Do Infants Discriminate Hyper-from Non-Hyperarticulated Speech?

Several studies have found that adult caretakers usually hyperarticulate to infants by modifying their voice in ways that promote and sustain infants' attention. This articulation when engaging in infant directed speech (IDS) can result in "clear speech" by the expansion of the vowel space area. The degree of speech clarity produced by caregivers appears to provide advantages for young language learners to promote lexical perception and learning. However few studies have ever examined whether infants are able to perceive the difference between hyperarticulation and normal speech. In this study, 7-to 12-month-olds' (n=17) speech discrimination when hearing hyperarticulated and non-hyperarticulated words in mothers' natural speech production was examined. The degree of speech clarity was determined by the relations of the first (F1) and second formant frequencies (F2) of the vowel. The result showed that there was no discrimination between listening to hyperarticulated and non-hyperarticulated words, indicating that the benefit accrued by exposure to clear speech may require no selective attention on the part of the infant. Thus the advantages of hyperarticulation might be related to other characteristics.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Department dc:contributor.department

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Wu, Qiong

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Cooper, Robin K. Panneton

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Friedman, Bruce H.
• Fritz, Matthew

• hyperarticulated speech
• discrimination
• attention
• Infants

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-02242011-140939

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/41287