Ontogeny of Language-Specific Syllabic Productions

Abstract

Cross linguistic analyses of syllables in dissyllabic productions of infants from four different linguistic communities were used to test the role of the perceptual and selective factors in the early organisation of infants' vocal productions. The differences in the V1V2 height relations and the favored co-ocurrences in CV associations closely reflect the language-specific characteristics exhibited by the dissyllabic words infants will utter some months later. These results support the Interaction Hypothesis which claims that early perceptual experience with language already shaped the phonetic and syllabic organization of 10--12 months old infants' vocal productions.