@article{HoehleFritzscheMessetal.2020, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Fritzsche, Tom and Meß, Katharina and Philipp, Mareike and Gafos, Adamantios I.}, title = {Only the right noise?}, series = {Developmental Science}, volume = {23}, journal = {Developmental Science}, number = {5}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1363-755X}, doi = {10.1111/desc.12950}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Seminal work by Werker and colleagues (Stager \& Werker [1997]Nature, 388, 381-382) has found that 14-month-old infants do not show evidence for learning minimal pairs in the habituation-switch paradigm. However, when multiple speakers produce the minimal pair in acoustically variable ways, infants' performance improves in comparison to a single speaker condition (Rost \& McMurray [2009]Developmental Science, 12, 339-349). The current study further extends these results and assesses how different kinds of input variability affect 14-month-olds' minimal pair learning in the habituation-switch paradigm testing German learning infants. The first two experiments investigated word learning when the labels were spoken by a single speaker versus when the labels were spoken by multiple speakers. In the third experiment we studied whether non-acoustic variability, implemented by visual variability of the objects presented together with the labels, would also affect minimal pair learning. We found enhanced learning in the multiple speakers compared to the single speaker condition, confirming previous findings with English-learning infants. In contrast, visual variability of the presented objects did not support learning. These findings both confirm and better delimit the beneficial role of speech-specific variability in minimal pair learning. Finally, we review different proposals on the mechanisms via which variability confers benefits to learning and outline what may be likely principles that underlie this benefit. We highlight among these the multiplicity of acoustic cues signalling phonemic contrasts and the presence of relations among these cues. It is in these relations where we trace part of the source for the apparent paradoxical benefit of variability in learning.}, language = {en} } @article{vanOmmenBollAvetisyanLarrazaetal.2020, author = {van Ommen, Sandrien and Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie and Larraza, Saioa and Wellmann, Caroline and Bijeljac-Babic, Ranka and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Nazzi, Thierry}, title = {Language-specific prosodic acquisition}, series = {Journal of memory and language: JML}, volume = {112}, journal = {Journal of memory and language: JML}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0749-596X}, doi = {10.1016/j.jml.2020.104108}, pages = {16}, year = {2020}, abstract = {This study compares the development of prosodic processing in French- and German-learning infants. The emergence of language-specific perception of phrase boundaries was directly tested using the same stimuli across these two languages. French-learning (Experiment 1, 2) and German-learning 6- and 8-month-olds (Experiment 3) listened to the same French noun sequences with or without major prosodic boundaries ([Loulou et Manou] [et Nina]; [Loulou et Manou et Nina], respectively). The boundaries were either naturally cued (Experiment 1), or cued exclusively by pitch and duration (Experiment 2, 3). French-learning 6- and 8-month-olds both perceived the natural boundary, but neither perceived the boundary when only two cues were present. In contrast, German-learning infants develop from not perceiving the two-cue boundary at 6 months to perceiving it at 8 months, just like German-learning 8-month-olds listening to German (Wellmann, Holzgrefe, Truckenbrodt, Wartenburger, \& Hohle, 2012). In a control experiment (Experiment 4), we found little difference between German and French adult listeners, suggesting that later, French listeners catch up with German listeners. Taken together, these cross-linguistic differences in the perception of identical stimuli provide direct evidence for language-specific development of prosodic boundary perception.}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleBijeljacBabicNazzi2019, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Bijeljac-Babic, Ranka and Nazzi, Thierry}, title = {Variability and stability in early language acquisition}, series = {Bilingualism : language and cognition}, volume = {23}, journal = {Bilingualism : language and cognition}, number = {1}, publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press}, address = {New York}, issn = {1366-7289}, doi = {10.1017/S1366728919000348}, pages = {56 -- 71}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Many human infants grow up learning more than one language simultaneously but only recently has research started to study early language acquisition in this population more systematically. The paper gives an overview on findings on early language acquisition in bilingual infants during the first two years of life and compares these findings to current knowledge on early language acquisition in monolingual infants. Given the state of the research, the overview focuses on research on phonological and early lexical development in the first two years of life. We will show that the developmental trajectory of early language acquisition in these areas is very similar in mono- and bilingual infants suggesting that these early steps into language are guided by mechanisms that are rather robust against the differences in the conditions of language exposure that mono- and bilingual infants typically experience.