Abstract
The formal study of infant speech perception was inaugurated by Eimas, Siqueland, Jusczyk, and Vigorito (1971), who assumed a radical theoretical position in asserting that infant perceptual abilities with regard to speech are “linguistic” and “innate.” Since then, research on the speech perceptual capabilities of infants has expanded enormously, and a major controversy has developed around the nature—nurture question. In order to introduce the evidence feeding this controversy, as well as the conclusions based on this evidence, the following listing of key empirical results and interpretations is provided. The studies mentioned are representative of the field in general and illustrate the theoretical confusion that has characterized this domain.
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Eilers, R.E., Oller, D.K. (1985). Infant Speech Perception. In: Trehub, S.E., Schneider, B.A. (eds) Auditory Development in Infancy. Advances in the Study of Communication and Affect, vol 10. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9340-6_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9340-6_11
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