Abstract
We investigated 2-month-old infants' perception of a subset of highly confusable English fricatives. In Experiment 1, infants discriminated modified natural tokens of the voiceless fricative pair [fa]/[oa] but only when the syllables included their frication noises. They also discriminated the voiced pair [va]/[oa] both with and without fricative noises. These results parallel those found with adults by Carden, Levitt, Jusczyk, and Walley (1981). In Experiment 2 [f] and [o] noises were appended to [a], and the same [f] noise was appended to the previously indiscriminable fricationless versions of [fa] and [oa]. Infants discriminated both pairs of stimuli, indicating that (a) the frication is a sufficient cue for [fa]/[oa] discrimination and that (b) it provides a context for discriminating the [f] and [o] formant transitions. We conclude that infants' perception of labiodental/interdental fricative contrasts show evidence of context effects similar to those observed with adults.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
