1: Prelinguistic Speech Processing Flashcards
define: syntax
rules about how words go together
define: semantics
what language means
define: phonology
the small units that make up language
define: prosody
The pattern of stress and intonation in a language
define: phonemes
The perceptually distinct units of sound in a language that distinguish one word from another
when is the foetal auditory system full developed?
last trimester
during the last trimester what voices do babies prefer?
their mother’s
can infants in the last trimester distinguish between languages with different prosody?
yes - eg German vs Spanish
can infants in the last trimester distinguish between languages with similar prosody?
no - eg English & Dutch
At what age can an infant distinguish between all sounds?
1-2 months
At what age is there a systematic decline in ability to distinguish sounds from non target language and increase for target language?
7-11 months
at what age can children segment words from their language
~ 7.5 months
How does infant directed speech help children develop linguistic speech
Infants prefer to listen to IDS and interact with people who use IDS.
More attentive around IDS
Infants segment speech better with IDS than adult-directed speech (ADS)
How do words act as anchors in linguistic understanding & development?
Highly frequent understood words help children distinguish the start and end of new words
By what age are children sensitive to frequent first (eg the dog) or frequent final (eg dog the) languages?
8 months
