Speech rhythm is considered one of the first windows into the native language, and the taxonomy of rhythm classes is commonly used to explain early language discrimination. Relying on formal rhythm classification is problematic for two reasons. First, it is not known to which extent infants’ sensitivity to language variation is attributable to rhythm alone, and second, it is not known how infants discriminate languages not classified in any of the putative rhythm classes. Employing a central‐fixation preference paradigm with natural stimuli, this study tested whether infants differentially attend to native versus nonnative varieties that differ only in temporal rhythm cues, and both of which are rhythmically unclassified. An analysis of total looking time did not detect any rhythm preferences at any age. First‐look duration, arguably more closely reflecting infants’ underlying perceptual sensitivities, indicated age‐specific preferences for native versus non‐native rhythm: 4‐month‐olds seemed to prefer the native‐, and 6‐month‐olds the non‐native language‐variety. These findings suggest that infants indeed acquire native rhythm cues rather early, by the 4th month, supporting the theory that rhythm can bootstrap further language development. Our data on infants’ processing of rhythmically unclassified languages suggest that formal rhythm classification does not determine infants’ ability to discriminate language varieties.

中文翻译：

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婴儿对本地与非本地节奏敏感性的发展

语音节奏被认为是了解母语的第一个窗口之一，节奏类的分类通常用于解释早期的语言歧视。由于两个原因，依赖正式的节奏分类是有问题的。首先，不知道婴儿对语言变异的敏感性在多大程度上仅归因于节奏，其次，不知道婴儿如何区分未归入任何假定节奏类别的语言。本研究采用具有自然刺激的中心注视偏好范式，测试婴儿是否对本土品种和非本土品种的注意力不同，这些品种仅在时间节律线索上有所不同，并且两者在节奏上都未分类。对总观看时间的分析没有发现任何年龄的节奏偏好。第一眼持续时间，可以说更接近地反映了婴儿潜在的感知敏感性，表明对母语和非母语节奏的年龄特定偏好：4 个月大的婴儿似乎更喜欢母语节奏，6 个月大的婴儿喜欢非母语节奏。这些发现表明，婴儿确实在第 4 个月时确实较早地获得了原生节奏线索，这支持了节奏可以引导进一步语言发展的理论。我们关于婴儿处理没有节奏的语言的数据表明，正式的节奏分类并不能决定婴儿区分语言变体的能力。这些发现表明，婴儿确实在第 4 个月时确实较早地获得了原生节奏线索，这支持了节奏可以引导进一步语言发展的理论。我们关于婴儿处理没有节奏的语言的数据表明，正式的节奏分类并不能决定婴儿区分语言变体的能力。这些发现表明，婴儿确实在第 4 个月时确实较早地获得了原生节奏线索，这支持了节奏可以引导进一步语言发展的理论。我们关于婴儿处理没有节奏的语言的数据表明，正式的节奏分类并不能决定婴儿区分语言变体的能力。