This study examined preferences for prosodic and structural properties of infant-directed speech (IDS) in 20 infants, 11 girls and 9 boys, ages 0;11;3 to 0;13;0 (mean age 0;11;28). It was hypothesized that year-old infants would demonstrate a preference for infant-directed structure (IS) over adult-directed structure (AS) regardless of prosody, and that infants would demonstrate no preference for either infant-directed prosody (IP) or adult-directed prosody (AP) regardless of structure. Listening times to passages were compared across infants for four conditions: IS/IP; IS/AP; AS/IP; AS/AP. Results indicate a non-significant but noticeable trend toward a preference for infant-directed structure. In addition, weak correlations were found between vocabulary size and strength of preference for adult-directed prosody, and between age and strength of preference for adult-directed prosody. A non-significant but noticeable interaction was found between prosody and structure and vocabulary. Overall, infants appear to prefer listening to infant-directed structure to adult-directed structure; more advanced language learners show a stronger preference for adult-directed prosody than do their less advanced age-mates; older infants show a stronger preference for adult-directed prosody than do younger infants; and preference for infant-directed structure (but not infant-directed prosody) depends on vocabulary level.
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机译:这项研究检查了20岁的婴儿,11岁的女孩和9岁的男孩,年龄0; 11; 3至0; 13; 0(平均年龄0; 11; 28)对韵律和结构特征的偏爱。据推测,无论韵律如何,一岁的婴儿将表现出对婴儿导向结构(IS)的偏好,而不是成人导向的结构(AS),并且婴儿对婴儿导向的韵律(IP)或成人均不显示偏好。定向韵律(AP),无论其结构如何。在四个条件下,对婴儿的听音时间进行了比较:IS / IP; IS / AP; AS / IP;尽快。结果表明,偏爱婴儿导向结构的趋势不明显但很明显。此外,发现词汇量与成人指导的韵律偏好之间的弱关联以及年龄与成人指导的韵律偏好之间的弱关联。在韵律与结构和词汇之间发现了不重要但明显的相互作用。总体而言,婴儿似乎比听成人指导的结构更喜欢听婴儿指导的结构。较高级的语言学习者较不高级的同龄人更倾向于成人指导的韵律。年龄较大的婴儿比年龄较小的婴儿更倾向于成人指导的韵律;对婴儿导向结构(而非婴儿导向韵律)的偏好取决于词汇水平。
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