Constructing adequate non-speech analogues: what is special about speech anyway?
Vouloumanos and Werker (2007) claim that human neonates have a (possibly innate) bias to listen to speech based on a preference for natural speech utterances over sine-wave analogues. We argue that this bias more likely arises from the strikingly different saliency of voice melody in the two kinds of sounds, a bias that has already been shown to be learned pre-natally. Possible avenues of research to address this crucial issue are proposed, based on a consideration of the distinctive acoustic properties of speech. This is a commentary on Vouloumanos and Werker (2007).
Rosen
Stuart
S
Department of Phonetics and Linguistics, UCL, London, UK. stuart@phon.ucl.ac.uk
Iverson
Paul
P
D001288:Attention; D006801:Humans; D018730:Infant Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D013016:Sound; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*