Impact of Speech Input on Speech Production Learning

这项研究计划致力于发现语音运动控制在发育的最早阶段出现的潜在机制，特别关注对可变输入的适应。长期以来，人们一直认为，由于对言语运动控制的严格限制，所有婴儿都会以同样的方式喋喋不休。在NSERC资助的过去十年的研究中，我们证实，学习英语、法语或阿拉伯语的婴儿在进行听觉测量时，会发展出带有明显元音特征的喋喋不休。在这个项目中，我的目标是阐明成人的言语输入影响婴儿发声输出的机制。在一系列研究中，母亲和婴儿之间的声音交流将在6个月、8个月、10个月、12个月和14个月时纵向记录。将从声学的角度描述母婴语音中的元音，并详细绘制声学特征的分布图，以揭示随着时间的推移，双音节内的趋同和语言组之间的差异的模式。将描述婴儿和母亲发声的时刻到时刻的时间模式的各个方面。在第二个系列的研究中，元音输入的时间模式将相对于婴儿的声音输出进行操纵。这些研究将使我们能够测试关于潜在机制的替代假设，这些机制可能解释婴儿发声过程中语音输入对声学特征的适应。这些研究将进一步加深我们对婴儿将他们的言语产生适应周围语言环境的正常过程的理解，并将对我们理解延迟言语习得产生影响。

This research program is concerned with discovering the mechanisms that underly the emergence of speech motor control in the earliest stages of development, with a particular focus on adaptation to variable inputs. It has long been thought that all infants babbled in the same way due to severe constraints on speech motor control. Over the past ten years of NSERC-funded research we established that infants learning English, French or Arabic develop babbling with distinct vowel characteristics when measured acoustically. In this project I aim to illuminate the mechanism by which the speech input from adults influences the infant's vocal output. In one series of studies, vocal exchanges between mothers and infants will be recorded longitudinally at 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 months. The vowel sounds in the mothers' and infants' speech will be described acoustically and the distributions of acoustic characteristics will be plotted in detail to reveal patterns of convergence within dyads and divergence across language groups as they emerge over time. Aspects of the moment-to-moment temporal patterning of infant and maternal vocalizations will be described. In a second series of studies the temporal pattern of vowel inputs will be manipulated relative to infant vocal outputs. These studies will allow us to test alternative hypotheses regarding potential mechanisms that might explain adaptation to acoustic characteristics of the speech input in infant vocal development. These studies will further our understanding of the normal processes by which the infant adapts their speech production to the ambient language environment and will also have implications for our understanding of delayed speech acquisition.