Perception of Vowel Length by Japanese- and English-Learning Infants
Perception of Vowel Length by Japanese- and English-Learning Infants
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DOI：
10.1037/a0014043
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发表时间：
2009-01-01
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
Amano, Shigeaki
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mugitani, Ryoko;Pons, Ferran;Amano, Shigeaki
本研究探讨了两种语言背景（日语和英语）的婴儿对元音长度的辨别，元音长度是音素的还是非音素的。实验一发现，英语18个月大的孩子区分短元音和长元音，尽管元音长度在英语中不是音位上的对比。实验2和3显示，日本18个月大的婴儿也歧视的对，但在一个不对称的方式：他们只检测到的变化，从长到短元音，但不是在相反的方向上的变化，虽然英语婴儿在实验一检测到的变化在两个方向。实验4测试日本10个月大的孩子，并揭示了一个对称的歧视模式类似的英语18个月大的孩子。实验5显示，日本的成年人母语，不像日本的18个月大的婴儿谁大概还在发展语音感知，最终获得一个对称的歧视模式的元音对比。两者合计，我们的研究结果表明，英语18个月大的孩子和日本10个月大的孩子感知元音长度使用简单的声学语音线索，而日本18个月大的孩子感知它的影响下，新兴的本土音韵，这导致了一个短暂的不对称模式的感知。
This study investigated vowel length discrimination in infants from 2 language backgrounds, Japanese and English, in which vowel length is either phonemic or nonphonemic. Experiment I revealed that English 18-month-olds discriminate short and long vowels although vowel length is not phonemically contrastive in English. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that Japanese 18-month-olds also discriminate the pairs but in an asymmetric manner: They detected only the change from long to short vowel, but not the change in the opposite direction, although English infants in Experiment I detected the change in both directions. Experiment 4 tested Japanese 10-month-olds and revealed a symmetric pattern of discrimination similar to that of English 18-month-olds. Experiment 5 revealed that native adult Japanese speakers, unlike Japanese 18-month-old infants who are presumably still developing phonological perception, ultimately acquire a symmetrical discrimination pattern for the vowel contrasts. Taken together, our findings suggest that English 18-month-olds and Japanese 10-month-olds perceive vowel length using simple acoustic-phonetic cues, whereas Japanese 18-month-olds perceive it under the influence of the emerging native phonology, which leads to a transient asymmetric pattern in perception.