Development of Native Language Preference: Behavioral and Physiological Indices

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Previous research shows that within the first year of life infants are able to distinguish their native language from a language they have never heard before. In fact, they prefer to listen to their native language over an unfamiliar language. In the first component of this research, native language preference--measured using listening time or heart rate measures--will be used to capture how much and how well each infant takes in linguistic input that is available to her. In addition, by following infants with and without a preference for their native language longitudinally, the project aims to determine whether a preference measure can be used to index speech and language development later in life. The relationship between native language preference and speech and language development later in life will be investigated for English- as well as Spanish-learning infants. The final component of the research will determine what information infants rely on to distinguish their native language from a similar, yet unfamiliar language. Infants' listening time to re-synthesized native and non-native language when different elements of the speech--consonants and vowels, or the rhythm and intonation--are removed will help address this question. This work seeks to apply basic research on the abilities infants in the first year of life towards developing a tool for early identification of children with speech and language delays. By tracing the relationship of native language preference that can be measured anytime within the first 15-months of life and later language development, this research may provide insight into why some children seem to have difficulties with language acquisition. Further, by testing Spanish-learning infants as well we are laying the foundation for future research with bilingual infants learning Spanish and English. This is critical given that Spanish is spoken in about 40-50% of the homes in certain parts of the US. Finally, the research undertaken in this project will provide educational opportunities for a graduate student and several undergraduate students.