Bent Tessa, Holt Rachael Frush
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, USA.
Department of Speech and Hearing Science, Ohio State University, USA.
Lang Speech. 2018 Dec;61(4):657-673. doi: 10.1177/0023830918754598. Epub 2018 Feb 5.
Children's ability to understand speakers with a wide range of dialects and accents is essential for efficient language development and communication in a global society. Here, the impact of regional dialect and foreign-accent variability on children's speech understanding was evaluated in both quiet and noisy conditions. Five- to seven-year-old children ( n = 90) and adults ( n = 96) repeated sentences produced by three speakers with different accents-American English, British English, and Japanese-accented English-in quiet or noisy conditions. Adults had no difficulty understanding any speaker in quiet conditions. Their performance declined for the nonnative speaker with a moderate amount of noise; their performance only substantially declined for the British English speaker (i.e., below 93% correct) when their understanding of the American English speaker was also impeded. In contrast, although children showed accurate word recognition for the American and British English speakers in quiet conditions, they had difficulty understanding the nonnative speaker even under ideal listening conditions. With a moderate amount of noise, their perception of British English speech declined substantially and their ability to understand the nonnative speaker was particularly poor. These results suggest that although school-aged children can understand unfamiliar native dialects under ideal listening conditions, their ability to recognize words in these dialects may be highly susceptible to the influence of environmental degradation. Fully adult-like word identification for speakers with unfamiliar accents and dialects may exhibit a protracted developmental trajectory.
在全球社会中，儿童理解具有广泛方言和口音的说话者的能力对于有效的语言发展和交流至关重要。在此，研究了在安静和嘈杂条件下，地区方言和外国口音变化对儿童言语理解的影响。5至7岁儿童（n = 90）和成年人（n = 96）在安静或嘈杂条件下重复由三位具有不同口音的说话者说出的句子——美式英语、英式英语和日式英语口音。成年人在安静条件下理解任何说话者都没有困难。对于非母语说话者，在有适量噪音时他们的表现会下降；只有当他们对美式英语说话者的理解也受到阻碍时，他们对英式英语说话者的表现才会大幅下降（即正确率低于93%）。相比之下，虽然儿童在安静条件下对美式和英式英语说话者的单词识别准确，但即使在理想的听力条件下，他们理解非母语说话者也有困难。在有适量噪音时，他们对英式英语语音的感知大幅下降，并且他们理解非母语说话者的能力特别差。这些结果表明，虽然学龄儿童在理想听力条件下能够理解不熟悉的本土方言，但他们识别这些方言中单词的能力可能极易受到环境恶化的影响。对于具有不熟悉口音和方言的说话者，完全像成年人一样的单词识别可能呈现出一个漫长的发展轨迹。
