PURPOSE: To verify whether there is a difference between accuracy percentage of /s/ and <IMG SRC="../img/17s01.gif" WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=12>in syllable onset and coda in children from 2:1 to 3:0 years old. METHODS: Subjects of the research were 88 typically developing children: GI: 41 children from 2:1 to 2:6 years old, and GII: 47 children from 2:7 to 3:0 years old. All subjects attended public daycare centers; they did not have any complaints of language deficits or more than three episodes of otitis media, and were all Brazilian-Portuguese monolingual speakers. Data collection was carried out through three phonology tests: picture naming, imitation and spontaneous speech. RESULTS: Regarding accuracy of the /s/, there was a difference between onset and coda in the final syllable of the naming test (p=0.038), with better performance in coda than in onset, for GII. Although there was no statistical difference in the other tests and syllables analyzed, children from both groups presented better performance in onset than in coda, with exception of the GI in the final syllable of the imitation and in the initial syllable of the naming test. Considering accuracy of the /r/, in all comparisons of final syllable, children from both groups had statistically higher means in onset than in coda. In medial syllable, children showed better performance in onset, however, difference was not significant (p=0.205). CONCLUSION: In general, there was no difference between the /s/ in syllabic onset and coda. On the other hand, regarding the <IMG SRC="../img/17s01.gif" WIDTH=15 HEIGHT=12>, there was a difference between the two positions within the syllable, and children from both groups showed more accuracy in the onset of the syllable.
Child language; Child development; Language development; Speech articulation tests; Speech production measurement; Phonetics
