Which Acoustic and Phonological Factors Shape Infants' Vowel Discrimination? Exploiting Natural Variation in InPhonDB.
Creators
- 1. University of Pennsylvania
- 2. LSCP, D´epartement d´etudes cognitives, ENS, EHESS, CNRS, PSL Research University
Description
A key research question in early language acquisition concerns
the development of infants’ ability to discriminate sounds, and
the factors structuring discrimination abilities. Vowel discrimination,
in particular, has been studied using a range of tasks, experimental
paradigms, and stimuli over the past 40 years, work
recently compiled in a meta-analysis. We use this meta-analysis
to assess whether there is statistical evidence for the following
factors affecting effect sizes across studies: (1) the order in
which the two vowel stimuli are presented; and (2) the distance
between the vowels, measured acoustically in terms of spectral
and quantity differences. The magnitude of effect sizes analysis
revealed order effects consistent with the Natural Referent
Vowels framework, with greater effect sizes when the second
vowel was more peripheral than the first. Additionally, we find
that spectral acoustic distinctiveness is a consistent predictor of
studies’ effect sizes, while temporal distinctiveness did not predict
effect size magnitude. None of these factors interacted significantly
with age. We discuss implications of these results for
language acquisition, and more generally developmental psychology,
research.
A key research question in early language acquisition concerns
the development of infants’ ability to discriminate sounds, and
the factors structuring discrimination abilities. Vowel discrimination,
in particular, has been studied using a range of tasks, experimental
paradigms, and stimuli over the past 40 years, work
recently compiled in a meta-analysis. We use this meta-analysis
to assess whether there is statistical evidence for the following
factors affecting effect sizes across studies: (1) the order in
which the two vowel stimuli are presented; and (2) the distance
between the vowels, measured acoustically in terms of spectral
and quantity differences. The magnitude of effect sizes analysis
revealed order effects consistent with the Natural Referent
Vowels framework, with greater effect sizes when the second
vowel was more peripheral than the first. Additionally, we find
that spectral acoustic distinctiveness is a consistent predictor of
studies’ effect sizes, while temporal distinctiveness did not predict
effect size magnitude. None of these factors interacted significantly
with age. We discuss implications of these results for
language acquisition, and more generally developmental psychology,
research.
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