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The Development of Tone Discrimination in Infancy: Evidence from a Cross-Linguistic, Multi-Lab Report

Authors :
Marina Kalashnikova
Leher Singh
Angeline Tsui
Eylem Altuntas
Denis Burnham
Ryan Cannistraci
Ng Bee Chin
Ye Feng
Laura Fernández-Merino
Antonia Götz
Lisa Gustavsson
Jessica Hay
Barbara Höhle
René Kager
Regine Lai
Liquan Liu
Ellen Marklund
Thierry Nazzi
Daniela Santos Oliveira
Anne Marte Haug Olstad
Anthony Picaud
Iris-Corinna Schwarz
Feng-Ming Tsao
Patrick C. M. Wong
Pei Jun Woo
Source :
Developmental Science. 2024 27(3).
Publication Year :
2024

Abstract

We report the findings of a multi-language and multi-lab investigation of young infants' ability to discriminate lexical tones as a function of their native language, age and language experience, as well as of tone properties. Given the high prevalence of lexical tones across human languages, understanding lexical tone acquisition is fundamental for comprehensive theories of language learning. While there are some similarities between the developmental course of lexical tone perception and that of vowels and consonants, findings for lexical tones tend to vary greatly across different laboratories. To reconcile these differences and to assess the developmental trajectory of native and non-native perception of tone contrasts, this study employed a single experimental paradigm with the same two pairs of Cantonese tone contrasts (perceptually similar vs. distinct) across 13 laboratories in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North-America testing 5-, 10- and 17-month-old monolingual (tone, pitch-accent, non-tone) and bilingual (tone/non-tone, non-tone/non-tone) infants. Across the age range and language backgrounds, infants who were not exposed to Cantonese showed robust discrimination of the two non-native lexical tone contrasts. Contrary to this overall finding, the statistical model assessing native discrimination by Cantonese-learning infants failed to yield significant effects. These findings indicate that lexical tone sensitivity is maintained from 5 to 17 months in infants acquiring tone and non-tone languages, challenging the generalisability of the existing theoretical accounts of perceptual narrowing in the first months of life.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1363-755X and 1467-7687
Volume :
27
Issue :
3
Database :
ERIC
Journal :
Developmental Science
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
EJ1424458
Document Type :
Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13459