Acoustic Investigations of Cross-linguistic Variability in Babbling

Boysson-Bardies, Bénédicte de; Sagart, Laurent; Hallé, Pierre; Durand, Christophe

doi:10.1007/978-1-349-08023-6_9

Cited by 25 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…In the study of ambient language effects on long-term spectra of babbling samples [Boysson-Bardies et al, 1986], the above-mentioned double-peaked pattern for the Algerian Arabic infants was apparently less prominent than the one pertaining to the adults. Whereas it is reasonable to expect a less characteristic language-specific spectral pattern in 10-month-olds' babbles than in adult speech, it is nevertheless surprising that the high peak pertaining to the Algerian infants (1,600 Hz) was at the same frequency as the corresponding peak for the Algerian adult males, and lower than that for the Algerian adult females (1,720 Hz).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this vein, Boysson-Bardies et al [1984, p. 2] have remarked that (1) many previous studies were based on sound statistics only, while Boysson-Bardies and colleagues have used a variety of methods such as listeners' judgments and acoustical measurements; (2) that the use of a standardized transcription system such as the IPA alphabet may cause the data to become unduly uniform; (3) that transcribers have been biased by their native language; (4) that previous studies have focused on segments, whereas Boysson-Bardies and colleagues have also considered prosodic and other non-segmental dimensions; (5) and that most previous studies have aimed at interpreting babbling in terms of universal tendencies, thus ignoring early effects of the linguistic environment. In addition, Boysson-Bardies et al [1986] have remarked that 'most cross-language studies have ignored [less frequent sounds] and concentrated on high-frequency sounds instead ' [pp. 114-115]; and that 'looking for evidence supporting the hypothesis of an early influence of the target language on infant babbling, one should look into vowel sysDoes Babbling Sound Native?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does Babbling Sound Native? Listener Responses to Vocalizations Produced by Swedish and American 12- and 18-Month-Olds

Engstrand

Williams²,

Lacerda³

2003

Phonetica

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Previous studies of infants’ babbling have reported contradictory results as to the extent and timing of discernible phonetic influences of the ambient language. In the present experiment, five experienced phoneticians were asked to listen for ambient language effects on vocalizations produced by American and Swedish 12- and 18-month-olds (with 8 children in each language and age group), and to motivate their decisions in terms of word or phonetic cue perception. Group results indicated that listeners did not perceive effects of ambient language on pure babbles for either of the two age groups, whereas a clear effect appeared in both age groups given a more liberal definition of babbling. This is taken to suggest that results of ambient language listening tests may depend crucially on judgments of vocalizations’ word status. As compared to the group trends, listener responses to individual children’s vocalizations did not indicate that a majority of either 12- or 18-monthers were sufficiently native-sounding to be reliably identified on the basis of ambient language. A closer analysis of listeners’ use of phonetic cues indicated that one single phonetic property, the grave tonal word accent, was discerned by most listeners in vocalizations produced by the Swedish 18-monthers; this property was also discerned by one listener in vocalizations produced by Swedish 12-monthers. This result is consistent with the generally held belief in the primacy of tonal features in phonetic acquisition, and with experimental evidence indicating that Swedish mothers tend to enhance word accent contours in baby talk. In the final section of the paper, the results are discussed with a view to reconcile competing theories of babbling development, notably the ‘babbling drift’ and the ‘independence’ hypotheses.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Babbling Sound Native? Listener Responses to Vocalizations Produced by Swedish and American 12- and 18-Month-Olds

Engstrand

Williams²,

Lacerda³

2003

Phonetica

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“…The time-varying, broad spectral shape of the speech signal arises from the articulatory maneuvers of the speaker, so provides information about how to produce speech. Attending to that broad shape across the entire spectrum allows children to recover information about what to do with their own articulators (Best et al, 1989;Boysson-Bardies et al, 1986;Nittrouer and Crowther, 2001;Studdert-Kennedy, 2000). Thus, this spectrally broad perceptual strategy may represent one kind of schema that is innate, or at least learned early in life, and that suggestion provides a reason for why it is beneficial for children to integrate spectral components as strongly as they do.…”

