Abstract
Three well-established characteristics of child vocal production pose a puzzle: How can we reconcile its seeming ‘universality’ with its variability by language of exposure and the individual differences found even within a single language group? Here we first separately consider ‘universals’, ambient language effects and individual differences, to gain an overview of basic findings in development of both perception and production over the first 18-24 months of life. We then focus on cross-linguistic differences in word recognition and production. This permits us to trace the emergence of individual yet typologically characteristic child word forms back to infants’ inborn sensitivity to rhythm and the initial rhythmic pacing of their production, to gain a perspective on how early rhythms are integrated in the construction of phonological knowledge.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Handbook of Language Emergence |
| Editors | Brian MacWhinney, William O'Grady |
| Place of Publication | Malden, MA |
| Publisher | Wiley-Blackwell |
| Pages | 437-457 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-1-118-30175-3 |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2015 |
Keywords
- ambient language effects
- cross-linguistic
- individual differences
- phonological development
- rhythm
- speech perception
- universals
- vocal production
- word recognition