Phonetic learning as a pathway to language: new data and native language magnet theory expanded (NLM-e)
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Infants' speech perception skills show a dual change towards the end of the first year of life. Not only does non-native speech perception decline, as often shown, but native language speech perception skills show improvement, reflecting a facilitative effect of experience with native language. The mechanism underlying change at this point in development, and the relationship between the change in native and non-native speech perception, is of theoretical interest. As shown in new data presented here, at the cusp of this developmental change, infants' native and non-native phonetic perception skills predict later language ability, but in opposite directions. Better native language skill at 7.5 months of age predicts faster language advancement, whereas better non-native language skill predicts slower advancement. We suggest that native language phonetic performance is indicative of neural commitment to the native language, while non-native phonetic performance reveals uncommitted neural circuitry. This paper has three goals: (i) to review existing models of phonetic perception development, (ii) to present new event-related potential data showing that native and non-native phonetic perception at 7.5 months of age predicts language growth over the next 2 years, and (iii) to describe a revised version of our previous model, the native language magnet model, expanded (NLM-e). NLM-e incorporates five new principles. Specific testable predictions for future research programmes are…
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The sensitive period for phonetic learning is roughly between 6 and 12 months of age and is well established as one of the earliest milestones in typical language development.
“The sensitive period for phonetic learning, roughly between 6–12 months of age, is well established as one of the earliest milestones in typical language development [1].”
Learning outcomes from the sensitive period are reliable predictors of individual language skills later in life, such as vocabulary size and grammar skills.
“Converging evidence suggests that the learning outcomes from this period are reliable predictors of individual language skills later in life, such as vocabulary size and grammar skills [1–3].”
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- Authors
- Kuhl, P. K., Conboy, B. T., Coffey-Corina, S., Padden, D., Rivera-Gaxiola, M., & Nelson, T.
- Affiliations
- University of Washington (US)
- Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, University of WashingtonSeattle, WA 98195, USA
- Corresponding author
- Kuhl, Patricia K
- ORCID
- Kuhl, Patricia K
- Venue
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2007-09-10
- Volume
- 363
- Issue
- 1493
- Pages
- 979-1000
- ISSN
- 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
- 1471-2970
- PMC
- PMC2606791
- OpenAlex
- W2103091632
- Cited by
- 886
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 39 · 2022: 85 · 2021: 62 · 2020: 109 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 39 · 2017: 46 · 2016: 43 · 2015: 48 · 2014: 57 · 2013: 44 · 2012: 34
- FWCI
- 36.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0354453)
- University of Washington
- National Institutes of Health (DC04661, HD02274)
- National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (P30DC004661)
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD02274)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD037954, HD37954, P30HD002274)
- 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 speech perception, non-native speech perception, language development, event-related potentials, language outcome prediction
- MeSH terms
- Auditory Pathways, Humans, Infant, Language, Language Development, Phonetics, Speech Perception
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