Nine-month-olds extract structural principles required for natural language

Louann Gerken

doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2003.11.005

Nine-month-olds extract structural principles required for natural language

Louann Gerken

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Infants' ability to rapidly extract properties of language-like systems during brief laboratory exposures has been taken as evidence about the innate linguistic state of humans. However, previous studies have focused on structural properties that are not central to descriptions of natural language. In the current study, infants were exposed to 3- and 5-syllable words from one of the two artificial languages that employed the same stress assignment constraints found in natural languages. Infants were able to generalize beyond the stress patterns encountered during familiarization to new patterns reflecting the same constraints. The results suggest that infants are able to rapidly extract the types of structural information required for human language.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	B89-B96
Journal	Cognition
Volume	93
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2003.11.005
State	Published - Oct 2004
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Infants
Learner
Metrical phonology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Language and Linguistics
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Linguistics and Language
Cognitive Neuroscience

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10.1016/j.cognition.2003.11.005

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title = "Nine-month-olds extract structural principles required for natural language",

abstract = "Infants' ability to rapidly extract properties of language-like systems during brief laboratory exposures has been taken as evidence about the innate linguistic state of humans. However, previous studies have focused on structural properties that are not central to descriptions of natural language. In the current study, infants were exposed to 3- and 5-syllable words from one of the two artificial languages that employed the same stress assignment constraints found in natural languages. Infants were able to generalize beyond the stress patterns encountered during familiarization to new patterns reflecting the same constraints. The results suggest that infants are able to rapidly extract the types of structural information required for human language.",

keywords = "Infants, Learner, Metrical phonology",

author = "Louann Gerken",

note = "Funding Information: I thank T. Bever, A. Carter, G. Dell, R. G{\'o}mez, M. Hammond, P. Neher and M. Piattelli-Palmerini for comments and suggestions on earlier drafts, and D. Guest for help with the experimental materials. This research was funded by NIH grant R01HD42170 to R. G{\'o}mez, L.A. Gerken and E. Plante.",

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N2 - Infants' ability to rapidly extract properties of language-like systems during brief laboratory exposures has been taken as evidence about the innate linguistic state of humans. However, previous studies have focused on structural properties that are not central to descriptions of natural language. In the current study, infants were exposed to 3- and 5-syllable words from one of the two artificial languages that employed the same stress assignment constraints found in natural languages. Infants were able to generalize beyond the stress patterns encountered during familiarization to new patterns reflecting the same constraints. The results suggest that infants are able to rapidly extract the types of structural information required for human language.

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Nine-month-olds extract structural principles required for natural language

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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