Emergence of the corner vowels in the babble produced by infants exposed to Canadian English or Canadian French
Emergence of the corner vowels in the babble produced by infants exposed to Canadian English or Canadian French
This paperexaminedtheemergenceofcornervowels([i],[u],[æ]and[a]) intheinfantvowelspacesandtheinfluenceof
the ambientlanguageonbabbling,inparticular,onthefrequencyofoccurrenceofthecornervowels.Speechsampleswere
recorded from51Canadianinfantsfrom8to18monthsofage,respectively,English-learninginfants(n ¼ 24) andFrench-
learning infants(n ¼ 27). Theacousticparameters(F1andF2)ofeachcodableinfantvowelwereanalyzedandthenused
to plotallthevowelsalongthe diffuse–compact (F2F1) and grave–acute dimensions ([F1+F2]/2).Listenerjudgmentsof
vowel categorywereobtainedforthemostextremevowelsineachinfant’svowelspace,i.e.,the10%vowelswithminimum
or maximum diffuse–compact and grave–acute values. Thejudgmentsofadultlisteners,bothanglophone(n ¼ 5) and
francophone (n ¼ 5), confirmed the peripheral expansion of infant vowel space toward the diffuse and grave corners with
age. Furthermore,English-learning infants were judged by both English and French-speaking listener stoproduce a
greater frequency of [u ]in the grave corner, incomparison with French-learning infants.The higher proportion o f[u]in
English sample was observed throughout the agerange suggesting the influence of ambient language at a young age.
This paperexaminedtheemergenceofcornervowels([i],[u],[æ]and[a]) intheinfantvowelspacesandtheinfluenceof
the ambientlanguageonbabbling,inparticular,onthefrequencyofoccurrenceofthecornervowels.Speechsampleswere
recorded from51Canadianinfantsfrom8to18monthsofage,respectively,English-learninginfants(n ¼ 24) andFrench-
learning infants(n ¼ 27). Theacousticparameters(F1andF2)ofeachcodableinfantvowelwereanalyzedandthenused
to plotallthevowelsalongthe diffuse–compact (F2F1) and grave–acute dimensions ([F1+F2]/2).Listenerjudgmentsof
vowel categorywereobtainedforthemostextremevowelsineachinfant’svowelspace,i.e.,the10%vowelswithminimum
or maximum diffuse–compact and grave–acute values. Thejudgmentsofadultlisteners,bothanglophone(n ¼ 5) and
francophone (n ¼ 5), confirmed the peripheral expansion of infant vowel space toward the diffuse and grave corners with
age. Furthermore,English-learning infants were judged by both English and French-speaking listener stoproduce a
greater frequency of [u ]in the grave corner, incomparison with French-learning infants.The higher proportion o f[u]in
English sample was observed throughout the agerange suggesting the influence of ambient language at a young age.