Section: A Phonetic Coherence In Children's Speech Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gross spectral structure arises from the actions of the vocal tract above the larynx during speech production. Strong evidence that children attend to this level of structure, and do so from a young age, is provided by Boysson-Bardies et al (1986), who showed that the long-term, average spectra of babble produced by 10-months-old infants matched the long-term spectra of speech from adults in the language community of which the infants were a part. Thus, these infants already were sensitive to the postures and movements of the vocal tract that shape the gross spectral envelope of speech for their native language.…”

Section: Hypothesis 1: Unique Spectral Shapementioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining coherence in coherence masking protection for adults and children

Tarr

Nittrouer

2013

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Coherence masking protection (CMP) is the phenomenon in which a low-frequency target (typically a first formant) is labeled accurately in poorer signal-to-noise levels when combined with a high-frequency cosignal, rather than presented alone. An earlier study by the authors revealed greater CMP for children than adults, with more resistance to disruptions in harmonicity across spectral components [Nittrouer and Tarr (2011). Atten. Percept. Psychophys. 73, 2606Psychophys. 73, -2623. That finding was interpreted as demonstrating that children are obliged to process speech signals as broad spectral patterns, regardless of the harmonic structure of the spectral components. The current study tested three alternative, auditory explanations for the observed coherence of target þ cosignal: (1) unique spectral shapes of target þ cosignal support labeling, (2) periodicity of target þ cosignal promotes coherence, and (3) temporal synchrony across target þ cosignal reinforces temporal expectancies. Adults, eight-year-olds, and five-year-olds labeled stimuli in five conditions: F1 only and F1 þ a constant cosignal (both used previously) were benchmarks for comparing thresholds for F1 þ 3 new cosignals. Children again showed greater CMP than adults, but none of the three hypotheses could explain their CMP. It was again concluded that children are obliged to recognize speech signals as broad spectral patterns.

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“…6 In fact, the relative frequency of fronted, backed, and neutral frames in babbling can be influenced by the ambient language and the transition from babbling to early phonology is not an abrupt one (de Boysson-Bardies, Sagart, Halle, and Durand, 1986;de Boysson-Bardies and Vihman, 1991;de Boysson-Bardies, Vihman, Roug-Hellichius, et al, 1992;Davis, MacNeilage, Gildersleeve-Neumann, and Teixeira, 1999;Vihman, Ferguson, and Elbert, 1986). It is therefore reasonable to expect some cross-linguistic variation even in the earliest recorded data, leading to differences in the apparent segmental constitution of even very highly constrained output.…”

Section: Context-conditioned Patterns In Normally Developing Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context Conditioned Error Patterns in Disordered Systems

Bates¹,

Watson²,

Scobbie³

Handbook of Vowels and Vowel Disorders

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This chapter reviews and expands the literature on consonantvowel (CV) interactions in developing sound systems (normal and disordered) and explores the usefulness of current phonetic models (Davis and MacNeilage, 1995;Kent and Bauer, 1985;MacNeilage and Davis, 1990b;Studdert-Kennedy and Goodell, 1995) in accounting for and predicting the occurrence of these phenomena. The phonetic models provide a biological perspective insofar as the immature pronunciations of the normally developing child are viewed as systematic reflections of organic constraints imposed by the child's developing phonetic systems, both perceptual and motor. In the clinical setting, context conditioning manifests itself most frequently as consonantal speech errors, which only occur in specific vocalic contexts, although recent research has also uncovered evidence of vowel errors conditioned by consonantal context (Bates and Watson, 1995;Reynolds, 1990). Such interdependencies accord well with current phonetically orientated models of speech acquisition and have important implications for clinical practice.In espousing this approach, we do not intend to overlook the benefits of an analysis in terms of recent developments in phonological theory. This is an approach robustly argued in Harris, Watson, and Bates (1999), and taken up in Chapter 6. Rather, we consider the extent to which current phonetic models of speech acquisition contribute to an understanding of disordered child speech. Research into early speech production has traditionally concentrated on the order of acquisition of individual segments, especially consonants, carrying with it the assumption that vowels and consonants are under independent con-145

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Acoustic Investigations of Cross-linguistic Variability in Babbling

Cited by 25 publications

References 4 publications

Does Babbling Sound Native? Listener Responses to Vocalizations Produced by Swedish and American 12- and 18-Month-Olds

Does Babbling Sound Native? Listener Responses to Vocalizations Produced by Swedish and American 12- and 18-Month-Olds

Explaining coherence in coherence masking protection for adults and children

Context Conditioned Error Patterns in Disordered Systems

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