Phonetic processing when learning words: The case of bilingual infants

Infants have remarkable abilities to learn several languages. However, phonological acquisition in bilingual infants appears to vary depending on the phonetic similarities or differences of their two native languages. Many studies suggest that learning contrasts with different realizations in the two languages (e.g., the /p/, /t/, /k/ stops have similar VOT values in French, Spanish, Italian and European Portuguese, but can be confounded with the /b/, /d/, /g/ in German and English) poses a particular challenge. The current study explores how similarity or difference in the realization of phonetic contrasts affects word-learning outcomes. Bilingual infants aged 16 months were tested on their capacity to learn pairs of new words, differing by a phonological feature (voicing versus place) on their initial consonant. Two groups of infants were considered: bilinguals exposed to languages (French and either Spanish, Italian or European Portuguese) in which the contrasts tested are realized relatively similarly (similar contrast group) and bilinguals exposed to languages (French and either English or German) in which the contrasts are realized very differently (different contrast group). In the present word-learning situation, the similar contrast bilinguals successfully processed the relevant phonetic detail of the word forms, while the different contrast bilinguals failed. The present pattern reveals the impact on word learning of phonological differences between the two languages, which is consistent with studies reporting slight time course differences among bilinguals in phonological acquisition. In line with a larger literature on bilingual acquisition, these results provide further evidence that linguistic similarity or difference in the two languages influences the pattern of bilingual acquisition.