Presentation - ECV2024-538

Children’s speech development: Icelandic

Thora (Þóra) MÁSDÓTTIR, University of Iceland (Háskóli Íslands), Reykjavík, Iceland (tm@tm.is)

Icelandic is spoken in Iceland with few dialectal variations. Icelandic is a Germanic language, characterized by approximately 25 consonants, more than 500 consonant clusters in three word positions, eight vowels and five diphthongs. There are a small number of studies on the acquisition of Icelandic that demonstrate phonological development of children at 2;4-7;11 years of age. Most children have acquired most singleton phonemes at age 4;6-4;11 and most consonant clusters at age 5;0-5;5. Percentage of consonants correct (PCC) ranges from 73.12% at age 2;6-2;11 to 98.55% at age 7;0-7;11. Common phonological patterns in the speech of typically developing children are substitution patterns (e.g., dentalization and interdentalization) and simplification patterns (e.g., cluster reduction). Most children with speech sound disorders (SSD) follow the same phonological patterns as typically developing children, however, at a slower rate. One speech assessment for Icelandic has been standardized, Málhljóðapróf ÞM. Limited attention has been on intervention for children with SSD.

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

Book chapter:
Másdóttir, T. (2025). Icelandic 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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