This article reviews research on when acoustic‐phonetic variability facilitates, inhibits, or
does not impact perceptual development for spoken language, to illuminate mechanisms by …

Neonates show broad-based, universal speech perception abilities, allowing them to
acquire any language. Moreover, an increasing body of research shows that prenatal …

We report the findings of a multi‐language and multi‐lab investigation of young infants'
ability to discriminate lexical tones as a function of their native language, age and language …

Early changes in infants' ability to perceive native and nonnative speech sound contrasts are
typically attributed to their develo** knowledge of phonetic categories. We critically …

The young universal listener is an established concept in psycholinguistics. However, it is
unclear what abilities universal perception entails and at what age it exists. This article aims …

It is generally accepted that infants initially discriminate native and non-native contrasts and
that perceptual reorganization within the first year of life results in decreased discrimination …

Infants' speech perception is characterized by substantial changes during the first year of life
that attune the processing mechanisms to the specific properties of the ambient language …

Pitch variation is pervasive in speech, regardless of the language to which infants are
exposed. Lexical tone is influenced by general sensitivity to pitch. We examined whether the …

Perceptual narrowing of speech perception supposes that young infants can discriminate
most speech sounds early in life. During the second half of the first year, infants' phonetic …

In the current study, we examined the developmental course of the perception of non‐native
tonal contrast. We tested 4, 6 and 12‐month‐old Dutch infants on their discrimination of …