What is stopping in speech?
Do you have students who struggle to pronounce certain sounds by making substitutions? The stopping phonological process is when a child produces a stop consonant /p, b, t, d, k, or g/ in place of a fricative /f, v, th, s, z, sh, ch/ or an affricate sound /j/.
Stopping is considered a normal phonological process that is typically eliminated between of ages of 3-5 years old.
Substitution: Stopping Phonological Process
Stopping is when one fricative or affricate sound is substituted for a stop sound. See the chart below:
| Stopping | Word |
| pun | sun |
| toe | sew |
| top | shop |
| poke | joke |
| dat | that |
Manner of Articulation
There are five types of manners of articulation. Manner identifies the contact that is made between two articulators. The five types are:
- plosive
- nasal
- fricative
- affricate
- approximant
The nasals, fricatives, affricates, and approximates are all sounds that can be sustained for breath. Plosives, however, cannot be sustained. They instead are when there is a complete stopping of the airflow, which is also known as stops. See the chart below:
Age of Elimination
Stopping is considered a normal phonological process that children use to learn the English language. Normally stops are the first speech sounds to develop. Children should eliminate stopping of /f, s/ by the age of 3;00, /v, z/ by the age of 3;06, /ʃ, ʧ, ʤ/ by the age of 4;06, and /θ, ð/ by the age of 5;00. See table below.
| stopping | age of elimination |
| /f/, /s/ | 3;00 |
| /v/, /z/ | 3;06 |
| /ʃ/, /ʧ/, /ʤ/ | 4;06 |
| /θ/, /ð/ | 5;00 |
Even though stopping of consonants is typical, it is rare to have stopping of approximants /w, l, r/. Furthermore, stopping of nasals can be categorized as denasalization instead of stopping. Most of the time stopping is described as stopping of fricatives or affricates.
Practice Stopping Phonological Process with Minimal Pairs Free Flashcards
Give your students practice of reducing the stopping phonological process through auditory bombardment and minimal pairs flashcards.
This freebie includes all of the following:
- Initial /f/ vs /p/ 24 sets
- Initial /s/ vs /t/ 24 sets
- Initial /sh/ vs /t/ 24 sets
- Initial /ch/ vs /t/ 24 sets
- Initial /th/ vs /t/ 24 sets
- Initial /th/ vs /p/ 18 sets
- 10 auditory bombardment words per page
- real-life photos of minimal pair words
Initial /f/ vs /p/ Minimal Pairs
| /f/ | /p/ | |
| 1 | fan | pan |
| 2 | fast | past |
| 3 | foot | put |
| 4 | fade | paid |
| 5 | fork | pork |
| 6 | face | pace |
| 7 | feel | peel |
| 8 | feet | peat |
| 9 | fee | pea |
| 10 | fig | pig |
| 11 | fine | pine |
| 12 | fleas | please |
| 13 | fool | pool |
| 14 | found | pound |
| 15 | from | prom |
| 16 | full | pull |
| 17 | fun | pun |
| 18 | fail | pail |
| 19 | fair | pair |
| 20 | fat | pat |
| 21 | felt | pelt |
| 22 | file | pile |
| 23 | fill | pill |
| 24 | firm | perm |
Initial /s/ vs /t/ Minimal Pairs
| /s/ | /t/ | |
| 1 | sew | toe |
| 2 | see | tea |
| 3 | Sue | two |
| 4 | sun | ton |
| 5 | sell | tell |
| 6 | sore | tore |
| 7 | sub | tub |
| 8 | sip | tip |
| 9 | sour | tower |
| 10 | sack | tack |
| 11 | sea | tea |
| 12 | surf | turf |
| 13 | sick | tick |
| 14 | sock | tock |
| 15 | suck | tuck |
| 16 | sap | tap |
| 17 | side | tide |
| 18 | soy | toy |
| 19 | seam | team |
| 20 | sigh | tie |
| 21 | sight | tight |
| 22 | suit | toot |
| 23 | seat | teat |
| 24 | cell | tell |
Initial /sh/ vs /t/ Minimal Pairs
| /sh/ | /t/ | |
| 1 | shy | tie |
| 2 | shoe | two |
