Infant-directed input and literacy effects on phonological processing: Non-word repetition scores among the Tsimane’

Alejandrina Cristia; Gianmatteo Farabolini; Camila Scaff; Naomi Havron; Jonathan Stieglitz

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0237702

Infant-directed input and literacy effects on phonological processing: Non-word repetition scores among the Tsimane’

Alejandrina Cristia, Gianmatteo Farabolini, Camila Scaff, Naomi Havron, Jonathan Stieglitz

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Language input in childhood and literacy (and/or schooling) have been described as two key experiences impacting phonological processing. In this study, we assess phonological processing via a non-word repetition (NWR) group game, in adults and children living in two villages of an ethnic group where infants are rarely spoken to, and where literacy is variable. We found lower NWR scores than in previous work for both children (N = 17; aged 1-12 years) and adults (N = 13; aged 18-60 years), which is consistent with the hypothesis that there would be long-term effects on phonological processing of experiencing low levels of directed input in infancy. Additionally, we found some evidence that literacy and/or schooling increases NWR scores, although results should be interpreted with caution given the small sample size. These findings invite further investigations in similar communities, as current results are most compatible with phonological processing being influenced by aspects of language experience that vary greatly between and within populations.

Original language	English
Article number	e0237702
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	15
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237702
State	Published - Sep 2020
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
AC acknowledges financial and institutional support from Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-17-CE28-0007 LangAge, ANR-16-DATA-0004 ACLEW, ANR-14-CE30-0003 MechELex, ANR-17-EURE-0017) and the J. S. McDonnell Foundation Understanding Human Cognition Scholar Award. JS acknowledges IAST funding from the French National Research Agency (ANR) under grant ANR-17-EURE-0010 (Investissements d’Avenir program). url ANR: https://anr.fr/ url McDonnell Foundation: https:// www.jsmf.org/ The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to Radhia Achheb, Michel Dutat, Vireack Ul, and Catherine Urban for logistical assistance in organizing the field trip; to Angèle Barbedette and Xuan Nga Cao for setting up analysis pipelines and constructing parsable versions of Tsimane’ written materials which were crucial in the design of the items; to the three Tsimane’ research assistants who helped us prepare and deliver the stimuli; and to all the Tsimane’ individuals who participated in the study.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Cristia et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Keywords

Adult
Bolivia
Child
Child, Preschool
Female
Humans
Indigenous Peoples/psychology
Infant
Language Development
Literacy/ethnology
Male
Middle Aged
Phonation
Speech Perception

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General

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10.1371/journal.pone.0237702

Cite this

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title = "Infant-directed input and literacy effects on phonological processing: Non-word repetition scores among the Tsimane{\textquoteright}",

abstract = "Language input in childhood and literacy (and/or schooling) have been described as two key experiences impacting phonological processing. In this study, we assess phonological processing via a non-word repetition (NWR) group game, in adults and children living in two villages of an ethnic group where infants are rarely spoken to, and where literacy is variable. We found lower NWR scores than in previous work for both children (N = 17; aged 1-12 years) and adults (N = 13; aged 18-60 years), which is consistent with the hypothesis that there would be long-term effects on phonological processing of experiencing low levels of directed input in infancy. Additionally, we found some evidence that literacy and/or schooling increases NWR scores, although results should be interpreted with caution given the small sample size. These findings invite further investigations in similar communities, as current results are most compatible with phonological processing being influenced by aspects of language experience that vary greatly between and within populations.",

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author = "Alejandrina Cristia and Gianmatteo Farabolini and Camila Scaff and Naomi Havron and Jonathan Stieglitz",

note = "Funding Information: AC acknowledges financial and institutional support from Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR-17-CE28-0007 LangAge, ANR-16-DATA-0004 ACLEW, ANR-14-CE30-0003 MechELex, ANR-17-EURE-0017) and the J. S. McDonnell Foundation Understanding Human Cognition Scholar Award. JS acknowledges IAST funding from the French National Research Agency (ANR) under grant ANR-17-EURE-0010 (Investissements d{\textquoteright}Avenir program). url ANR: https://anr.fr/ url McDonnell Foundation: https:// www.jsmf.org/ The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We are grateful to Radhia Achheb, Michel Dutat, Vireack Ul, and Catherine Urban for logistical assistance in organizing the field trip; to Ang{\`e}le Barbedette and Xuan Nga Cao for setting up analysis pipelines and constructing parsable versions of Tsimane{\textquoteright} written materials which were crucial in the design of the items; to the three Tsimane{\textquoteright} research assistants who helped us prepare and deliver the stimuli; and to all the Tsimane{\textquoteright} individuals who participated in the study. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Cristia et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.",

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AU - Havron, Naomi

AU - Stieglitz, Jonathan

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PY - 2020/9

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N2 - Language input in childhood and literacy (and/or schooling) have been described as two key experiences impacting phonological processing. In this study, we assess phonological processing via a non-word repetition (NWR) group game, in adults and children living in two villages of an ethnic group where infants are rarely spoken to, and where literacy is variable. We found lower NWR scores than in previous work for both children (N = 17; aged 1-12 years) and adults (N = 13; aged 18-60 years), which is consistent with the hypothesis that there would be long-term effects on phonological processing of experiencing low levels of directed input in infancy. Additionally, we found some evidence that literacy and/or schooling increases NWR scores, although results should be interpreted with caution given the small sample size. These findings invite further investigations in similar communities, as current results are most compatible with phonological processing being influenced by aspects of language experience that vary greatly between and within populations.

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Infant-directed input and literacy effects on phonological processing: Non-word repetition scores among the Tsimane’

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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