Learning and representation in speech and language
Abstract
Infants learn language with remarkable speed. By the end of their second year they speak in sentences with an 'accent' typical of a native speaker. How does an individual acquire a specific language? While acknowledging the biological preparation for language, this review focuses on the effects of early language experience on infants' perceptual and perceptual-motor systems. The data show that by the time infants begin to master the higher levels of language--sound-meaning correspondences, contrastive phonology, and grammatical rules--their perceptual and perceptual-motor systems are already tuned to a specific language. The consequences of this are described in a developmental theory at the phonetic level that holds promise for higher levels of language.
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The Native Language Magnet model proposes that infants' mapping of ambient language warps the acoustic dimensions underlying speech, producing a complex network, or filter, through which language is perceived.
“A model reflecting this developmental sequence from universal perception to language-specific perception, called the Native Language Magnet model, proposes that infants' mapping of ambient language warps the acoustic dimensions underlying speech, producing a complex network, or filter, through which language is perceived (39, 40, 82).”
From A new view of language acquisition (2000) · cites this paper as [39]
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References 84 · Cited by 329
- Authors
- Kuhl, P. K.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kuhl, Patricia K.
- ORCID
- Kuhl, Patricia K.
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1994-12
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 812-822
- ISSN
- 0959-4388 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1989769398
- Cited by
- 329
- References
- 84
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 42 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 7
- FWCI
- 1.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5p01dc000520-10, 5r01hd018286-12)
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (DC00520)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD22514, HD18286)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Phonetics and Phonology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism
- Keywords
- infant language acquisition, linguistic representation, perceptual tuning, contrastive phonology, grammatical rules, language experience, phonetic development
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Infant, Language, Language Development, Learning, Memory, Models, Neurological, Models, Psychological, Motor Skills, Phonetics, Speech, Speech Perception
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