A5091020137- Language Development and Disorders
- Phonetics and Phonology Research
- Reading and Literacy Development
- Linguistic Variation and Morphology
- Child and Animal Learning Development
- Speech Recognition and Synthesis
- Infant Health and Development
- Speech and dialogue systems
- Child Development and Digital Technology
- Multisensory perception and integration
- Speech and Audio Processing
- Hearing Loss and Rehabilitation
- Early Childhood Education and Development
- Categorization, perception, and language
- Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
- Action Observation and Synchronization
- Motor Control and Adaptation
- Language and cultural evolution
- Hearing Impairment and Communication
- Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Natural Language Processing Techniques
- Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Text Readability and Simplification
- Subtitles and Audiovisual Media
University of California, Los Angeles
2014-2025
Center for Applied Linguistics
2021-2023
University of Washington
2006-2009
McGill University
2000-2008
Google (United States)
2008
Seattle University
2005
University Health Network
2001
University of Toronto
2001
Toronto Western Hospital
2001
ABSTRACT Six experiments explored Parisian French-learning infants' ability to segment bisyllabic words from fluent speech. The first goal was assess whether word segmentation emerges later in infants acquiring European French compared other languages. second determine learning different dialects of the same language have partly abilities, and segmenting a non-native dialect has cost. Infants were tested on standard or Canadian stimuli, word–passage passage–word order. Our study establishes...
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, cultures, both in form prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used diversity bilingual infant experiences explore impact different types linguistic experience on infants' preference. As part multi-lab ManyBabies 1 project, we compared lab-matched samples 333 385 monolingual preference for...
Previous studies have shown that infants perceptually differentiate certain non-native contrasts at 6-8 months but not 10-12 of age, whereas differentiation is evident both ages in for whom the test are native. These findings reveal a language-specific bias to be emerging during first year life. A developmental decline observed all contrasts, it has been consistently reported every contrast which language effects adults, In present study English /d-th/ by English- and French-speaking adults...
This study investigated acoustic-phonetics of coronal stop production by adult simultaneous bilingual and monolingual speakers Canadian English (CE) French (CF). Differences in the phonetics CF CE include voicing place articulation distinctions. has a two-way distinction (in syllable initial position) contrasting short-and long-lag VOT; stops are described as alveolar. also distinction, but lead short-lag dental. Acoustic analyses consonants for both VOT dental/alveolar reported. Results...
Purpose Children variably produce grammatical morphemes at early stages of development, often omitting inflectional in obligatory contexts. This has typically been attributed to immature syntactic or semantic representations. In this study, the authors investigated hypothesis that children’s variable production 3rd person singular morpheme – s interacts with phonological complexity verb stem which it is attached. Method To explore possibility, examined longitudinal data from spontaneous...
In five experiments, we tested segmentation of word forms from natural speech materials by 8‐month‐old monolingual infants who are acquiring Canadian French or English. These two languages belong to different rhythm classes; is syllable‐timed and Canada English stress‐timed. Findings Experiments 1, 2, 3 show that 8‐month‐olds either can segment bi‐syllable words in their native language. Thus, not inherently more difficult a compared stress‐timed Experiment 4 shows French‐learning European...
Observation of limb movements in human subjects resulted increased motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitude elicited by magnetic stimulation motor cortex the muscles involved that movement, suggesting an observation–execution matching (OEM) system exists humans. We investigated whether OEM is activated speech gestures presented visual and auditory modalities. found observation movement enhanced MEP ampli- tude specifically production observed speech. In contrast, listening to sound did not...
Purpose Two-year-olds produce third person singular – s more accurately on verbs in sentence-final position as compared with sentence-medial position. This study was designed to determine whether these sentence-position effects can be explained by perceptual factors. Method For this purpose, the authors 22- and 27-month-olds' perception elicited production of versus-final The assessed measuring looking/listening times a 1-screen display cartoon paired grammatical versus an ungrammatical...
Abstract Recent experimental work offers evidence that infants become aware of suffixes at a remarkably early age, as 6 months for the English suffix ‐ s . Here, we seek to understand this ability though strategy computational modeling. We evaluate set distributional learning models their mimic observed acquisition order various when trained on corpus child‐directed speech. Our best‐performing model first segments utterances into candidate words, thus populating proto‐lexicon. It then...
The study was conducted to provide an acoustic description of coronal stops in Canadian English (CE) and French (CF). CE CF differ VOT place articulation. has a two-way voicing distinction (in syllable initial position) between simultaneous aspirated release; are articulated at alveolar place. CF, on the other hand, prevoiced dental Acoustic analyses stop consonants produced by monolingual speakers for both alveolar/dental articulation, reported. Results from analysis replicate confirm...
Previous research shows that word segmentation is a language-specific skill. Here, we tested of bi-syllabic words in two languages (French; English) within the same infants single test session. In Experiment 1, monolingual 8-month-olds segmented their native language, but not an unfamiliar and rhythmically different language. 2, bilingual acquiring French English demonstrated successful for when it was first, either language second. There were no effects exposure on this pattern findings. 3,...
This study investigated infant listening preferences for two versions of an unfamiliar Chinese children's song: unaccompanied (i.e., voice only) and accompanied instrumental accompaniment). Three groups 5-, 8- 11-month-old infants were tested using the Headturn Preference Procedure. A general linear model analysis variance was carried out with gender age as between-subjects variables time to renditions (unaccompanied, accompanied) within-subjects variable. Results indicated a clear...
The majority of research examining infants' decontextualized word knowledge comes from studies in which words and pictures are presented simultaneously. However, comprehending utterances about unseen objects is a hallmark language. Do infants demonstrate absent object early the second year life? Further, to what extent do evoke strictly prototypical representations objects? To investigate these questions we analyzed 14-month-olds' comprehension labels for entities without contextual support....
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, cultures, both in form prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used diversity bilingual infant experiences explore impact different types linguistic experience on infants’ preference. As part multi-lab ManyBabies 1 project, we compared lab-matched samples 333 385 monolingual preference for...
In six experiments we explored how biphone probability and lexical neighborhood density influence listeners’ categorization of vowels embedded in nonword sequences. We found independent effects each. Listeners shifted a phonetic continuum to create higher sequence, even when was controlled. Similarly, listeners from denser neighborhood, Next, using visual world eye-tracking task, determined that information is used rapidly by perception. contrast, task complexity irrelevant variability the...