Quam Carolyn, Swingley Daniel
Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Walnut Street, Suite 400A.
J Mem Lang. 2010 Feb 1;62(2):135-150. doi: 10.1016/j.jml.2009.09.003.
Phonology provides a system by which a limited number of types of phonetic variation can signal communicative intentions at multiple levels of linguistic analysis. Because phonologies vary from language to language, acquiring the phonology of a language demands learning to attribute phonetic variation appropriately. Here, we studied the case of pitch-contour variation. In English, pitch contour does not differentiate words, but serves other functions, like marking yes/no questions and conveying emotions. We show that, in accordance with their phonology, English-speaking adults and two-year-olds do not interpret salient pitch contours as inherent to novel words. We taught participants a new word with consistent segmental and pitch characteristics, and then tested word recognition for trained and deviant pronunciations using an eyegaze-based procedure. Vowel-quality mispronunciations impaired recognition, but large changes in pitch contour did not. By age two, children already apply their knowledge of English phonology to interpret phonetic consistencies in their experience with words.
音系学提供了一个系统，通过这个系统，有限数量的语音变体类型能够在语言分析的多个层面上传递交际意图。由于不同语言的音系各不相同，学习一门语言的音系需要学会恰当地对语音变体进行归因。在此，我们研究了音高轮廓变化的情况。在英语中，音高轮廓并不区分单词，而是发挥其他功能，比如标记是非疑问句和传达情感。我们发现，根据其音系，说英语的成年人和两岁儿童不会将明显的音高轮廓视为新单词所固有的特征。我们用具有一致的音段和音高特征的方式教参与者一个新单词，然后使用基于眼动的程序测试对训练发音和异常发音的单词识别能力。元音质量错误发音会损害识别能力，但音高轮廓的大幅变化则不会。到两岁时，儿童已经运用他们对英语音系的知识来解读他们在单词体验中的语音一致性。
