SPTH2101 Chap.2 Speech Samples and Sound Inventories
Speech Samples and Sound Inventories
A speech sample becomes useful when it is described across planned domains instead of summarised as simply clear or unclear. The University observation form asks students to distinguish single words from connected speech, rate intelligibility, inventory consonants, clusters and vowels, and record word length and syllable shape.
Single-word tasks create controlled opportunities, while connected speech reveals sequencing, rate, natural language load and communication repair. An observed phonetic inventory records what occurred in the defined sample; it does not claim that every unobserved sound is absent or that every observed sound is stable.
This chapter teaches opportunity counting, bounded reporting and the separation of the adult target from the heard child form. It also shows why listener familiarity and context belong beside an intelligibility judgement and why missing opportunities should lead to another elicitation rather than a broad deficit claim.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Single-word and connected-speech sample purposes
- 02
Listener and context conditions for intelligibility
- 03
Observed consonant, vowel and cluster inventories
- 04
Word-length and syllable-shape coverage
- 05
Adult target compared with heard child production
- 06
Opportunity counts and bounded negative findings
Worked example · free
Write a bounded inventory summary
- +1Name the sample formats and observed consonant inventory without calling it complete.
- +1Record CV and CVC coverage and identify untested longer structures.
- +1Report two cluster simplifications as a follow-up hypothesis tied to opportunity count.
- +1Compare intelligibility by context and request a longer representative sample.
Key terms
- Speech sample
- A defined set of child productions collected under stated task, listener and context conditions.
- Phonetic inventory
- The sounds heard in a defined sample, regardless of whether they were used contrastively or consistently.
- Singleton consonant
- A consonant occurring without another adjacent consonant in the same onset or coda.
- Consonant cluster
- A sequence of adjacent consonants within a syllable position that creates a more complex production opportunity.
- Syllable shape
- The arrangement of consonant and vowel slots in a syllable or word, such as CV, VC or CVC.
Speech Samples and Sound Inventories FAQ
Why is an observed inventory not a mastery list?
A sound may appear once without being stable across words, positions or speaking conditions. Conversely, a sound may be missing because the task never elicited it. Report the opportunity and production, then sample additional contexts before making a statement about the child's broader system.
What does connected speech add?
Connected speech increases sequencing, rate, linguistic and interaction demands. It also reveals listener repair and functional intelligibility. A child may perform accurately in controlled words yet break down in conversation, or may use a sound spontaneously that a word list failed to elicit.
How should intelligibility be reported?
Name the listener, familiarity, task and context together with the judgement. Familiar caregivers may understand messages that unfamiliar listeners cannot. Both observations can be valid, so avoid averaging them into one context-free statement about the child.
What belongs in a compact sample summary?
Identify the sample format and size, then report observed consonants and vowels, structural range, intelligibility conditions and recurrent target-production changes. Distinguish a sound that was not heard from a sound the task never elicited. Preserve cueing and transcription uncertainty.
Close with a targeted next sample that fills the most important coverage gap or tests whether the controlled production survives in connected communication. The summary should let another reader reconstruct both the observation and its limits.
Exam move
Practise building an inventory table from short invented samples. Keep separate columns for adult target, child form, sound opportunity, word length, syllable shape and cue level. After each table, write a six-sentence summary: sample type, observed inventory, structures, intelligibility, repeated pattern and limitation. Swap the listener or sample format and explain how the interpretation changes.
This routine trains the exact boundary between a production that was absent and an opportunity that never occurred. Create two companion samples for the same invented child: a planned word list with explicit targets and a short connected-speech transcript. Mark every consonant, vowel, cluster, word-length and syllable-shape opportunity before analysing the responses.
If a sound is unobserved, decide whether the record supports absence from this sample or merely absence of an elicitation opportunity. Then compare productions that appear only after imitation with those produced during spontaneous naming; preserve the cue level rather than merging both into one inventory count.
Rate intelligibility separately for a familiar and unfamiliar listener and explain why the two judgements can both be valid. Use the connected sample to look for sequencing load, rate effects, repair and structures that the word list missed. Use the word list to test a focused hypothesis raised by conversation.
Practise auditing transcription by hiding the adult target, replaying or rereading the child form and marking any uncertain segment before restoring the word. End with a report paragraph that gives the size and type of sample, observed inventory, structural range, intelligibility context, repeated changes and the most consequential coverage gap.
That final gap should lead to a specific next task rather than a vague request for more assessment.
