title: Even at 4 months, a labial is a good enough coronal, but not vice versa.
abstract: Numerous studies have revealed an asymmetry tied to the perception of coronal place of articulation: participants accept a labial mispronunciation of a coronal target, but not vice versa. Whether or not this asymmetry is based on language-general properties or arises from language-specific experience has been a matter of debate. The current study suggests a bias of the first type by documenting an early, cross-linguistic asymmetry related to coronal place of articulation. Japanese and Dutch 4- and 6-month-old infants showed evidence of discrimination if they were habituated to a labial and then tested on a coronal sequence, but not vice versa. This finding has important implications for both phonological theories and infant speech perception research.
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands; International Max-Planck Research School for Language Sciences, The Netherlands. Electronic address: tsujish@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.affiliation: RIKEN Brain Sciences Institute, Japan; Duke University, United States. Electronic address: mazuka@brain.riken.jp.
authors.forename: Reiko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mazuka
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Sciences Cognitives et Psycholinguistique, (ENS, EHESS, CNRS), Département d'Etudes Cognitives, Ecole Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, France. Electronic address: alecristia@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alejandrina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cristia
authors.affiliation: Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: P.Fikkert@let.ru.nl.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fikkert
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Cross-linguistic comparison; Infant; Language acquisition; Perceptual asymmetry; Speech perception