}, language = {en} } @article{BollAvetisyanBhataraUngeretal.2020, author = {Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie and Bhatara, Anjali and Unger, Annika and Nazzi, Thierry and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Rhythmic grouping biases in simultaneous bilinguals}, series = {Bilingualism : language and cognition}, volume = {23}, journal = {Bilingualism : language and cognition}, number = {5}, publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press}, address = {New York}, issn = {1366-7289}, doi = {10.1017/S1366728920000140}, pages = {1070 -- 1081}, year = {2020}, abstract = {This study provides a novel approach for testing the universality of perceptual biases by looking at speech processing in simultaneous bilingual adults learning two languages that support the maintenance of this bias to different degrees. Specifically, we investigated the Iambic/Trochaic Law, an assumed universal grouping bias, in simultaneous French-German bilinguals, presenting them with streams of syllables varying in intensity, duration or neither and asking them whether they perceived them as strong-weak or weak-strong groupings. Results showed robust, consistent grouping preferences. A comparison to monolinguals from previous studies revealed that they pattern with German-speaking monolinguals, and differ from French-speaking monolinguals. The distribution of simultaneous bilinguals' individual performance was best explained by a model fitting a unimodal (not bimodal) distribution, failing to support two subgroups of language dominance. Moreover, neither language experience nor language context predicted their performance. These findings suggest a special role for universal biases in simultaneous bilinguals.}, language = {en} } @article{KrasotkinaGoetzHoehleetal.2021, author = {Krasotkina, Anna and G{\"o}tz, Antonia and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Schwarzer, Gudrun}, title = {Bimodal familiarization re-sensitizes 12-month-old infants to other-race faces}, series = {Infant behavior \& development : an international and interdisciplinary journal}, volume = {62}, journal = {Infant behavior \& development : an international and interdisciplinary journal}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0163-6383}, doi = {10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101502}, pages = {8}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Perceptual narrowing in the domain of face perception typically begins to reduce infants' sensitivity to differences distinguishing other-race faces from approximately 6 months of age. The present study investigated whether it is possible to re-sensitize Caucasian 12-month-old infants to other-race Asian faces through statistical learning by familiarizing them with different statistical distributions of these faces. The familiarization faces were created by generating a morphed continuum from one Asian face identity to another. In the unimodal condition, infants were familiarized with a frequency distribution wherein they saw the midpoint face of the morphed continuum the most frequently. In the bimodal condition, infants were familiarized with a frequency distribution wherein they saw faces closer to the endpoints of the morphed continuum the most frequently. After familiarization, infants were tested on their discrimination of the two original Asian faces. The infants' looking times during the test indicated that infants in the bimodal condition could discriminate between the two faces, while infants in the unimodal condition could not. These findings therefore suggest that 12-month-old Caucasian infants could be re-sensitized to Asian faces by familiarizing them with a bimodal frequency distribution of such faces.}, language = {en} } @article{RenHoehle2022, author = {Ren, Jie and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {The interplay between language acquisition and cognitive development}, series = {Infant behavior \& development : an international and interdisciplinary journal}, volume = {67}, journal = {Infant behavior \& development : an international and interdisciplinary journal}, publisher = {Elsevier Science}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0163-6383}, doi = {10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101718}, pages = {3}, year = {2022}, language = {en} } @article{KrasotkinaGoetzHoehleetal.2020, author = {Krasotkina, Anna and G{\"o}tz, Antonia and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Schwarzer, Gudrun}, title = {Infants' gaze patterns for same-race and other-race faces, and the other-race effect}, series = {Brain Sciences}, volume = {10}, journal = {Brain Sciences}, number = {6}, publisher = {Brain Sciences}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2076-3425}, doi = {10.3390/brainsci10060331}, pages = {12}, year = {2020}, abstract = {The other-race effect (ORE) can be described as difficulties in discriminating between faces of ethnicities other than one's own, and can already be observed at approximately 9 months of age. Recent studies also showed that infants visually explore same-and other-race faces differently. However, it is still unclear whether infants' looking behavior for same- and other-race faces is related to their face discrimination abilities. To investigate this question we conducted a habituation-dishabituation experiment to examine Caucasian 9-month-old infants' gaze behavior, and their discrimination of same- and other-race faces, using eye-tracking measurements. We found that infants looked longer at the eyes of same-race faces over the course of habituation, as compared to other-race faces. After habituation, infants demonstrated a clear other-race effect by successfully discriminating between same-race faces, but not other-race faces. Importantly, the infants' ability to discriminate between same-race faces significantly correlated with their fixation time towards the eyes of same-race faces during habituation. Thus, our findings suggest that for infants old enough to begin exhibiting the ORE, gaze behavior during habituation is related to their ability to differentiate among same-race faces, compared to other-race faces.