Krentz Ursula C, Corina David P
Department of Psychology, University of Washington, USA.
Dev Sci. 2008 Jan;11(1):1-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2007.00652.x.
Fundamental to infants' acquisition of their native language is an inherent interest in the language spoken around them over non-linguistic environmental sounds. The following studies explored whether the bias for linguistic signals in hearing infants is specific to speech, or reflects a general bias for all human language, spoken and signed. Results indicate that 6-month-old infants prefer an unfamiliar, visual-gestural language (American Sign Language) over non-linguistic pantomime, but 10-month-olds do not. These data provide evidence against a speech-specific bias in early infancy and provide insights into those properties of human languages that may underlie this language-general attentional bias.
婴儿习得母语的基础是，他们对周围所说语言有着内在兴趣，这种兴趣超过了对非语言环境声音的兴趣。以下研究探讨了听力正常的婴儿对语言信号的偏好是否仅限于言语，还是反映了对所有人类语言（包括口语和手语）的普遍偏好。结果表明，6个月大的婴儿更喜欢一种不熟悉的视觉手势语言（美国手语），而不是非语言的手势哑剧，但10个月大的婴儿则不然。这些数据提供了证据，反驳了婴儿早期存在特定于言语的偏好这一观点，并深入了解了可能构成这种语言普遍注意力偏好基础的人类语言属性。
