title: Anticipatory coarticulation facilitates word recognition in toddlers.
abstract: Children learn from their environments and their caregivers. To capitalize on learning opportunities, young children have to recognize familiar words efficiently by integrating contextual cues across word boundaries. Previous research has shown that adults can use phonetic cues from anticipatory coarticulation during word recognition. We asked whether 18-24 month-olds (n=29) used coarticulatory cues on the word "the" when recognizing the following noun. We performed a looking-while-listening eyetracking experiment to examine word recognition in neutral vs. facilitating coarticulatory conditions. Participants looked to the target image significantly sooner when the determiner contained facilitating coarticulatory cues. These results provide the first evidence that novice word-learners can take advantage of anticipatory sub-phonemic cues during word recognition.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States.
authors.forename: Tristan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mahr
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States.
authors.forename: Brianna T M
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: McMillan
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States.
authors.forename: Jenny R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Saffran
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ellis Weismer
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Edwards
mesh_terms: D059031:Anticipation, Psychological; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003463:Cues; D005133:Eye Movements; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D013067:Speech Perception; D014706:Verbal Learning
keywords: Coarticulation; Eye tracking; Language development; Lexical development; Word learning; Word recognition