| 3 | show | toe |
| 4 | shape | tape |
| 5 | shop | top |
| 6 | shawl | tall |
| 7 | shack | tack |
| 8 | shake | take |
| 9 | she | tea |
| 10 | shell | tell |
| 11 | ship | tip |
| 12 | shock | talk |
| 13 | show | tow |
| 14 | shoot | toot |
| 15 | shed | Ted |
| 16 | shin | tin |
| 17 | share | tear |
| 18 | shiny | tiny |
| 19 | shag | tag |
| 20 | shame | tame |
| 21 | sheet | teat |
| 22 | shore | tore |
| 23 | shock | talk |
| 24 | sharp | tarp |
Initial /ch/ vs /t/ Minimal Pairs
| /ch/ | /t/ | |
| 1 | cheese | tease |
| 2 | chest | test |
| 3 | chew | two |
| 4 | child | tiled |
| 5 | chip | tip |
| 6 | chose | toes |
| 7 | chair | tear |
| 8 | chill | till |
| 9 | chime | time |
| 10 | chin | tin |
| 11 | chop | top |
| 12 | chore | tour |
| 13 | churn | turn |
| 14 | chap | tap |
| 15 | chart | tart |
| 16 | chat | tat |
| 17 | cheat | teat |
| 18 | cheek | teak |
| 19 | cheer | tear |
| 20 | chick | tick |
| 21 | char | tar |
| 22 | chubby | tubby |
| 23 | chug | tug |
| 24 | chuffed | tuft |
Initial /th/ vs /t/ Minimal Pairs
| /th/ | /t/ | |
| 1 | thank | tank |
| 2 | thought | taught |
| 3 | thin | tin |
| 4 | through | true |
| 5 | thigh | tie |
| 6 | three | tree |
| 7 | thick | tick |
| 8 | thaw | taw |
| 9 | thorn | torn |
| 10 | these | tease |
| 11 | those | toes |
| 12 | there | tear |
| 13 | than | tan |
| 14 | then | ten |
| 15 | though | toe |
| 16 | thumb | tum |
| 17 | thick | tick |
| 18 | theme | team |
| 19 | thinker | tinker |
| 20 | throw | tow |
| 21 | thread | tread |
| 22 | thongs | tongs |
| 23 | throw | toe |
| 24 | thug | tug |
Initial /th/ vs /p/ Minimal Pairs
| /th/ | /p/ | |
| 1 | thigh | pie |
| 2 | thug | pug |
| 3 | thin | pen |
| 4 | thick | pick |
| 5 | think | pink |
| 6 | thaw | paw |
| 7 | thatch | patch |
| 8 | these | peas |
| 9 | those | pose |
| 10 | they | pay |
| 11 | that | pat |
| 12 | than | pan |
| 13 | throw | Poe |
| 14 | chug | pug |
| 15 | thee | pea |
| 16 | thump | pump |
| 17 | then | pen |
| 18 | thin | pin |
Stopping Phonological Process of Initial and Final Consonants
Stopping can occur in both initial or final consonant positions. For example, an initial consonant stop of the word “far” would be “tar”. In the example above the initial consonant fricative /f/ is replaced with an initial consonant stop /t/. Additional examples of initial stopping include the following.
| fan | /fæn/ | → | /tæn/ |
| van | /væn/ | → | /pæn/ |
| fun | /fʌn/ | → | /tʌn/ |
| sin | /sɪn/ | → | /pɪn/ |
The following are examples of final consonant stopping, which is when a final affricate or fricative becomes at stop at the end of a word.
| comb | /kəʊm/ | → | /kəʊb/ |
| patch | /pæʧ/ | → | /pæt/ |
| moth | /mɒθ/ | → | /mɒt/ |
What are all the Types of Phonological Processes?
Phonological processes are the typical errors that children make in order to help them learn to speak. These typical errors can be further divided down into three main categories: substitution, assimilation, and syllable structure. Want to know more about these three categories? Be sure to learn about all of the typical and atypical phonological processes and don’t forget to download the handy chart.
In Conclusion
Stopping occurs when a child is using the typical phonological process of learning speech. Stopping is when the child replaces a stop /p, b, t, d, k, or g/ in place of a fricative /f, v, th, s, z, sh, ch/ or an affricate sound /j/ in the initial or final consonant positions. For example, “fan” becomes “tan” or “path” becomes “pat”.
