Phonological development in 3-5 year-old Kurdish-speaking Children with Middle Kurmanji- Mukryani Dialect

This study reports phonological development in Kurdish speaking children with Middle Kurmanji-Mukryani dialect. Speech samples of 120 children, aged between 3 and 5 years, were randomly collected from nurseries and preschools in Bukan city, western Azerbaijan, and later analyzed. The age of acquisition of 29 Kurdish language consonant in three positions (initial, medial and final) were evaluated by using the speech test. The results revealed that Kurdish-speaking children acquired all consonants in three positions between age 4 and 6, except the consonants / ʒ, z, g, ɣ, ʤ /. The consonants in the initial position were pronounced more correctly than those in the medial and final position. The development concerning Kurdish consonants increased gradually from age 3 to 5. The subjects showed more accuracy in nasals, liquids, laterals, and stops than in fricatives, affricatives, and trill. The findings of this study provide the basis for normal phonology development which can be useful to Kurdish speaking speech-language pathologists in the assessment and treatment of children with disorder.