title: Perception of tones by infants learning a non-tone language.
abstract: This article examines the perception of tones by non-tone-language-learning (non-tone-learning) infants between 5 and 18 months in a study that reveals infants' initial sensitivity to tonal contrasts, deterioration yet plasticity of tonal sensitivity at the end of the first year, and a perceptual rebound in the second year. Dutch infants in five age groups were tested on their ability to discriminate a tonal contrast of Mandarin Chinese as well as a contracted tonal contrast. Infants are able to discriminate tonal contrasts at 5-6 months, and their tonal sensitivity deteriorates at around 9 months. However, the sensitivity rebound sat 17-18 months. Non-tone-learning infants' tonal perception is elastic, as is shown by the influence of acoustic salience and distributional learning: (1) a salient contrast may remain discriminable throughout infancy whereas a less salient one does not; (2) a bimodal distribution in tonal exposure increases non-tone-learning infants' discrimination ability during the trough in sensitivity to tonal contrasts at 11-12 months. These novel findings reveal non-tone-learning infants' U-shaped pattern in tone perception, and display their perceptual flexibility.
authors.affiliation: Utrecht Institute of Linguistics-OTS, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Electronic address: l.liu@uu.nl.
authors.forename: Liquan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Utrecht Institute of Linguistics-OTS, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Electronic address: r.w.j.kager@uu.nl.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kager
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D010898:Pitch Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013067:Speech Perception
keywords: Acoustic salience; Infant; Lexical tone; Perceptual rebound; Speech perception; Statistical learning