Development of Phonological Constancy: 19‐Month‐Olds, but Not 15‐Month‐Olds, Identify Words in a Non‐Native Regional Accent

Abstract

By 12 months, children grasp that a phonetic change to a word can change its identity (phonological distinctiveness). However, they must also grasp that some phonetic changes do not (phonological constancy). To test development of phonological constancy, 16 15-month-olds and 16 19-month-olds completed an eye-tracking task that tracked their gaze to named versus unnamed images for familiar words spoken in their native (Australian) and an unfamiliar non-native (Jamaican) regional accent of English. Both groups looked longer at named than unnamed images for Australian pronunciations, but only 19-month-olds did so for Jamaican pronunciations, indicating that phonological constancy emerges by 19 months. Vocabulary size predicted 15-month-olds' identifications for the Jamaican pronunciations, suggesting vocabulary growth is a viable predictor for phonological constancy development.

Effects of contextual support on preschoolers’ accented speech comprehension

“…As noted earlier, vocabulary size and chronological age correlated with overall accuracy, though not for accented speech specifically. This fits with existing findings in infants and toddlers that vocabulary size predicts better accented speech comprehension (Mulak et al, 2013;, and with studies which suggest that age increases from childhood to adulthood are correlated with accented speech comprehension (Bent 2014;Bent & Atagi, 2015; as well as Nathan et al, 1998). In a group of 4-to 7-year-olds, Bent (2014) found correlations of children's speech-in-noise recognition with both vocabulary size and age, with no clear differences in the strength of the correlations for familiar and unfamiliar accents.…”

“…(25 months for Canadian toddlers hearing Australian-accented English; van Heugten, Krieger, & Johnson, 2015; 19 months for Australian toddlers hearing Jamaican-accented English: Mulak et al, 2013), and newly-learned words if they have brief exposure to the accent (Schmale, Cristia, & Seidl, 2012). By 2.5 years, children no longer need accent exposure for recognizing familiar words (Van Heugten & Johnson, in press) or newly-learned words (Schmale, Hollich, & Seidl, 2011).…”

Toddlers’ Word Recognition in an Unfamiliar Regional Accent: The Role of Local Sentence Context and Prior Accent Exposure

“…In comparison to most other speaker-related information affecting the acousticphonetic variability in the speech signal (e.g., gender, age, mood), unfamiliar accents can be notoriously challenging to cope with because, depending on the population, children may have far less experience with this type of variation early on in life. Perhaps, as a result, children continue to experience difficulty with unfamiliar accents long after they have learned to recognize words produced by unfamiliar speakers of their own regional background (Best et al, 2009;Floccia et al, 2012;Mulak et al, 2013;van Heugten & Johnson, 2014;van Heugten et al, 2015). In other words, accented speech remains appropriately susceptible to task demands in toddlerhood.…”

Exposure to multiple accents supports infants’ understanding of novel accents

“…Adult listeners process speech produced with an unknown accent more slowly than familiar-accented speech (e.g., Adank, Evans, Stuart-Smith, & Scotti, 2009; Cristià et al, 2012; Schmid & Yeni-Komshian, 1999), and less proficient language users have even more difficulty comprehending unfamiliar accents (e.g., Nathan & Wells, 2001; Nathan, Wells, & Donlan, 1998; Newton & Ridgway, 2016; Schmale, Hollich, & Seidl, 2011; Van Heugten, Krieger, & Johnson, 2015). Infants are particularly hindered by novel accents (e.g., Best, Tyler, Gooding, Orlando & Quann, 2009; Mulak, Best, Tyler, Kitamura, & Irwin, 2013; Van Heugten & Johnson, 2014). …”