Abstract
The developmental change in auditory preferences for speech stimuli was investigated for Japanese infants aged 4-14 months old. We conducted three experiments using two speech pairs in the head-turn preference procedure. Infant-directed (ID) speech and adult-directed (AD) speech stimuli were used in a longitudinal study (Experiment 1) and a cross-sectional study (Experiment 2). Native (Japanese) and non-native (English) speech stimuli were used in a cross-sectional study (Experiment 3). In all experiments, infants demonstrated a developmental change in their listening preference. For the ID/AD speech pair used in Experiments 1 and 2, infants show a U-shaped developmental shift with three developmental stages: Stage 1, in which very young infants tend to prefer ID speech over AD speech; Stage 2, in which the preference for ID speech decreases temporarily; and Stage 3, in which older infants again show a consistent preference for ID speech. For the native/non-native speech pair, there is a tendency for an increased preference for native speech over non-native speech, although infants did not demonstrate a U-shaped pattern. The difference in developmental pattern between the two types of speech pairs was discussed.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1189-1200 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research |
Volume | 44 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2001 Jan 1 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Auditory preference
- Developmental change
- Japanese infants
- Longitudinal study
- Speech perception
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language
- Speech and Hearing