嬰兒導向式歌唱的聲學特徵與詞彙學習效果

The Acoustic Features and Word Learning Effect of Infant-Directed Singing

陳曉萱(Hsiao-Hsuan Chen)

指導教授 ： 曹峰銘

國立臺灣大學/理學院/心理學研究所/碩士(2015年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU.2015.01170

摘要

環境中的語音特徵明顯影響嬰兒的語言發展，而這些語音特徵經常由照顧者對嬰兒使用的「嬰兒導向式語言（簡稱為媽媽語）」和「嬰兒導向式歌唱（簡稱為兒歌）」，傳遞給嬰兒。研究發現媽媽語的聲學特徵為音高較高、音長較長、音高範圍較大和母音構音空間較大(Kuhl, Andruski, Chistovich, Chistovich, Kozhevnikova et al., 1997; Liu, Kuhl, & Tsao, 2003)，而華語的研究也顯示媽媽語仍然保留聲調聲學特徵(Liu, Tsao, & Kuhl, 2007)。另外，研究也顯示媽媽語對於語言學習可能有所助益(Ma, Golinkoff, Houston, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2011; Singh, Nestor, Parikh, & Yull, 2009; Thiessen, Hill, & Saffran, 2005)。然而相較於被廣泛研究的媽媽語，目前仍缺乏兒歌相關的研究，而且由於華語為聲調語言，音樂旋律的音高可能會影響語音的聲調，影響聲調知覺，因此需要檢驗華語的嬰兒導向式歌唱對於語言學習的影響。本研究檢驗兒歌的聲學特徵和詞彙學習效果，以評估其對於語言學習可能的影響。實驗一利用聲學分析工具，檢驗兒歌的聲學特徵。以11 (n=9)和24(n=9)個月的嬰兒與其母親為參與者，請媽媽錄製「媽媽語」、「兒歌」及「成人導向式語言」。結果顯示在兒歌的情況下，音高較高、音長較長，此特徵和媽媽語類似；然而，兒歌的音高範圍和母音構音空間則沒有擴大的現象，聲調的聲學特徵和口語情境不同。實驗二則藉由偏好注視典範，檢驗兒歌的詞彙學習效果，以14(n=30)、18(n=32)、24(n=33)個月的嬰兒為受試者，分配到口語或兒歌的新詞學習情境。結果顯示，口語組的18和24個月大嬰兒能學習新詞，然而兒歌組在三個月齡皆無法學習新詞。綜合兩個實驗的結果，從聲學特徵來看，兒歌的音高較高有可能吸引嬰兒的注意力；而語音呈現速度較慢，對於詞彙學習也可能有幫助，然而兒歌的聲調聲學特徵較說話情境不明顯，卻不利於嬰兒知覺詞彙中的聲調。而實驗二也顯示在兒歌的情境下，學習詞彙的效果不如口語的新詞學習情境。因此對兩歲以前的嬰兒唱兒歌，在詞彙學習的助益並不顯著。

關鍵字

嬰兒導向式歌唱 ； 兒歌 ； 聲學分析 ； 詞彙學習 ； 語言發展

並列摘要

The speech inputs from the ambient language are influential to infants’ language development. Infant-directed speech (IDSpeech) and infant-directed singing (IDSing) are common in care-giving behaviors. Compared to adult-directed speech (ADSpeech), IDSpeech has higher pitch, longer duration, larger pitch range, and exaggerated vowel space. Besides, Mandarin IDSpeech still preserved lexical tone features while having exaggerated prosody. IDSpeech might be helpful to language learning. There are affluent studies on IDSpeech, but, relatively few studies investigated influences of IDSing on language learning. In addition, Mandarin Chinese as a tonal language, pitch height and contour manifest lexical tones of syllables. The pitch features of lexical tones in IDSing may be modified by musical pitch, diminishing tonal differences and reducing perceptual differences between words. Therefore, it raises the issue whether IDSing facilitates word development in tonal-language learning infants. In this study, the roles of IDSing on language development were assessed with acoustic analysis and word-learning task. Experiment 1 investigated the acoustic features of IDSing. Eleven (n = 9) and twenty-four (n = 9) month-old infant-mother dyads were recruited. There were three recording conditions: ADSpeech, IDSpeech, and IDSing. Results indicated that IDSing has higher pitch and longer duration, which are similar to IDSpeech. Nonetheless, the pitch range and vowel space are not expanded in IDSing, compared with IDSpeech. The features of lexical tones are different from speech conditions, suggesting that the lexical tones are not completely preserved in singing condition. Experiment 2 examined the word learning effect of IDSing by using the eye-tracker in a preferential looking paradigm. Fourteen (n=30), eighteen (n=32) and twenty-four (n=33) month-old infants were randomly assigned to either speech or singing word learning condition. The results showed that 18 and 24 month-old infants learned novel words in speech condition but all three age groups failed to learn a novel word in singing condition. The results of Experiment 1 suggested mixed effects of IDSing on word learning. The higher pitch would attract infants’ attention and slower speaking rate might be helpful to phonetic processing. However, the acoustic features of lexical tones are distorted in IDSing, which is unfavorable to lexical tone perception. Experiment 2 revealed that IDSpeech might be better than IDSing to facilitate word learning. In conclusion, results of both experiments implicated that IDSing seems not to have any great effects on word learning to infants younger than two years of age.

並列關鍵字

infant-directed singing ； children song ； acoustic analysis ； word learning ； language development

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