Myers J, Jusczyk P W, Kemler Nelson D G, Charles-Luce J, Woodward A L, Hirsh-Pasek K
Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Buffalo 14260, USA.
J Child Lang. 1996 Feb;23(1):1-30. doi: 10.1017/s0305000900010072.
Infants' sensitivity to word units in fluent speech was examined by inserting I sec pauses either at boundaries between successive words (Coincident versions) or between syllables within words (Noncoincident versions). In Experiment 1, 24 11-month-olds listened significantly longer to the Coincident versions. In Experiment 2, 24 four-and-a-half- and 24 nine-month-olds did not exhibit the preference for the Coincident versions that the 11-month-olds showed. When the stimuli were low-pass filtered in Experiment 3, 24 11-month-olds showed no preference for the Coincident versions, suggesting they rely on more than prosodic cues. New stimulus materials in Experiment 4 indicated that responses by 24 11-month-olds to the Coincident and Noncoindent versions did not depend solely on prior familiarity with the targets. Two groups of 30 11-month-olds tested in Experiment 5 were as sensitive to groups of 30 11-month-olds tested in Experiment 5 were as sensitive to boundaries for Strong/Weak words as for Weak/Strong words. Taken together, the results suggest that, by 11 months, infants are sensitive to word boundaries in fluent speech, and that this sensitivity depends on more than just prosodic information or prior knowledge of the words.
通过在连续单词之间的边界处（一致版本）或单词内的音节之间插入1秒的停顿，来检验婴儿对流畅言语中单词单元的敏感度。在实验1中，24名11个月大的婴儿对一致版本的聆听时间明显更长。在实验2中，24名4个半月大的婴儿和24名9个月大的婴儿并未表现出11个月大婴儿所表现出的对一致版本的偏好。在实验3中，当对刺激进行低通滤波时，24名11个月大的婴儿对一致版本没有表现出偏好，这表明他们所依赖的不仅仅是韵律线索。实验4中的新刺激材料表明，24名11个月大的婴儿对一致版本和非一致版本的反应并不完全取决于之前对目标的熟悉程度。在实验5中测试的两组30名11个月大的婴儿对强/弱单词组的边界和弱/强单词组的边界同样敏感。综合来看，结果表明，到11个月大时，婴儿对流畅言语中的单词边界敏感，而且这种敏感度不仅仅取决于韵律信息或对单词的先验知识。
