Simultaneous Bilingualism and the Perception of a Language-Specific Vowel Contrast in the First Year of Life

Autor/inn/en	Bosch, Laura; Sebastian-Galles, Nuria
Titel	Simultaneous Bilingualism and the Perception of a Language-Specific Vowel Contrast in the First Year of Life
Quelle	In: Language and Speech, 46 (2003) 2-3, S.217-243 (27 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0023-8309
DOI	10.1177/00238309030460020801
Schlagwörter	Vowels; Infants; Monolingualism; Bilingualism; Spanish; Foreign Countries; Second Languages; Phonology; Child Development; Language Acquisition; Language Processing; Language Research; Oral Language; Experiments; Speech; Hypothesis Testing; Auditory Perception; Age Differences; Spain + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Infant; Toddler; Toddlers; Kleinkind; Bilingualismus; Spanisch; Ausland; Second language; Zweitsprache; Fonologie; Kindesentwicklung; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Sprachverarbeitung; Sprachforschung; Oral interpretation; Mündlicher Sprachgebrauch; Erprobung; Speaking; Sprechen; Hypothesenprüfung; Hypothesentest; Auditive Wahrnehmung; Akustische Wahrnehmung; Akustik; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Spanien
Abstract	Behavioral studies have shown that while young infants can discriminate many different phonetic contrasts, a shift from a language-general to a language-specific pattern of discrimination is found during the second semester of life, beginning earlier for vowels than for consonants. This age-related decline in sensitivity to perceive non-native contrasts has been generally attested in monolinguals. In order to analyze the impact of bilingual exposure on the perception of native-sound contrasts and the early building of language-specific contrastive categories, four-month-old and eight-month-old infants from Spanish monolingual, Catalan monolingual and Spanish-Catalan bilingual environments have been tested with a familiarization-preference procedure on a vowel contrast present only in Catalan: /e/-/[epsilon]/. As expected, younger infants were all able to perceive this contrast, independently of the language of exposure. However, by eight months, only infants from Catalan monolingual environments succeeded. Although the decline in sensitivity with the monolingual Spanish group was expected, the results with the bilingual group challenge the view that mere exposure is enough to maintain the capacity to perceive a contrast. An additional experiment at 12 months of age indicated that bilinguals finally regained discrimination. Together these results suggest a specific developmental pattern of perceptual reorganization in bilingual exposure. (Contains 1 table and 7 figures.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10