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Perception of sibilant–liquid phonotactic frequency in full-term and preterm infants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2019

Brenna HENRIKSON ,
Amanda SEIDL  and
Melanie SODERSTROM Open the ORCID record for Melanie SODERSTROM [Opens in a new window]
Brenna HENRIKSON
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Canada
Amanda SEIDL
Affiliation:
Purdue University, USA
Melanie SODERSTROM*
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, 66 Chancellors Cir, Winnipeg, R3T 2N2. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

We examined full-term and preterm infants’ perception of frequent and infrequent phonotactic pairings involving sibilants and liquids. Infants were tested on their preference for syllables with onsets involving /s/ or /ʃ/ followed by /l/ or /r/ using the Headturn Preference Procedure. Full-term infants preferred the frequent to the infrequent phonotactic pairings at 9 months, but not at either younger or older ages. Evidence was inconclusive regarding a possible difference between full-term and preterm samples; however, limitations on the preterm sample size limited our power to detect differences. Preference for the frequent pairing was not related to later vocabulary development.

Keywords

infant speech perceptionphonotacticspreterm infants
Type
Brief Research Reports
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 47 , Issue 4 , July 2020 , pp. 893 - 907
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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