title: Preference for language in early infancy: the human language bias is not speech specific.
abstract: Fundamental to infants' acquisition of their native language is an inherent interest in the language spoken around them over non-linguistic environmental sounds. The following studies explored whether the bias for linguistic signals in hearing infants is specific to speech, or reflects a general bias for all human language, spoken and signed. Results indicate that 6-month-old infants prefer an unfamiliar, visual-gestural language (American Sign Language) over non-linguistic pantomime, but 10-month-olds do not. These data provide evidence against a speech-specific bias in early infancy and provide insights into those properties of human languages that may underlie this language-general attentional bias.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington, USA. krentu@spu.edu
authors.forename: Ursula C
authors.initials: UC
authors.lastname: Krentz
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Corina
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D015982:Bias; D002663:Child Language; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D008369:Manual Communication; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011381:Programming Languages; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception