By
Daniel Scarpinato
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Babies can recognize English before they can speak it, study says
Infants are capable of understanding the difference between English and nonsense, a UA professor of speech and hearing sciences recently found.
LouAnn Gerken told a small crowd at UMC's DuVal Auditorium Tuesday night that the complex question of how infants and children learn their native language has made its way into scientific and educational discussions.
"Human language is a complex and creative system," Gerken said. "We don't see this in other communication systems."
Gerken said the research led by her and her team of graduate students set out to reveal the "mysteries" associated with the language-learning process and how to go about preventing language disorders in children.
One study conducted, called a "head-turn test," placed parents and their infants in rooms rigged with lights and speakers.
Red lights would blink on the sides of the room. Speakers behind the lights would then play recordings of nonsense words.
Using this complex system, Gerken found that infants 7 to 17 months were able to determine the differences between the native language of their parents and the made-up languages created by Gerken and her researchers.
Tania Zamuner, a linguistics graduate student, was responsible for fabricating the nonsense words played for the infants. She did this by rearranging and exchanging syllables of English words.
"Kids are so much smarter then I thought," Zamuner said. "I'm amazed that they could tell the differences."
Gerken said the infants were also able to determine what she classified as "good" nonsense sentences from "bad" nonsense sentences. However, the students, educators and others in the audience could not tell the difference between the phrases of nonsense words when Gerken played the same sentences used with the infants over the sound system.
"As adults, we are bent on finding meaning in what we hear. Infants are focused on the sounds," she explained. "Rather than copy adults, children extract the language system and understand the complexities of it."
Gerken pointed out that this research is only one step in looking at language disorders from a practical standpoint.
"This is an ongoing project," she said. "There are a lot of breakthroughs happening."
Gerken conducted the study with the University of Arizona Language Accusations Board.
