This study reports on an experiment with twenty preschool children (3;1–4;7) in York, UK to investigate the earliest stage of children's socioperceptual development. The children discriminate between different groups of speakers based on their pronunciation of phonological regional variables diagnostic of the North and South of England. An improvement across the age range uncovers a developmental stage when children are able to interpret variation as socially meaningful. This is comparable with developments in sociolinguistic production during the preschool years, as previous studies have found. Three measures associated with linguistic input (children's age and gender, local versus nonlocal parents) have an impact on the children's performance. The results are interpreted through an exemplar theoretic account, highlighting the role of input and the combined storing and accessing of both linguistic and social information.

中文翻译：

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学龄前儿童按地区口音对说话人进行分类

本研究报告了在英国约克对 20 名学龄前儿童 (3;1–4;7) 进行的一项实验，以调查儿童社会知觉发展的最早阶段。孩子们根据他们对英格兰北部和南部的语音区域变量的发音来区分不同的说话者群体。跨年龄范围的改进揭示了儿童能够将变异解释为具有社会意义的发展阶段。正如之前的研究发现的那样，这与学龄前社会语言学生产的发展相当。与语言输入相关的三个指标（孩子的年龄和性别、本地与非本地父母）对孩子的表现有影响。结果通过示例性理论解释进行解释，