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The development of phonetic representation in bilingual and monolingual infants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2007

TRACEY C. BURNS ,
KATHERINE A. YOSHIDA ,
KAREN HILL  and
JANET F. WERKER
TRACEY C. BURNS
Affiliation:
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
KATHERINE A. YOSHIDA
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
KAREN HILL
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
JANET F. WERKER
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia
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Abstract

The development of native language phonetic representations in bilingual infants was compared to that of monolingual infants. Infants (ages 6–8, 10–12, and 14–20 months) from English–French or English-only environments were tested on their ability to discriminate a French and an English voice onset time distinction. Although 6- to 8-month-olds responded similarly irrespective of language environment, by 10–12 months both groups of infants displayed language-specific perceptual abilities: the monolinguals demonstrated realignment to the native English boundary whereas the bilinguals began discriminating both native boundaries. This suggests that infants exposed to two languages from birth are equipped to phonetically process each as a native language and the development of phonetic representation is neither delayed nor compromised by additional languages.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , July 2007 , pp. 455 - 474
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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