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. 1980 Mar;51(1):107-12.

Effects of early linguistic experience on speech discrimination by infants: a critique of Eiler, Gavin, and Wilson (1979)

R N Aslin, D B Pisoni

Effects of early linguistic experience on speech discrimination by infants: a critique of Eiler, Gavin, and Wilson (1979)

R N Aslin et al. Child Dev. 1980 Mar.

Abstract

In a recent report in this journal, Eilers, Gavin, and Wilson (1979) presented discrimination data obtained from 2 groups of infants exposed to different language-learning environments. The results showed differences in voice onset time (VOT) discrimination between Spanish and English infants, suggesting an effect of early linguistic experience. A critique of this study indicates that such conclusions about the effects of early experience on speech perception are unwarranted on both methodological and conceptual grounds. Methodological flaws include the absence of reliable statistical analyses and the failure to guard against experimenter bias effects. Conceptual flaws involve the erroneous interpretation of failures to discriminate certain selected speech contrasts. Inferences concerning the developmental course of speech perception in young infants based on the results of the Eilers et al. study need to be interpreted cautiously in light of these serious criticisms.

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References

Reference Notes

    1. Williams CL. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Harvard University; 1974. Speech perception and production as a function of exposure to a second language.
    1. Aslin RN, Pisoni DB. Some developmental processes in speech perception. Paper presented at the NICHD conference on Child Phonology: Perception, Production and Deviation; Bethesda, Maryland. May 28–31, 1978.
    1. Aslin RN, Hennessy B, Pisoni DB, Perey AJ. Individual infants’ discrimination of voice onset time: evidence for three modes of voicing. Paper presented at the Biennial Meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development; San Francisco. March 1979.

References

    1. Aslin RN, Pisoni DB, Hennessy B, Perey AJ. Identification and discrimination of a new linguistic contrast. In: Wolf JJ, Klatt DH, editors. Speech communication papers presented at the 97th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America; New York: Acoustical Society of America; 1979.
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    1. Eilers RE, Wilson WR, Moore JM. Developmental changes in speech discrimination in infants. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders. 1977;20:766–780. - PubMed
    1. Eimas PD, Siqueland ER, Jusczyk P, Vigorito J. Speech perception in infants. Science. 1971;171:303–306. - PubMed
    1. Hays WL. Statistics for the social sciences. 2. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston; 1973.

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