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The development of language constancy: attention to native versus nonnative accents
Christine Kitamura1, Robin Panneton, Catherine T Best
1University of Western Sydney.
Child Development
|February 26, 2013
Summary
Infants develop language constancy within their first year, showing less attention to unfamiliar accents over time. Early exposure to non-native accents can speed up this language acquisition process.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Speech Perception
Background:
- Infants' ability to recognize familiar languages and accents is crucial for language acquisition.
- Understanding how infants process phonetic variations in different accents informs language development theories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the developmental timeline of infants' language constancy.
- To examine how exposure frequency to different accents (South African English vs. American English) influences infants' perception.
Main Methods:
- 156 Australian infants aged 3, 6, and 9 months were tested.
- Familiarity with accents was manipulated by using rarely heard (South African English) and frequently heard (American English) variations.
- Infants' looking times towards different accents were recorded as a measure of attention and recognition.
Main Results:
- Six-month-olds preferred familiar Australian English over South African English, but 9-month-olds showed no preference.
- Three-month-olds showed similar attention to Australian and American English, while 6-month-olds also showed equal looking times.
- These findings suggest a developmental decrease in accent-based attention as language constancy emerges.
Conclusions:
- Infants' differential attention to native versus non-native accents diminishes in the first year as they establish language constancy.
- Familiarity with a non-native accent can accelerate the development of language constancy.
- Early auditory experiences significantly shape infants' linguistic perception and processing abilities.
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