Cross-language speech perception: Initial capabilities and developmental change (original) (raw)
Related papers
Infant Behavior and Development, 2002
Previous work in which we compared English infants, English adults, and Hindi adults on their ability to discriminate two pairs of Hindi (non-English) speech contrasts has indicated that infants discriminate speech sounds according to phonetic category without prior specific language experience (Werker, , whereas adults and children as young as age 4 (Werker & Tees, in press), may lose this ability as a function of age and or linguistic experience. The present work was designed to (a) determine the generalizability of such a decline by comparing adult English, adult Salish, and English infant subjects on their perception of a new non-English (Salish) speech contrast, and (b) delineate the time course of the developmental decline in this ability. The results of these experiments replicate our original findings by showing that infants can discriminate non-native speech contrasts without relevant experience, and that there is a decline in this ability during ontogeny. Furthermore, data from both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies shows that this decline occurs within the first year of life, and that it is a function of specific language experience.
Developmental changes across childhood in the perception of non-native speech sounds
Canadian Journal of Psychology / Revue canadienne de psychologie, 1983
In this research children at three different ages, 4, 8, and 12 years, were compared on their ability to discriminate two (non-English) Hindi speech contrasts. This work followed from earlier research (Werker, Gilbert, Humphrey, & Tees, 1981) showing a developmental decline between infancy and adulthood in cross-language speech perception abilities. The present research was designed to try to identify the time in development when the loss of the ability to discriminate the non-native (Hindi) speech contrasts would be present. Results show that the decline is evident by 4 years of age, suggesting that important reorganizations in linguistic perceptual abilities occur in early childhood. RESUME Dans cette recherche, les auteurs comparent, chez des enfants de trois niveaux d'age (4, 8, et 12 ans) la capacite a discriminer deux contrastes de langage parle non anglais (Hindi). Ce travail fait suite a une recherche anterieure (Werker, Gilbert, Humphrey, et Tees, 1981) qui montre, qu'entre I'enfance et I'age adulte, il y a declin dans les capacites a percevoir d'autres langues parlees. La presente etude se propose d'essayer de preciser a quel moment dans le developpement apparaTt ce deficit dans la discrimination de contrastes d'une langue etrangere (Hindi). Les resultats montrent que cette perte est presente a 4 ans ce qui laisse supposer que d'importantes reorganisations des habiletes perceptives linguistiques se produisent au cours de la petite enfance. Recent research on cross-language speech perception has yielded data pointing to a substantial difference in the ability of infants and adults to discriminate non-native speech contrasts. Although there is some suggestion that linguistic experience may act to alter the ease in which linguistic contrasts are differentiated (Eilers, Gavin, & Wilson, 1979), the evidence seems to indicate that regardless of specific linguistic experience, infants can discriminate nearly every contrast on which they have been adequately tested
Young infants' discrimination of subtle phonetic contrasts
Cognition, 2018
It is generally accepted that infants initially discriminate native and non-native contrasts and that perceptual reorganization within the first year of life results in decreased discrimination of non-native contrasts, and improved discrimination of native contrasts. However, recent findings from Narayan, Werker, and Beddor (2010) surprisingly suggested that some acoustically subtle native-language contrasts might not be discriminated until the end of the first year of life. We first provide countervailing evidence that young English-learning infants can discriminate the Filipino contrast tested by Narayan et al. when tested in a more sensitive paradigm. Next, we show that young infants learning either English or French can also discriminate comparably subtle non-native contrasts from Tamil. These findings show that Narayan et al.'s null findings were due to methodological choices and indicate that young infants are sensitive to even subtle acoustic contrasts that cue phonetic d...
2008
The perceptual assimilation model (PAM; Best, C. T. [1995]. A direct realist view of cross-language speech perception. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research (pp. 171-204). Baltimore, MD: York Press.) accounts for developmental patterns of speech contrast discrimination by proposing that infants shift from untuned phonetic perception at 6 months to natively tuned perceptual assimilation at 11-12 months, but the model does not predict initial discrimination differences among contrasts. To address that issue, we evaluated the Articulatory Organ Hypothesis, which posits that consonants produced using different articulatory organs are initially easier to discriminate than those produced with the same articulatory organ. We tested English-learning 6-and 11-month-olds' discrimination of voiceless fricative place contrasts from Nuu-Chah-Nulth (nonnative) and English (native), with one within-organ and one between-organ contrast from each language. Both native and non-native contrasts were discriminated across age, suggesting that articulatory-organ differences do not influence perception of speech contrasts by young infants. The results highlight the fact that a decline in discrimination for non-native contrasts does not always occur over age. ß 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 56: 210-227 2014.
