Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T13:50:44.108Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Infant learning of words in a typologically distant nonnative language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2020

Hui CHEN ,
Dahliane LABERTONIÈRE ,
Hintat CHEUNG  and
Thierry NAZZI
Hui CHEN*
Affiliation:
CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Paris, France Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France
Dahliane LABERTONIÈRE
Affiliation:
CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Paris, France Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France
Hintat CHEUNG
Affiliation:
The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Thierry NAZZI
Affiliation:
CNRS, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Paris, France Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France
*
*Corresponding author: Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, Université Paris Descartes, Université de Paris, Paris, France. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Infants attune to their native language during the first two years of life, as attested by decreases in the processing of nonnative phonological sounds and reductions in the range of possible sounds accepted as labels for native words. The present study shows that French-learning infants aged 1;8 can learn new words in an unfamiliar language, Cantonese, after just 6 repetitions of each word. This shows that word learning in a nonnative language remains possible during the second year of life even in a nonnative language that is typologically distinct from the native language.

Keywords

early language acquisitionword learninglanguage attunementFrenchCantonese
Type
Brief Research Reports
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 47 , Issue 6 , November 2020 , pp. 1276 - 1287
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bates, E., Bretherton, I., & Snyder, L. (1988). From first words to grammar: Individual differences and dissociable mechanisms. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bergelson, E., & Swingley, D. (2012). At 6–9 months, human infants know the meanings of many common nouns. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 109, 3253–3258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Best, C. T., McRoberts, G. W., & Sithole, N. M. (1988). Examination of perceptual reorganization for nonnative speech contrasts: Zulu click discrimination by English-speaking adults and infants. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 14(3), 345–360.Google ScholarPubMed
Bijeljac-Babic, R., Nassurally, K., Havy, M., & Nazzi, T. (2009). Infants can rapidly learn words in a foreign language. Infant Behavior and Development, 32, 476–480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birdsong, D. (2006). Age and second language acquisition and processing: A selective overview. Language Learning, 56, 9–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
da Estrela, C., & Byers-Heinlein, K. (2016). Vois-tu le kem? Do you see the bos? Foreign word learning at 14 months. Infancy, 21(4), 505–521.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietrich, C., Swingley, D., & Werker, J. F. (2007). Native language governs interpretation of salient speech sound differences at 18 months. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104 (41), 16027–16031.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
DeLancey, S. (2009). “Sino-Tibetan languages,” in The World's Major Languages, 2nd Edn, Ed Comrie, B. (pp. 693–702). London; New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Fennell, C. T., & Byers-Heinlein, K. (2014). You sound like Mommy: Bilingual and monolingual infants learn words best from speakers typical of their language environments. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 38, 309–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fennell, C. T., Byers-Heinlein, K., & Werker, J. F. (2007). Using speech sounds to guide word learning: The case of bilingual infants. Child Development, 78, 1510–1525. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01080.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fernald, A., Perfors, A., & Marchman, V. A. (2006). Picking up speed in understanding: speech processing efficiency and vocabulary growth across the 2nd year. Developmental Psychology, 42(1), 98–116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gong, H. C. (1980). A comparative study of the chinese, tibetan, and burmese vowel systems. Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. 51, 455–489.Google Scholar
Gonzalez-Gomez, N., Poltrock, S., & Nazzi, T. (2013). A “bat” is easier to learn than a “tab”: Effects of relative phonotactic frequency on infant word learning. PLOS ONE, 8:e59601. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059601CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graf Estes, K., Edwards, J., & Saffran, J. R. (2011). Phonotactic constraints on infant word learning. Infancy, 16, 180–197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grosjean, F. (1982). Life with Two Languages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Havy, M., Bouchon, C., & Nazzi, T. (2016). Phonetic processing when learning words: The case of bilingual infants. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 40(1), 41–52. doi:10.1177/0165025415570646CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jusczyk, P. W., Luce, P. A., & Charles-Luce, J. (1994). Infants’ sensibility to phonotactic patterns in the native language. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 630–645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kern, S. (2003). Le compte-rendu parental au service de l’évaluation de la production lexicale des enfants français entre 16 et 30 mois. (The parental questionnaire as a tool to evaluate lexical production by French infants between 16 and 30 months of age). Glossa, 85, 48–62.Google Scholar
