ERIC Number: EJ883373
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0009-3920
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Connecting Cues: Overlapping Regularities Support Cue Discovery in Infancy
Sahni, Sarah D.; Seidenberg, Mark S.; Saffran, Jenny R.
Child Development, v81 n3 p727-736 May-Jun 2010
The present work examined the discovery of linguistic cues during a word segmentation task. Whereas previous studies have focused on sensitivity to individual cues, this study addresses how individual cues may be used to discover additional, correlated cues. Twenty-four 9-month-old infants were familiarized with a speech stream in which syllable-level transitional probabilities and an overlapping novel cue served as cues to word boundaries. Infants' behavior at test indicated that they were able to discover the novel cue. Additional experiments showed that infants did not have a preexisting preference for specific test items and that transitional probability information was necessary to acquire the novel cue. Results suggest one way learners can discover relevant linguistic structure amid the multiple overlapping properties of natural language.
Descriptors: Cues, Test Items, Infants, Word Recognition, Probability, Language Acquisition, Task Analysis, Phonemes, Familiarity, Child Development, Child Language
Wiley-Blackwell. 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Tel: 800-835-6770; Tel: 781-388-8598; Fax: 781-388-8232; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: http://www.wiley.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/WileyCDA/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A