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A Rhythmic Bias in Preverbal Speech Segmentation

https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1996.0035Get rights and content

Abstract

Four studies using a variant of the conditioned head turning procedure, in which response latencies to extraneous noises occurring at different junctures within synthetic syllable strings served as the dependent variable, investigated 6- and 9-month-old infants’ representations of familiar and novel syllable pairs manifesting diverse rhythmic patterns.Familiarbisyllables tended to be perceived similarly by both age groups: These bisyllables were perceived as being cohesive, without regard to whether they manifested trochaic (longer–shorter) or iambic (shorter–longer) rhythm.Novelbisyllables were perceived differently by the two age groups. Six-month-olds appeared to perceive segmentally novel, but rhythmically familiar, bisyllables as cohesive, whereas they failed to perceive rhythmically novel, but segmentally familiar bisyllables in the same fashion. Similar patterns of results were obtained with trochaic and iambic bisyllables. Nine-month-olds, however, were differentially sensitive to different rhythmic patterns. Older infants appeared to perceive novel bisyllables as cohesive only when they manifested trochaic rhythm, whether the bisyllables were segmentally or rhythmically novel. Nine-month-olds’ behavior is consistent with the possibility that they have adopted a metrical strategy for segmentation, as A. Cutler (1990 and elsewhere) has argued is the case for novice and expert English speakers alike. The plausibility of such a strategy with respect to the nature of child-directed speech is discussed, as are possible consequences for acquisition of such a strategy.

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This work was supported by NIMH Grant MH 48892. I thank John Mertus for providing technical and programming support and Nancy Allard, Shinina Butler, Yael Harlap, Eileen Hoff, Rachel Kessinger, Allison Klein, and Michelle Rogers for assistance in testing subjects and coding video tapes. Address correspondence and reprint requests to James L. Morgan, Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Brown University, Box 1978, Providence RI 02912. E-mail: [email protected].

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