Infants' learning of novel segments is modulated by prosody

0582879 - PSÚ 2024 RIV CZ eng C - Konferenční příspěvek (zahraniční konf.)
Chládková, Kateřina - Podlipský, V.J. - Nudga, Natalia - Paillereau, Nikola - Kynčlová, Kateřina - Šimáčková, Š.
Infants' learning of novel segments is modulated by prosody.
Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences. Praha: Guarant International, 2023 - (Skarnitzl, R.; Volín, J.), s. 2358-2362. ISBN 978-80-908114-2-3.
[International Congress of Phonetic Sciences /20./. Praha (CZ), 07.08.2023-11.08.2023]
Grant CEP: GA ČR(CZ) GA21-09797S
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68081740
Klíčová slova: distributional learning * selective learning * non-native rhythm * vowels * infancy
Obor OECD: Psychology (including human - machine relations)
https://www.icphs2023.org/programme/proceedings/

Young infants recognize atypical realisations of native-language speech. Later they learn words better from native-accented talkers. However, 6-month-olds preferentially listen to unfamiliar speech. We tested whether the learning of new vowels matches 6-month-olds’ listening preferences, being more effective from nonnative-accented speech. We exposed Czech six-month-olds to delexicalised utterances with consonants replaced by [f] and vowels by 405 tokens sampled from a bimodal [ɛ]-[æ] distribution, a contrast absent from Czech, and with either native or atypical rhythm. Discrimination of [ɛ]-[æ] was then tested in an alternating/non-alternating paradigm. Longer first-look duration to non-alternating than to alternating trials – indicating a learning effect – was found in infants familiarised with the novel contrast in atypical rhythm, such effect was not
detected after familiarisation with native rhythm. Six-month-olds thus more effectively exploit distributional information about novel vowels from non-native rhythm, which matches their previously reported preferences for listening to novel over familiar accents.
Trvalý link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0350920