ABSTRACT
A central issue in phonological disorder is whether the basis of the disorder is impaired speech motor control, a linguistic deficit, or immature perceptual strategies. This chapter presents physiological speech data from children with phonological disorder (PD) that suggest that impaired tongue control in the spatial domain is not only more widespread in this group, but is also more centrally involved in the articulation difficulties experienced by these children. The discussion centers on evidence from studies that have recorded articulatory data from children with PD using the technique of electropalatography (EPG). Three phenomena interpreted as reflecting impaired motor control are discussed in this chapter: the widespread occurrence of gestures involving EPG spatial distortions; covert contrasts; and the unreliability of identifying normal articulatory skills from transcription-based analyses.
