Perceptual Evidence for Young Children's Developing Knowledge of Phonotactic Probabilities

Abstract

Phonotactic probabilities and children's speech production have been investigated widely, in both children with typical language development and children with phonological delay. Research has also documented infants' sensitivities to phonotactic probabilities in infant speech perception, using methodologies that measure infants' listening preferences. However, few studies have examined phonotactic probabilities in speech perception past the first year of life with children who are already producing language. Two-year-old Dutch-learning children were tested on their ability to perceive segmental contrasts in nonwords composed of high and low phonotactic probabilities, controlled for word-onset and word-offset position. Analogous to previous results from production, results from perception indicated that segmental contrasts that were presented in high phonotactic probability environments were perceived more accurately than the same contrasts presented in low phonotactic probability environments. Children did not show differential perception of contrasts based on word position. The implications of the findings are discussed with respect to frequency-based effects in phonological acquisition.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported by The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research grant 275-75-001 awarded to Tania S. Zamuner. Thanks to Katherine Demuth, Suzanne van der Feest, Paula Fikkert, Elizabeth Johnson, Erik Jan van der Torre, and Ellen Westrek for helpful comments and assistance.