Symptom 8: Misshapen Sounds: The Symptom of Phonetic Distortions
Eighth in the lineup of AOS symptoms is phonetic distortions, a condition where individuals may pronounce certain sounds or words in a distorted or twisted manner. It’s as if some of the phonetic building blocks get reshaped as they travel the neural pathways, making the speech sound twisted or different from the norm.
Imagine a ribbon gymnast performing a routine but her ribbon keeps knotting up, distorting the fluidity of the performance. The gymnast is skilled, but the knots disrupt the spectacle. Similarly, AOS sufferers might find their phonetic output distorted, which can interfere with the intelligibility of their speech.
It’s crucial to understand that these distortions aren’t an indicator of the speaker’s understanding of the language or a novel accent. It’s more like watching a perfect reflection in a lake, which suddenly gets distorted by a stone thrown into the water. The image is clear, but the ripples distort the reflection. Similarly, the phonetic distortions in AOS aren’t about the speaker’s language skills, but a noteworthy symptom of this condition. (8)
