Abstract This study compares the development of prosodic processing in French- and German-learning infants. The emergence of language-specific perception of phrase boundaries was directly tested using the same stimuli across these two languages. French-learning (Experiment 1, 2) and German-learning 6- and 8-month-olds (Experiment 3) listened to the same French noun sequences with or without major prosodic boundaries ([Loulou et Manou][et Nina]; [Loulou et Manou et Nina], respectively). The boundaries were either naturally cued (Experiment 1), or cued exclusively by pitch and duration (Experiment 2, 3). French-learning 6- and 8-month-olds both perceived the natural boundary, but neither perceived the boundary when only two cues were present. In contrast, German-learning infants develop from not perceiving the two-cue boundary at 6 months to perceiving it at 8 months, just like German-learning 8-month-olds listening to German (Wellmann, Holzgrefe, Truckenbrodt, Wartenburger, & Hohle, 2012). In a control experiment (Experiment 4), we found little difference between German and French adult listeners, suggesting that later, French listeners catch up with German listeners. Taken together, these cross-linguistic differences in the perception of identical stimuli provide direct evidence for language-specific development of prosodic boundary perception.

中文翻译：

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特定语言韵律习得：法语和德语学习婴儿短语边界感知的比较

摘要 本研究比较了学习法语和德语的婴儿韵律处理的发展。使用跨这两种语言的相同刺激直接测试了语言特定的短语边界感知的出现。法语学习（实验 1、2）和德语学习 6 个月和 8 个月大（实验 3）听相同的法语名词序列，有或没有主要韵律边界（[Loulou et Manou][et Nina]；[ Loulou et Manou et Nina]）。边界要么是自然提示的（实验 1），要么完全由音高和持续时间提示（实验 2、3）。学习法语的 6 个月和 8 个月大的孩子都感知到自然边界，但当只有两个线索时，他们都感知不到边界。相比之下，学习德语的婴儿从 6 个月时无法感知两个线索边界发展到 8 个月时感知到它，就像学习德语的 8 个月大的孩子听德语一样（Wellmann、Holzgrefe、Truckenbrodt、Wartenburger 和 Hohle，2012） . 在对照实验（实验 4）中，我们发现德国和法国成年听众之间几乎没有差异，这表明后来法国听众赶上了德国听众。总之，对相同刺激的感知的这些跨语言差异为韵律边界感知的语言特定发展提供了直接证据。我们发现德国和法国成年听众之间的差异很小，这表明后来法国听众赶上了德国听众。总之，对相同刺激的感知的这些跨语言差异为韵律边界感知的语言特定发展提供了直接证据。我们发现德国和法国成年听众之间的差异很小，这表明后来法国听众赶上了德国听众。总之，对相同刺激的感知的这些跨语言差异为韵律边界感知的语言特定发展提供了直接证据。