Developmental pattern

Weak Syllable Deletion

An unstressed syllable disappears from a longer word.

Resolves by: By 4;0
Sounds affected: Any unstressed syllable in a multisyllabic word
Minimal pairs: 1

What it sounds like

"banana" becomes "nana"
"elephant" becomes "efant"
"computer" becomes "puter"
"telephone" becomes "tephone"

Also called: Unstressed syllable deletion

What is going on

English words have strong beats and weak beats. "BaNAna" has its stress in the middle, which leaves two quiet syllables around it - and quiet syllables are the ones children drop. The syllable that disappears is almost always an unstressed one, and most often it comes right before the stressed beat.

Because the deleted syllable is unstressed, this pattern often goes unnoticed by family - "nana" sounds like a cute word rather than an error. It becomes important at school age, when longer academic vocabulary arrives and the pattern starts to affect spelling and reading as well as speech.

Try this at home

Clap or tap one beat for every syllable while you say the word slowly, then have the child copy the beats before they copy the word. Building from the end also helps: "na," then "nana," then "banana" - each turn adds one syllable to the front, so the part they can already say stays put.

When to refer

Still dropping syllables after age 4, or dropping stressed syllables at any age.

Print it

Weak Syllable Deletion minimal pairs15 pairs grouped by sound · PDF

Picture-ready minimal pairs

0 pairs

These pairs have two distinct picture subjects. Put both pictures on the table and take turns asking for one. If the two words sound alike, slow down and compare the sounds together. The printable word list has additional listening contrasts.

This pattern has no reliable two-picture pairs yet. Use the written list for listening practice.

Play it

Choose one of six games, then pick a speech sound and word position before playing.

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