A New View of Language Development: The Acquisition of Lexical Tone

Research in first language development draws disproportionately from nontone languages. Such research is often presumed to reveal developmental universals in spite of the fact that most languages are tone languages. Recent research in the acquisition of tone languages points to a distinct course of development as compared to nontone languages. Our purpose is to provide an integrated review of research on lexical tone acquisition. First, the linguistic properties and origins of tone languages are described. Following this, research on the acquisition of tones in perception and production is reviewed and integrated. Possible reasons for the uniqueness of tone in language acquisition are discussed. Finally, theoretical advances promised by further research on tone acquisition and specific research directions are proposed.