Research Paper: Percentage of Consonants Correct for 3-5 Years Old Kurdish-Speaking Children With Middle Kurmanji-Mukryani Dialect

The present research aims to study the normal development of Percentage of Consonant Correct (PCC) in Kurdish-speaking children, with Middle Kurmanji-Mukryani Dialect as an Articulation Competency Index (ACI). PCC was examined in terms of the manner of articulation and position of sound in the word. Methods: In this descriptoanalytical cross-sectional study, 120 Kurdish-speaking children aged 3-5 years were evaluated by a Kurdish phonetic test. Participants were selected randomly from health centers and nursery schools in Bukan City, Iran. Nonparametric statistical tests of Kruskal-Wallis and Mann–Whitney U were used to analyze data through SPSS software (version 19). Results: The percentage of accuracy of Kurdish language consonants gradually increased from 3 to 5 years. The results did not show any significant difference between the girls and boys (P>0.05), although girls showed better performance than boys. Kurdish-speaking children were more accurate in the pronunciation of nasal, glide, lateral, stop and flap than fricative, affricative and trill consonants. Consonants in the initial position were produced better and were more precise than consonants in the medial and final position. Discussion: PCC is an important and helpful index for speech and language pathologists, who are involved in assessment and treatment of Kurdish-speaking children. The results of this study showed that the PCC in Kurdish-speaking children with Middle Kurmanji-Mukryani Dialect increased with age and it was related to the manner of articulation and the position of sound in words.