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Vowel bias in Danish word-learning: processing biases are language-specific
Anders Højen1, Thierry Nazzi2,3
1Center for Child Language, Department of Language and Communication, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark.
Developmental Science
|February 10, 2015
Summary
Early word learning shows language-specific phonological biases, not a universal consonant preference. Infants learning Danish prioritized vowel sounds over consonants, suggesting biases develop based on native language properties.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Infants learning French exhibit a phonological bias for consonants in word acquisition.
- This consonant bias has been proposed as a language-general phenomenon in early lexical processing.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if the consonant bias in word learning is language-general or language-specific.
- To determine if phonological or lexical properties of a language influence early phonological biases.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an interactive word-learning task with 20-month-old Danish-learning infants.
- Presented word pairs contrasting consonants or vowels with one or two phonological features.
- Danish was selected due to its vowel-richness and consonant lenition, potentially hindering a consonant bias.
Main Results:
- Infants demonstrated word learning based on vocalic contrasts only.
- No evidence of word learning was found for consonantal contrasts, regardless of feature changes.
- This indicates a lack of consonant bias in Danish-learning infants.
Conclusions:
- Phonological biases in early lexical processing are not language-general.
- These biases are acquired and shaped by the specific phonological and lexical characteristics of the native language.
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