The development of tone discrimination in infancy: Evidence from a cross-linguistic, multi-lab report.
bilingualism
infancy
lexical tone
perceptual reorganisation
speech discrimination
Journal
Developmental science
ISSN: 1467-7687
Titre abrégé: Dev Sci
Pays: England
ID NLM: 9814574
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
21 Nov 2023
21 Nov 2023
Historique:
revised:
23
10
2023
received:
07
04
2019
accepted:
24
10
2023
medline:
21
11
2023
pubmed:
21
11
2023
entrez:
21
11
2023
Statut:
aheadofprint
Résumé
We report the findings of a multi-language and multi-lab investigation of young infants' ability to discriminate lexical tones as a function of their native language, age and language experience, as well as of tone properties. Given the high prevalence of lexical tones across human languages, understanding lexical tone acquisition is fundamental for comprehensive theories of language learning. While there are some similarities between the developmental course of lexical tone perception and that of vowels and consonants, findings for lexical tones tend to vary greatly across different laboratories. To reconcile these differences and to assess the developmental trajectory of native and non-native perception of tone contrasts, this study employed a single experimental paradigm with the same two pairs of Cantonese tone contrasts (perceptually similar vs. distinct) across 13 laboratories in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North-America testing 5-, 10- and 17-month-old monolingual (tone, pitch-accent, non-tone) and bilingual (tone/non-tone, non-tone/non-tone) infants. Across the age range and language backgrounds, infants who were not exposed to Cantonese showed robust discrimination of the two non-native lexical tone contrasts. Contrary to this overall finding, the statistical model assessing native discrimination by Cantonese-learning infants failed to yield significant effects. These findings indicate that lexical tone sensitivity is maintained from 5 to 17 months in infants acquiring tone and non-tone languages, challenging the generalisability of the existing theoretical accounts of perceptual narrowing in the first months of life. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: This is a multi-language and multi-lab investigation of young infants' ability to discriminate lexical tones. This study included data from 13 laboratories testing 5-, 10-, and 17-month-old monolingual (tone, pitch-accent, non-tone) and bilingual (tone/non-tone, non-tone/non-tone) infants. Overall, infants discriminated a perceptually similar and a distinct non-native tone contrast, although there was no evidence of a native tone-language advantage in discrimination. These results demonstrate maintenance of tone discrimination throughout development.
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e13459Subventions
Organisme : Spanish State Research Agency
ID : CEX2020-001010/AEI/10.13039/501100011033
Organisme : Ramon y Cajal Research Fellowship
ID : RYC2018-024284-I
Organisme : German Research Foundation
ID : 2253 HO 1960/19-2
Organisme : Riksbankens Jubileumsfond
ID : P17-0175
Organisme : Magnus Bergvall foundation
ID : 2018-02855
Organisme : Stiftelsen Marcus och Amalia Wallenbergs minnesfond
ID : 2019.0030
Organisme : Stockholm University Black Box SU
ID : FV-5.1.2-2875-18 to I.-C.S
Organisme : Marie Skłodowska-Curie
ID : 798658
Organisme : Centers of Excellence funding scheme
ID : 223265
Organisme : Western Sydney University School of Psychology
ID : 20820 83181
Organisme : LABEX EFL
ID : ANR-10-LABX-0083
Organisme : National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan
ID : 110-2410-H-002-128-MY2
Organisme : University Grants Committee
ID : HKSAR
Organisme : University Grants Committee
ID : RGC34000118
Organisme : University Grants Committee
ID : C4055-19G
Organisme : Innovation and Technology Fund
ID : HKSAR
Organisme : Innovation and Technology Fund
ID : ITS/067/18
Organisme : Sunway University Internal Grant
ID : INT-2019-SST-PSY-01
Informations de copyright
© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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