Babies can detect language differences and they understand that people who speak different languages use words differently, according to a study by researchers at the University of Auckland.
In the study, published in the journal Developmental Psychology, infants as young as 13-months-old noticed that speakers did not share a language and did not generalize the rules of one language to another.
“By that age, infants understand that people who speak different languages do not use the same words in the same way,” said Dr. Annette Henderson from the University of Auckland. “This is the first evidence that infants do not indiscriminately generalize words across people.”
More.
See: AsianScientist
Subscribe to the translation news daily digest here. See more translation news.
Share an article »
ProZ.com blog »
United States
Local time: 00:55
Russian to English
+ ...
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:55
French to English
+ ...
Going by the abstract, it seems that the study is actually attempting to shown something a little more profound: it's not that the 13 year old can "detect" different languages, but rather that their minds *associate* different speakers with different languages. I'm guessing the novel part of the research is pinning down just how early infants do this.
United States
Local time: 00:55
Russian to English
+ ...
Don't you think so? What if one day the person decided to speak in another language to the baby? I don't remember this to be the case--my father switched between three languages, and I never associated him with a language, but rather with a person.
To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:
You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »
This discussion can also be accessed via the ProZ.com forum pages.