a pointer there to a PDF file that describes normal
phonological development (for English speakers) according to a number
of different researchers. The k and g phonemes are usually produced
around 2-2-1/2 years old and distignuished from each other around 3-3
1/2 years. If the problem still exists at 36 months, I'd recommend
seeing a speech therapist for diagnosis. (Many school districts
provide free speech therapy for pre-school children, since it is much
cheaper to fix the problems early---my son started speech therapy with
the school district before he turned three.)


There is a table that gives age of acquisition for consonants
separately for males and females. The k sound is reported
there as being acquired at 3 years for boys and 2-1/2 years for girls
The g is somewhat earlier (3 for boys, 2 for girls.
The resolution is only 6 months, so this is a rather coarse time scale.
There are several other tables collected from different sources, and
the timeing of the k and g aquisition does seem to vary depending on
who did the testing and on which group of kids. The range for k and g
seems to be 2-4 years old.

------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
(Senior member, IEEE) (Board of Directors, ISCB)
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
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I previously wrote, in part:
My kid is, at 31 months, not yet saying /k/, /g/, or /x/. Should I
worry?

I see six responses in this group, and thank you all.

Michael Hamm
AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis
Fine print:
http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ ... legal.html