Perception of phonemic and allophonic contrasts in English- and Spanish-learning infants.

Le résumé fourni par la source

Infants from monolingual English- and Spanish-speaking homes were compared in their perception of two phonetic contrasts that differ in their phonemic status in the two languages. The contrast [d]-[Ð] is phonemic in English but allophonic in Spanish; while the contrast [d]-flap is phonemic in Spanish but allophonic in English. Infants ranged from 6 to 16 months of age. Each infant was tested on discrimination of both contrasts. For half of the infants the stimuli were produced by a Spanish speaker, while for the other half of the infants the stimuli were produced by an English speaker. Data collection from Spanish-learning infants is still in progress. However, preliminary results indicate that infants in the youngest age group (6–8 months) are able to discriminate the [d]-flap contrast regardless of infant language background, while the [d]-[Ð] contrast is discriminated poorly at this age in both language groups. English-learning infants lose sensitivity to the allophonic [d]-flap contrast with age, and it is not until 14–16 months that discrimination of the phonemic [d]-[Ð] contrast improves in these infants. Spanish-learning infants are expected to remain proficient at discriminating the phonemic [d]-flap as they age and to remain poor at discriminating the allophonic [d]-[Ð] contrast. [Work supported by NIH1R03HD048538 to JM.]

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