Article published in:
The Linguistics Enterprise: From knowledge of language to knowledge in linguisticsEdited by Martin B.H. Everaert, Tom Lentz, Hannah N.M. De Mulder, Øystein Nilsen and Arjen Zondervan
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 150] 2010
► pp. 55–78
Phonetic and phonological approaches to early word recognition
Empirical findings, methodological issues, and theoretical implications
Paola Escudero | University of Amsterdam
Titia Benders | University of Amsterdam
This paper reviews two methodological paradigms and three theoretical proposals put forward to investigate infants’ sensitivity to phonetic detail in early word recognition. The results of studies using the first methodological paradigm suggest that infants are unable to use phonetic detail when accessing the representations of newly learned words. In contrast, infants tested using the second methodological paradigm generally succeed at identifying small differences between words. The three theoretical proposals differ in the extent to which they can explain the rate of success in infant word recognition. Methodological adaptations and new research directions to bridge the gap between methodologies and theories are presented.
Published online: 13 January 2010
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.150.02esc
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.150.02esc