Presentation - ECV2024-528

Children’s speech development: Finnish

Sari KUNNARI, University of Oulu, Finland (sari.kunnari@oulu.fi)
Tuula SAVINAINEN-MAKKONEN, University of Oulu, Finland (tuula.savinainen@kolumbus.fi)
Katri SAARISTO-HELIN, University of Helsinki, Finland (katri.saaristo@helsinki.fi)
Anna-Leena MARTIKAINEN, University of Eastern Finland, Finland (anna-leena.Martikainen@uef.fi)

Finnish is mainly spoken in Finland, although small Finnish-speaking minority groups exist in Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Russia, and North America. Finnish is characterized by relatively small consonant and vowel paradigms and is among the few languages with a phonologically contrastive length independently of stress. Word-initial and word-final consonant clusters are rare, whereas within word heterosyllabic clusters are very common. The orthography is very transparent. There are several studies of children’s acquisition of Finnish that demonstrate both universal and language-specific characteristics. In addition to the typical acquisition, researchers have focused on children with speech sound disorders. Common speech assessments include the Finnish Test of Phonology and the Finnish version of the Intelligibility in Context Scale. In addition, some non-standardized tests are used. An eclectic intervention approach blending different approaches is mainly adopted in clinical practice.

Key words:
Finnish, multilingual, communication, speech, language, children’s development, interdisciplinary, international communities, assessment, intervention

Book chapter:
Kunnari,, Savinainen-Makkonen, T., Saaristo-Helin, K., & Martikainen, A-L. (2025). Finnish speech development. In S. McLeod (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of speech development in languages of the world. Oxford University Press.

Language overview presentation:

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

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