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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 17, 2025

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Experience is Instrumental in Tuning a Link Between Language and Cognition: Evidence from 6- to 7- Month-Old Infants' Object Categorization

Published on: April 19, 2017

Moving away from deficiency models: Gradiency in bilingual speech categorization.

Ethan Kutlu^1,2, Samantha Chiu¹, Bob McMurray^1,2

¹Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States.

Frontiers in Psychology

|December 12, 2022

Summary

Speech perception is gradient, not discrete. New methods like Visual Analogue Scaling better measure bilingual speech processing, moving beyond deficit models for heritage speakers.

Keywords:

bilingualism categorical perception gradiency heritage bilingualism sound acquisition speech perception

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Area of Science:

Psycholinguistics
Bilingualism Research
Speech Perception

Background:

Categorical perception theory historically viewed speech perception as discrete.
This influenced bilingualism research, using it to measure nativeness and viewing deviations as deficits.
This is problematic for heritage speakers with questioned language proficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

To challenge the discrete view of speech perception in bilingualism research.
To introduce a new methodological tool for studying bilingual speech categorization.
To offer alternatives to deficit-based models in heritage speaker research.

Main Methods:

Critique of categorical perception tasks in bilingualism.
Introduction and proposal of the Visual Analogue Scaling (VAS) task.
Advocacy for gradient measures over discrete ones.

Main Results:

Monolingual speech perception is gradient, aiding adaptation and learning.
Existing methods may misinterpret bilingual speech due to discrete assumptions.
The VAS task captures perceptual gradiency more accurately.

Conclusions:

Speech perception, including in bilinguals, is fundamentally gradient.
New theoretical and methodological approaches are needed for bilingualism.
The VAS task provides a non-deficit tool for studying bilingual speech categorization.