Within- and between- talker variability and word learning

项目摘要 为了学习单词，婴儿必须确定语音序列的范围，这些声音可以“计数”为 一个给定单词的产生。几十年的研究表明，在生命的第一年，婴儿学会 识别他们语言中的声音，然后开始学习单词的含义， 在这些词的产生开始之前。当婴儿学习区分母语的声音时， 在生命的前6-12个月，他们对已知单词的声音的表征 通常是不明确的，或者说是模糊的。与此同时，早期的表现在某些方面过于具体，例如。 当婴儿无法识别新说话者所说的同一个词时。因此，对语言的一个关键挑战 学习者正在形成适当的特定的词汇表征，这些表征足够狭窄，可以忽略 不正确的发音，但足以识别新的实例。哪些因素影响了 恰当的特定词语表达以前的单词学习研究表明， 来自多个说话者，或来自婴儿的指导言语，可以帮助学习者获得新的单词，简而言之， 实验室研究将以前的工作扩展到实验室和生态有效的环境，目前的提案 具体目标是： 1.量化自然环境中的声学变化，并测试其与单词学习的联系 2.在实验室中测试声学变化在单词表征形成中的作用 使用语料库方法和实验方法，目前的建议试图了解如何 婴儿的语言输入所固有的声学可变性会影响适当的 具体的文字表述。这种结合的方法允许调查这一问题， 野生'和'在实验室'，允许一个互补的和更彻底的了解声学的作用， 比以前的研究所获得的变化。 这项工作的结果将有助于理解输入的属性如何影响word 学习更好地了解影响单词学习的因素有助于发展性学习。 心理学，特别是因为它认为最好的方式来支持早期学习者，无论是典型的和非典型的 轨迹这些发现将对教育和临床环境产生影响，因为声学的数量 可以操纵输入中的可变性以优化单词学习。

Project summary In order to learn words, infants must determine the range of sequences of speech-sounds that get to “count” as a production of a given word. Decades of research have shown that over the first year of life infants learn to identify the sounds that are present in their language, and subsequently begin to learn the meanings of words, before production of these words begins. While infants learn to distinguish native language sounds from foreign language sounds over the first 6-12 months of life, their representations of the sounds of known words are often underspecified, or ‘fuzzy’. At the same time, early representations are in some ways too specific, e.g. when infants fail to recognize the same word said by a new talker. Thus, a critical challenge for language learners is forming appropriately specific representations of words, ones that are narrow enough to disregard incorrect pronunciations but broad enough to recognize new instances. What factors influence the formation of appropriately-specific word representations? Previous word-learning research suggests that acoustic variability stemming from multiple talkers, or from infant directed speech, can help learners acquire novel words in short lab studies. Extending previous work to both lab and ecologically-valid environments, the current proposal’s specific aims are to: 1. Quantify acoustic variability in naturalistic settings and test its links to word-learning 2. Test the role of acoustic variability in the formation of word representations in the lab Using both corpus methods and experimental approaches, the current proposal seeks to understand how acoustic variability that is inherent to an infants’ linguistic input influences the formation of appropriately- specific word representations. This combined approach permits an investigation of this question both ‘in the wild’ and ‘in the lab’, allowing for a complementary and more thorough understanding of the role of acoustic variability than previous research has attained. The results of this work will contribute to an understanding of how properties of the input can impact word learning. A better understanding of factors that influence word learning is beneficial for developmental psychology, particularly as it considers the best ways to support early learners, both with typical and atypical trajectories. The findings will have implications for educational and clinical settings, as the amount of acoustic variability in the input can be manipulated to optimize word learning.