Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Infancy. 2021 Nov;26(6):1037-1056. doi: 10.1111/infa.12429. Epub 2021 Sep 5.
The ability to differentiate between two languages sets the stage for bilingual learning. Infants can discriminate languages when hearing long passages, but language switches often occur on short time scales with few cues to language identity. As bilingual infants begin learning sequences of sounds and words, how do they detect the dynamics of two languages? In two studies using the head-turn preference procedure, we investigated whether infants (n = 44) can discriminate languages at the level of individual words. In Study 1, bilingual and monolingual 8- to 12-month-olds were tested on their detection of single-word language switching in lists of words (e.g., "dog… lait [fr. milk]"). In Study 2, they were tested on language switching within sentences (e.g., "Do you like the lait?"). We found that infants were unable to detect language switching in lists of words, but the results were inconclusive about infants' ability to detect language switching within sentences. No differences were observed between bilinguals and monolinguals. Given that bilingual proficiency eventually requires detection of sound sequences across two languages, more research will be needed to conclusively understand when and how this skill emerges. Materials, data, and analysis scripts are available at https://osf.io/9dtwn/.
区分两种语言的能力为双语学习奠定了基础。婴儿在听到长段落时就能辨别语言，但语言转换通常发生在很短的时间尺度内，语言身份的线索很少。随着双语婴儿开始学习声音和单词的序列，他们如何检测两种语言的动态？在使用转头偏好程序进行的两项研究中，我们研究了婴儿（n=44）是否可以在单个单词的水平上辨别语言。在研究 1 中，双语和单语 8 至 12 个月大的婴儿在单词列表（例如“dog…lait [fr. milk]”）中测试他们对单个单词语言转换的检测能力。在研究 2 中，他们在句子内测试语言转换（例如，“你喜欢牛奶吗？”）。我们发现婴儿无法检测到单词列表中的语言转换，但关于婴儿检测句子内语言转换的能力的结果尚无定论。双语者和单语者之间没有观察到差异。鉴于双语熟练程度最终需要在两种语言之间检测声音序列，需要进行更多的研究才能最终了解这种技能何时以及如何出现。材料、数据和分析脚本可在 https://osf.io/9dtwn/ 上获得。
