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Development of Phonological Constancy: 19‐Month‐Olds, but Not 15‐Month‐Olds, Identify Words in a Non‐Native Regional Accent
Author(s) -
Mulak Karen E.,
Best Catherine T.,
Tyler Michael D.,
Kitamura Christine,
Irwin Julia R.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12087
Subject(s) - psychology , stress (linguistics) , vocabulary development , vocabulary , phonology , linguistics , gaze , optimal distinctiveness theory , psycholinguistics , phonological development , cognitive psychology , cognition , philosophy , neuroscience , psychoanalysis , psychotherapist
By 12 months, children grasp that a phonetic change to a word can change its identity ( phonological distinctiveness ). However, they must also grasp that some phonetic changes do not ( phonological constancy ). To test development of phonological constancy, sixteen 15‐month‐olds and sixteen 19‐month‐olds completed an eye‐tracking task that tracked their gaze to named versus unnamed images for familiar words spoken in their native ( A ustralian) and an unfamiliar non‐native ( J amaican) regional accent of E nglish. Both groups looked longer at named than unnamed images for A ustralian pronunciations, but only 19‐month‐olds did so for J amaican pronunciations, indicating that phonological constancy emerges by 19 months. Vocabulary size predicted 15‐month‐olds' identifications for the Jamaican pronunciations, suggesting vocabulary growth is a viable predictor for phonological constancy development.