Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for London County Council]
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(a) In the 450 children from which the replacements were noted in 227 test words each
three replacements far exceed in frequency any of the others, viz., Th by F, Th by V, and
Ng by N.
(1) Th was replaced by F 772 times by the boys and 590 times by the girls. It
occurred most often in Thl in intermediate positions, in initial Thr and terminal Tht.
(2) Th was replaced by V 253 times by the boys and 130 times by the girls. This
occurred most often in terminal Thed and The.
(3) Ng was replaced by N 108 times by the boys and 110 times by the girls, almost
always in terminal Ng. This sound is more deficient among the girls than most of the
others, when considered with respect to its deficiency among the boys. It is, however,
more deficient among the girls from indistinctness rather than actual replacement.
(b) Replacement of sibilants by a peculiar slushing sound of X. This occurred more
often with S among the boys, and with Z among the girls. This replacement of sibilants
is 17 times more frequent among boys than girls. Sh is very frequently replaced by S in Shr.
(c) Exchange of anterior and posterior palate linguals, replacement by the latter being
13 times as common as the reverse.
(d) Interchange of nasals and trilled sounds :—
(i.) Replacement of Ng by N, referred to above.
(ii.) Replacement of M by N, chiefly in the terminal Them and Zm.
(iii.) Replacement of N by L, chiefly in intermediate sounds.
(iv.) Replacement of L by R.
(e) Interchange of labials and labiodentals. V is replaced occasionally by B in intermediate
positions.
These are the five main types of replacements noted in the order of their frequency. The voiceless
sounds are more often replaced than voiced ones, and the interchange of voiceless and voiced sounds
is very rare.
Relation of Nasal Obstruction to Articulatory Defect.—When testing the children
the nasal obstruction was noted in 700 cases by estimating its amount purely from the facial attributes
characteristic of the condition. Five arbitrarily chosen classes were used, distinguished as none, slight,
some, considerable and bad. Of these children 469 had quite normal speech and 231 speech defects.
Stammering existed in 69, of whom 49 had "normal" articulatory powers, and 29 were defective.
Normal children numbered 254 boys and 215 girls.
Nasal defects (estimated). | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nil. | Slight. | Some. | Considerable. | Bad. | Totals. | |
Numbers of children— | ||||||
Boys | 41 | 122 | 64 | 24 | 3 | 254 |
Girls | 35 | 94 | 62 | 23 | 1 | 215 |
Percentages— | ||||||
Boys | 16.2 | 48.0 | 25.3 | 9.5 | 100 | |
Girls | 43.7 | 28.7 | 16.9 | 0.4 | ||
Average number of marks gained for articulation (possible, 1,000)— | ||||||
Boys | 985.2 | 972.1 | 974.0 | 967.2 | 972.9 | — |
Girls | 983.5 | 981.3 | 979.2 | 979.5 | 941.2 | — |
If these classes are divided into groups according to the marks obtained for articulatory capacity, the total possible being 1,000, the following table is obtained :—
Degree of nasal obstruction. | Boys. | Girls. | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Less than 970 marks. | 970-995 marks. | 996-1,000 marks. | Total in class. | Less than 970 | 970-995 marks. | 996-1,000 marks. | Total in class. | |
Actual numbers observed— | ||||||||
Nil | 8 | 13 | 20 | 41 | 7 | 12 | 16 | 35 |
Slight | 29 | 42 | 51 | 122 | 22 | 39 | 33 | 94 |
Some | 18 | 30 | 16 | 64 | 19 | 26 | 17 | 62 |
Considerable | 12 | 8 | 4 | 24 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 23 |
Bad | 2 | — | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | 1 |
Percentages of total in class— | ||||||||
Nil | 19.5 | 30.2 | 48.8 | 100 | 20.0 | 34.3 | 45.4 | 100 |
Slight | 23.8 | 34.4 | 41.8 | 100 | 23.4 | 41.5 | 35. 1 | 100 |
Some | 28.1 | 46.9 | 25.0 | 100 | 30.6 | 41.9 | 27.1 | 100 |
Considerable | 50.0 | 33.3 | 16.7 | 100 | 30.4 | 43.5 | 26.9 | 100 |