In adults, perceptual learning for speech is constrained, such that learning of novel pronunciations is less likely to occur if the (e.g., visual) context indicates that they are transient. However, adults have had a lifetime of experience with the types of cues that signal stable vs. transient speech variation. We ask whether visual context affects toddlers’ learning of a novel speech pattern. Across conditions, 19-month-olds (N = 117) were exposed to familiar words either pronounced typically or in a novel, consonant-shifting accent. During exposure, some toddlers heard the accented pronunciations without a face present; others saw a video of the speaker producing the words with a lollipop against her cheek or in her mouth. Toddlers showed the weakest learning of the accent when the speaker had the lollipop in her mouth, suggesting that they treated the lollipop as the cause of the atypical pronunciations. These results demonstrate that toddlers’ adaptation to a novel speech pattern is influenced by extra-linguistic context.

在成人中，语音的感知学习受到限制，因此如果（例如，视觉）上下文表明它们是短暂的，则不太可能发生新发音的学习。然而，成年人对表示稳定与瞬态语音变化的线索类型有着终生的经验。我们询问视觉环境是否会影响幼儿对新语音模式的学习。在各种条件下，19 个月大的孩子 (N = 117) 会接触到熟悉的单词，这些单词要么发音典型，要么带有新颖的辅音转换口音。在接触过程中，一些蹒跚学步的孩子在没有脸的情况下听到了重音；其他人看到了一段视频，演讲者用棒棒糖贴着脸颊或嘴里说着话。当说话者嘴里含着棒棒糖时，幼儿的口音学习能力最弱，表明他们将棒棒糖视为非典型发音的原因。这些结果表明，幼儿对新语音模式的适应受到语言外语境的影响。