Infants' Discrimination of Consonant Contrasts in the Presence and Absence of Talker Variability
Infancy, 2020
To learn speech-sound categories, infants must identify the acoustic dimensions that differentiate categories and selectively attend to them as opposed to irrelevant dimensions. Variability on irrelevant acoustic dimensions can aid formation of robust categories in infants through adults in tasks such as word learning (e.g., Rost & McMurray, 2009) or speech-sound learning (e.g., Lively, Logan, & Pisoni, 1993). At the same time, variability sometimes overwhelms learners, interfering with learning and processing. Two prior studies (Kuhl & Miller, 1982; Jusczyk, Pisoni, & Mullennix, 1992) found that irrelevant variability sometimes impaired early sound discrimination. We asked whether variability would impair or facilitate discrimination for older infants, comparing 7.5-month-old infants’ discrimination of an early acquired native contrast, /p/ vs. /b/ (in the wordforms /pIm/ vs. /bIm/), in Experiment 1, with an acoustically subtle, non-native contrast, /n/ vs. /ŋ/ (in /nIm/ vs. /ŋIm/), in Experiment 2. Words were spoken by one or four talkers. Infants discriminated the native but not the non-native contrast and there were no significant effects of talker condition. We discuss implications for theories of phonological learning and avenues for future research.
Gender of Speaker Influences Infants' Discrimination of Non-Native Phonemes in a Multimodal Context
2004
Previous research has shown that infants can discriminate both native and nonnative speech contrasts before the age of 10-12 months. After this age, infants' phoneme discrimination starts resembling adults', as they are able to discriminate native contrasts, but lose their sensitivity to non-native ones. However, the majority of these studies have been carried out in a testing context, which is dissimilar to the natural language-learning context experienced by infants. This study was designed to see the influence of speakergender and visual speech information on the ability of 11 month-old infants to discriminate the non-native contrasts. Previous research in our laboratory revealed that 11 month-old infants were able to discriminate retroflex and dental Hindi contrasts when the speech was infant-directed, the speaker was a female and visual speech information was available (i.e., infant watched digital movies of female speakers). A follow-up study showed that with an adult-directed male voice and absence of visual speech information, 11 month-old infants did not discriminate the same non-native contrasts. Hence the aim of the present study was to address the questions posed by these two studies. Does the gender of the speaker matter alone? Also, to what extent is the visual speech information helpful for the discriminatory abilities of the infants? Would the manner of speech help infants discriminate the non-native contrasts? The result of the current study show that 11 month-old infants were unable to discriminate between the phonemic Hindi contrasts. Hence gender seems to matter as the presence of male face and voice did not seem to aid discrimination.
2014
The perceptual assimilation model (PAM; Best, C. T. [1995]. A direct realist view of cross-language speech perception. In W. Strange (Ed.), Speech perception and linguistic experience: Issues in cross-language research (pp. 171-204). Baltimore, MD: York Press.) accounts for developmental patterns of speech contrast discrimination by proposing that infants shift from untuned phonetic perception at 6 months to natively tuned perceptual assimilation at 11-12 months, but the model does not predict initial discrimination differences among contrasts. To address that issue, we evaluated the Articulatory Organ Hypothesis, which posits that consonants produced using different articulatory organs are initially easier to discriminate than those produced with the same articulatory organ. We tested English-learning 6-and 11-month-olds' discrimination of voiceless fricative place contrasts from Nuu-Chah-Nulth (nonnative) and English (native), with one within-organ and one between-organ contrast from each language. Both native and non-native contrasts were discriminated across age, suggesting that articulatory-organ differences do not influence perception of speech contrasts by young infants. The results highlight the fact that a decline in discrimination for non-native contrasts does not always occur over age. ß 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 56: 210-227 2014.