Speech perception and the learnability of languages

Abstract

To what extent can natural human languages as abstract systems be learned without any prior (innate?) knowledge of the abstract principles that universally constrain their structure, and why are natural human languages universally restricted as to the kinds of phonological contrasts that occur? This paper explores some aspects of this issue with respect to the contribution of phonology in first (L1) and, to a lesser extent, second language (L2) acquisition. The evidence derives from speech perception, babbling, early L1 and L2 phonemic development, and in particular from new production data on the L1 acquisition of German. It is argued that the evolution of the phonological systems of natural languages and the typology of distinctive features, even in production phonology, is based on the perceptual discontinuities of the auditory system of homo sapiens, that these innate sensitivities are also relied on by neonates for the acquisition of sound systems, and that certain kinds of phonological variation in very early child phonology result from the way mental representations of lexical items develop in children. It is suggested that this functional potential of speech perception provides for the biological basis of sound systems and, consequently, for phonological theory.