Cross-language analysis of phonetic units in language addressed to infants.
Science
; 277(5326): 684-6, 1997 Aug 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-9235890
ABSTRACT
In the early months of life, infants acquire information about the phonetic properties of their native language simply by listening to adults speak. The acoustic properties of phonetic units in language input to young infants in the United States, Russia, and Sweden were examined. In all three countries, mothers addressing their infants produced acoustically more extreme vowels than they did when addressing adults, resulting in a "stretching" of vowel space. The findings show that language input to infants provides exceptionally well-specified information about the linguistic units that form the building blocks for words.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Speech Perception
/
Phonetics
/
Language Development
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Infant
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
/
Asia
/
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Science
Year:
1997
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States