Presentation - ECV2024-543

Children’s speech development: Kurdish

Shahla FATEMI-SYADAR, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran (shahla.fatemi@yahoo.com)
Talieh ZARIFIAN, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Iran (ta.zarifian@uswr.ac.ir; t.zarifian@yahoo.com)

Kurdish is spoken in Iran, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. There are three major varieties, namely Southern, Central (Sorani), and Northern Kurdish. Kurdish as a syllable-timed/transparent language, is characterized by having 30 consonants, 8 vowels, and 6 diphthongs. There are initial and final consonant clusters in Kurdish C(C)V(C)(C)(C). A twin-standard writing system known as Arami (Arabic) and Latin is applied in Kurdish. There are a few studies of children’s acquisition of Kurdish that demonstrate that Kurdish speech sounds emerge until 3;6 and children master the sounds after 5 years. Researchers have focused on children with typical development, childhood apraxia of speech, and cleft lip and palate. The most common speech assessment is Kurdish speech-language pathologists (SLPs) use the the Kurdish Speech Test (KST) and traditional and new interventions designed for the treatment of speech sound disorders; however, there is no adaptation of any program or new method developed specifically for Kurdish-speaking children.

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

Book chapter:
Fatemi-Syadar, S. & Zarifian, T. (2025). Kurdish 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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