Development of Phonotactic Knowledge in Infancy

尽管许多研究试图更好地理解语言习得的过程，但关于婴儿如何在短短几年内完成学习一门语言的艰巨任务的许多基本问题仍然没有明确的答案。到目前为止，研究人员已经编制了语言知识习得的基本时间表，并提出了两种学习机制：一种是导致婴儿更关注更容易产生的语音的偏见，另一种是用于处理各种感官输入的一般统计归纳技能。从理论和实验的角度来看，哪种机制是有效的仍然是一个持续和基本的争论。最近一项初步研究的惊人结果表明，婴儿早在4.5个月就能利用有关声音排序的某些信息，比先前确定的年龄早4个月。修订后的研究结果似乎是使用了一些实验的结果，这些实验是在语音控制的比较中向婴儿呈现单词，而不是随机选择。本文不仅试图证实试点结果，而且还揭示了关于两种提出的学习机制中哪一种主要有助于获得这种早期知识的进一步证据。这项研究将采用公认的头部转向偏好范式，在这种范式中，说话者会给婴儿播放单词，并伴有闪烁的灯光。婴儿对单词的注意力是通过转向灯光来表示的。该实验监测了婴儿对不同种类的刺激所花的时间，展示了在特定年龄对他们来说很明显的区别。本研究的创新之处在于婴儿听到的刺激：所呈现的形式对比了特定的声音模式，特别是摩擦音（如f、s和sh与v、z和zh）之间的发音区别。这种新方法允许进一步探索关于婴儿如何学习语言的基本问题，这是人类互动的一个关键方面。

Though much research has sought to better understand the process of language acquisition, many fundamental questions regarding how infants complete the enormous task of learning a language within just a few years remain without a definitive answer. So far, researchers have compiled a basic timeline for the acquisition of linguistic knowledge, and proposed two learning mechanisms: a bias leading infants to pay more attention to speech sounds that are easier to produce, and general statistical induction skills that are used to process various kinds of sensory input. Which mechanism is operative remains a continuing and fundamental debate from both theoretical and experimental perspectives.Surprising results from a recent pilot study indicate that infants make use of certain information regarding sound sequencing as early as 4.5 months, 4 months earlier than the previously established age. The revised findings appear to be the result of using experiments that present words to infants in phonetically controlled comparisons, rather than as a random selection. The dissertation seeks not only to confirm the pilot findings, but also to uncover further evidence regarding which of the two proposed learning mechanisms primarily facilitates acquisition of this early knowledge.The research will employ the well-established Head-turn Preference paradigm, in which words are played to an infant on a speaker, accompanied by a blinking light. The infant's attention to the words is indicated by turning toward the light. The experiment monitors the amount of time that infants attend to different kinds of stimuli, demonstrating the distinctions that are evident to them at that particular age. The innovation in this study lies in the stimuli the infants hear: the forms presented contrast specific sound patterns, in particular the distinction of voicing between fricative sounds (such as f, s, and sh versus v, z, and zh). This new approach allows for further exploration of fundamental questions regarding how infants learn language, a crucial aspect of human interaction.