Protracted Development on Native Tone Interpretation: Evidence From Mandarin-Learning Infants’ Novel Word Learning
Studies have shown that infants from cultures with tone languages develop categorical perception of their native lexical tone before their first birthday, but few studies have explored whether, and when, they interpret the phonemic function of lexical tone in word learning. Two habituation-switch ex...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2019-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01512/full |
| _version_ | 1819034215207927808 |
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| author | Xiaobei Zheng Yinglin Ji Xiangzhi Meng |
| author_facet | Xiaobei Zheng Yinglin Ji Xiangzhi Meng |
| author_sort | Xiaobei Zheng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Studies have shown that infants from cultures with tone languages develop categorical perception of their native lexical tone before their first birthday, but few studies have explored whether, and when, they interpret the phonemic function of lexical tone in word learning. Two habituation-switch experiments were conducted to explore whether Mandarin-learning infants could exploit tonal cues during their word learning, and detect a change when the association of two word-object pairs was switched. In Experiment 1, two words were solely differentiated by their lexical tones (/fāi/ vs. /făi/), and Mandarin-learning infants failed to detect the switch of tones at 14 months, but succeeded at 18 months. In Experiment 2, two words were markedly distinct (/fāi/ vs. /bǒu/), and infants could detect the change of words as early as 14 months. The results indicate that infants may not refer to the lexical function of tone during their novel word learning until 18 months, even though infants from birth are able to distinguish the Tone 1 vs. Tone 3 contrast. Given that lexical tone is expressed by variations of the pitch contours, which are also related to intonation, infants’ increasing knowledge of both tone and intonation may contribute to their misinterpretation of pitch contours in word learning at 14 months and, further, to their development of a sophisticated use of the phonemic function of lexical tone at 18 months of age. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T07:30:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3e98ad6730be4208b3cc9c6f91aa69a4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T07:30:11Z |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-3e98ad6730be4208b3cc9c6f91aa69a42022-12-21T19:11:35ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782019-07-011010.3389/fpsyg.2019.01512408527Protracted Development on Native Tone Interpretation: Evidence From Mandarin-Learning Infants’ Novel Word LearningXiaobei Zheng0Yinglin Ji1Xiangzhi Meng2Research Centre for Language and Cognition, School of Foreign Languages, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaResearch Centre for Language and Cognition, School of Arts and Humanities, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, ChinaBeijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, ChinaStudies have shown that infants from cultures with tone languages develop categorical perception of their native lexical tone before their first birthday, but few studies have explored whether, and when, they interpret the phonemic function of lexical tone in word learning. Two habituation-switch experiments were conducted to explore whether Mandarin-learning infants could exploit tonal cues during their word learning, and detect a change when the association of two word-object pairs was switched. In Experiment 1, two words were solely differentiated by their lexical tones (/fāi/ vs. /făi/), and Mandarin-learning infants failed to detect the switch of tones at 14 months, but succeeded at 18 months. In Experiment 2, two words were markedly distinct (/fāi/ vs. /bǒu/), and infants could detect the change of words as early as 14 months. The results indicate that infants may not refer to the lexical function of tone during their novel word learning until 18 months, even though infants from birth are able to distinguish the Tone 1 vs. Tone 3 contrast. Given that lexical tone is expressed by variations of the pitch contours, which are also related to intonation, infants’ increasing knowledge of both tone and intonation may contribute to their misinterpretation of pitch contours in word learning at 14 months and, further, to their development of a sophisticated use of the phonemic function of lexical tone at 18 months of age.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01512/fullinfant word learningMandarin tonehabituationword-object associationtoneintonation |
| spellingShingle | Xiaobei Zheng Yinglin Ji Xiangzhi Meng Protracted Development on Native Tone Interpretation: Evidence From Mandarin-Learning Infants’ Novel Word Learning Frontiers in Psychology infant word learning Mandarin tone habituation word-object association tone intonation |
| title | Protracted Development on Native Tone Interpretation: Evidence From Mandarin-Learning Infants’ Novel Word Learning |
| title_full | Protracted Development on Native Tone Interpretation: Evidence From Mandarin-Learning Infants’ Novel Word Learning |
| title_fullStr | Protracted Development on Native Tone Interpretation: Evidence From Mandarin-Learning Infants’ Novel Word Learning |
| title_full_unstemmed | Protracted Development on Native Tone Interpretation: Evidence From Mandarin-Learning Infants’ Novel Word Learning |
| title_short | Protracted Development on Native Tone Interpretation: Evidence From Mandarin-Learning Infants’ Novel Word Learning |
| title_sort | protracted development on native tone interpretation evidence from mandarin learning infants novel word learning |
| topic | infant word learning Mandarin tone habituation word-object association tone intonation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01512/full |
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