Acquisition Of Oromo Phonology By Typically Growing Children

This study investigated the phonological acquisition of typically growing Oromornspeaking children aged 3;0- 5;11 years. For the study, forty-eight children were selectedrnfrom the western part of its speakers. Since Oromo lacks information aboutrndevelopmental norms, the study intended to describe the order and age at which Oromornsounds are acquired; patterns followed to acquire clusters, syllable shapes employed atrndifferent ages, and the types of phonological processes manifested. An experimentationrntechnique was mainly employed for the data collection using an elicitation method. Thernspeech samples were recorded and transcribed using the IPA symbols and conventions.rnAn Optimality Theory was employed to analyze creative alterations at different ages.rnThe findings imply that the acquisition of Oromo phonemes comes about relatively early.rnAt age of 3;0 most of the consonants and all the five vowels were acquired althoughrnbilabial stop, some alveolars such as fricative, ejectives, and flap were still developingrnand are refined after the age of 4;0. Evaluating the children’s accuracy on the basis ofrnsex at the same age, the study revealed no significant difference among males andrnfemales. PVC measures are entirely greater than PCC at all ages, for the participantsrnacquired vowels very early.rnAn unusual observation arising from this study was children acquiring the languagernhardly ever reduced word medial clusters at the age under investigation. They often usedrna strategy of systematic substitution considering the sounds’ sonority index. Indeed, theyrnselect the second member (C2) of the clusters (the consonant making an onset of thernsubsequent syllable) and replace with (C1) by making some adaptations. The adaptationsrntake two levels of assimilation: complete assimilation at first resulting gemination andrnreducing the degree of assimilation to partial. Theoretically, this happens when thernmarkedness constraint (CodaConD) outranks faithfulness. In the speech of thesernchildren, error patterns arising from their development were mainly sound preferencernsubstitution.As to the syllable, children in this sample were able to produce all the language’srnsyllable shapes and multisyllabic words approximately at three years of age. Normally,rnthe type of speech production patterns noted in the children considered appear to berndiversified; most of the patterns are age-appropriate and cross linguistically universalrnthough others are language-specific. For instance, acquisition of most of the phonemesrnbefore the age of three is universally accepted even if the acquisition of the languagespecificrnsound (the implosive) occurred very early, contrary to what is anticipated. Inrnaddition, patterns of fronting, backing, devoicing, FCD, and lateralization were similarlyrnregarded as universal patterns marked in the language. However, the pattern of makingrnthe process eminent was perceived to be language-specific. Generally, the study findingsrncontributed some points to theories of phonological acquisition and universalityrnhypothesis.rnKeywords: Oromo, acquisition, phonological processes/simplification, syllable shape,rnCluster

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