Kuhl, P. K., Williams, K. A., Lacerda, F., Stevens, K. N., & Lindblom, B. (1992). Linguistic experience alters phonetic perception in infants by 6 months of age. Science, 255, 606–608.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuhl, P. K., Tsao, F. M., & Liu, H. M. (2003). Foreign-language experience in infancy: Effects of short-term exposure and social interaction on phonetic learning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 100, 9096–9101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, L., & Kager, R. (2018). Monolingual and bilingual infants' ability to use non-native tone for word learning deteriorates by the second year after birth. Frontiers in Psychology, 9:117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luk, G., & Bialystok, E. (2013). Bilingualism is not a categorical variable: Interaction between language proficiency and usage. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25, 605–621.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKenzie, H., Curtin, S., & Graham, S.A. (2012). 12-month-olds’ phonotactic knowledge guides their word–object mappings. Child Development, 83, 1129–1136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marchman, V. A., & Fernald, A. (2008). Speed of word recognition and vocabulary knowledge in infancy predict cognitive and language outcomes in later childhood. Developmental Science, 11, F9–F16. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00671.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
May, L., & Werker, J. F. (2014). Can a click be a word?: Infants' learning of non-native words. Infancy, 19(3), 281–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mehler, J., Jusczyk, E. W., Lambertz, G., Halsted, N., Bertoncini, J., & Amiel-Tison, C. (1988). A precursor of language acquisition in young infants. Cognition, 29, 143–178.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Namy, L. L. (2001). What's in a name when it isn't a word? 17-month-olds' mapping of nonverbal symbols to object categories. Infancy, 2(1), 73–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Namy, L. L., & Waxman, S. R. (1998). Words and Gestures: Infants’ interpretations of different forms of symbolic reference. Child Development, 69, 295–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nazzi, T. (2005). Use of phonetic specificity during the acquisition of new words: differences between consonants and vowels. Cognition, 98, 13–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nazzi, T., Bertoncini, J., & Bijeljac-Babic, R. (2009). A perceptual equivalent of the labial-coronal effect in the first year of life. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 126, 1440–1446. doi:10.1121/1.3158931CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nazzi, T., Bertoncini, J., & Mehler, J. (1998). Language discrimination by newborns: Toward an understanding of the role of rhythm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Per ception and Performance, 24(3), 756–766. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.24.3.756Google ScholarPubMed
Polka, L., & Werker, J. F. (1994). Developmental changes in perception of non-native vowel contrasts. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 20, 421–435.Google Scholar
Poltrock, S., Chen, H., Kwok, C., Cheung, H., & Nazzi, T. (2018). Adult learning of novel words in a non-native language: Consonants, vowels, and tones. Frontiers in Psychology, 9:1211. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01211CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roseberry Lytle, S., Garcia-Sierra, A., & Kuhl, P. K. (2018). Two are better than one: Infant language learning from video improves in the presence of peers. Proceedings from the National Academy of Science, 115, 9859–9866.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, L. (2018). Bilingual infants demonstrate advantages in learning words in a third language. Child Development, 89(4), e397–e413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tardiff, T., & Fetcher, P. (2008). Chinese Communicative Development Inventories: User's guide and manual (Putonghua and Cantonese versions). Beijing, China: Peking University Medical Press.Google Scholar
Tincoff, R., & Jusczyk, P.W. (1999). Some beginnings of word comprehension in 6-month-olds. Psychological Science, 10, 172–175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tincoff, R., & Jusczyk, P. W. (2012). Six-month-olds comprehend words that refer to parts of the body. Infancy, 17, 432–444.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werker, J. F., & Tees, R. C. (1984). Cross-language speech perception: Evidence for perceptual reorganization during the first year of life. Infant Behavior and Development, 4(1), 49–63. doi:10.1016/S0163-6383(84)80022-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, A. L., & Hoyne, K. (1999). Infants’ learning about words and sounds in relation to objects. Child Development, 70, 65–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed