Cross-sectional study reports on articulation rates in spontaneous speech of French children, suggesting baseline values for further understanding.
Key Points
This research aims to examine how articulation rates in syllables and phones per second change as French children age from two to four years.
Cross-sectional study analyzing spontaneous speech from 91 French children.
In total, 4,361 utterances were collected and evaluated for articulation rates in syllables per second (SPS) and phones per second (PPS).
Comparative analysis across seven age groups was conducted to observe rates and structure complexity.
Articulation rate significantly increased with age, moving from 3.14 to 3.88 SPS and from 6.06 to 8.31 PPS between 22 and 50 months.
Notable changes emerged at 38-41 months, indicating rapid development.
The study also found an increase in the number of sounds per syllable, suggesting that complexity of syllable structure develops before articulation rates.