An Approach to Scoring Backing Errors for Japanese Palatized Misarticulation with Repaired Cleft Palate

Background: Palatalized misarticulation （PM） can occur with a variety of tongue-palate contact patterns in the speech of children with repaired cleft palate. In order to assess the degree of placement deviation by perceptual evaluation, a novel “backing score” for PM was developed. <br>Objective: To investigate the perceptual reliability and classification of the novel “backing score” for PM. <br>Design: Prospective study of perceptual judgments of speech using multiple listener ratings of articulation. <br>Outcome Measures: Four participants （2 listeners specializing in phonetics and 2 speech therapists） rated 55 audio-recorded Japanese speech samples containing PM, produced by children with repaired cleft palate. Listeners transcribed two backing scoring patterns, with/without a retracting mark （-）, for five mono-syllabic VCV speech samples, ［asa］, ［ata］, ［oto］, ［utsu］ and ［iɕi］, using the International Phonetic Alphabet （IPA）. One week later, perceptual judgement was repeated to assess intra-rater reliability. Inter-rater reliability was also computed. <br>Results: Higher intra- and inter-rater reliability was observed when coding backing errors without retracting marks. Reliability was the highest for the plosive VCV ［oto］, and the lowest for the fricative VCV ［iɕi］. Also, regarding articulation placement for PM, three sites were perceived: soft-palatalized, palatalized and post-alveolar. <br>Conclusion: Deriving a backing score without retracting marks may be a useful tool to subclassify PM errors. However, there are limits to the accuracy of perceptual judgments of backing, especially for fricatives. Future studies should consider including audio-visual stimuli, such as electropalatography （EPG）, to determine if this facilitates improved rater accuracy and reliability of error coding. Transcription findings suggested that PM may be subdivided into post-alveolar, palatalized and soft-palatalized place of articulation.