}, language = {en} } @article{KrasotkinaGoetzHoehleetal.2021, author = {Krasotkina, Anna and G{\"o}tz, Antonia and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Schwarzer, Gudrun}, title = {Perceptual narrowing in face- and speech-perception domains in infancy}, series = {Infant behavior \& development : an international and interdisciplinary journal}, volume = {64}, journal = {Infant behavior \& development : an international and interdisciplinary journal}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {New York}, issn = {0163-6383}, doi = {10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101607}, pages = {9}, year = {2021}, abstract = {During the first year of life, infants undergo a process known as perceptual narrowing, which reduces their sensitivity to classes of stimuli which the infants do not encounter in their environment. It has been proposed that perceptual narrowing for faces and speech may be driven by shared domain-general processes. To investigate this theory, our study longitudinally tested 50 German Caucasian infants with respect to these domains first at 6 months of age followed by a second testing at 9 months of age. We used an infant-controlled habituation-dishabituation paradigm to test the infants' ability to discriminate among other-race Asian faces and non-native Cantonese speech tones, as well as same-race Caucasian faces as a control. We found that while at 6 months of age infants could discriminate among all stimuli, by 9 months of age they could no longer discriminate among other-race faces or non-native tones. However, infants could discriminate among same-race stimuli both at 6 and at 9 months of age. These results demonstrate that the same infants undergo perceptual narrowing for both other-race faces and non-native speech tones between the ages of 6 and 9 months. This parallel development of perceptual narrowing occurring in both the face and speech perception modalities over the same period of time lends support to the domain-general theory of perceptual narrowing in face and speech perception.}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleFritzscheBollAvetisyanetal.2021, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Fritzsche, Tom and Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie and Hullebus, Marc and Gafos, Adamantios I.}, title = {Respect the surroundings}, series = {JASA Express Letters}, volume = {1}, journal = {JASA Express Letters}, number = {2}, publisher = {AIP Publ.}, address = {Melville}, issn = {2691-1191}, doi = {10.1121/10.0003574}, pages = {7}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Fourteen-month-olds' ability to distinguish a just learned word, /bu?k/, from its minimally different word, /du?k/, was assessed under two pre-exposure conditions: one where /b, d/-initial forms occurred in a varying vowel context and another where the vowel was fixed but the final consonant varied. Infants in the experiments benefited from the variable vowel but not from the variable final consonant context, suggesting that vowel variability but not all kinds of variability are beneficial. These results are discussed in the context of time-honored observations on the vowel-dependent nature of place of articulation cues for consonants.}, language = {en} } @article{MarimonTarterHoehleLangus2022, author = {Marimon Tarter, Mireia and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Langus, Alan}, title = {Pupillary entrainment reveals individual differences in cue weighting in 9-month-old German-learning infants}, series = {Cognition : international journal of cognitive science}, volume = {224}, journal = {Cognition : international journal of cognitive science}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0010-0277}, doi = {10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105054}, pages = {15}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Young infants can segment continuous speech with statistical as well as prosodic cues. Understanding how these cues interact can be informative about how infants solve the segmentation problem. Here we investigate how German-speaking adults and 9-month-old German-learning infants weigh statistical and prosodic cues when segmenting continuous speech. We measured participants' pupil size while they were familiarized with a continuous speech stream where prosodic cues were pitted off against transitional probabilities. Adult participants' changes in pupil size synchronized with the occurrence of prosodic words during the familiarization and the temporal alignment of these pupillary changes was predictive of adult participants' performance at test. Further, 9-month-olds as a group failed to consistently segment the familiarization stream with prosodic or statistical cues. However, the variability in temporal alignment of the pupillary changes at word frequency showed that prosodic and statistical cues compete for dominance when segmenting continuous speech. A followup language development questionnaire at 40 months of age suggested that infants who entrained to prosodic words performed better on a vocabulary task and those infants who relied more on statistical cues performed better on grammatical tasks. Together these results suggest that statistics and prosody may serve different roles in speech segmentation in infancy.}, language = {en} } @article{LangusHoehle2021, author = {Langus, Alan and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Object individuation and labelling in 6-month-old infants}, series = {Infant behavior \& development}, volume = {65}, journal = {Infant behavior \& development}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {New York}, issn = {0163-6383}, doi = {10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101627}, pages = {12}, year = {2021}, abstract = {The ability to determine how many objects are involved in physical events is fundamental for reasoning about the world that surrounds us. Previous studies suggest that infants can fail to individuate objects in ambiguous occlusion events until their first birthday and that learning words for the objects may play a crucial role in the development of this ability. The present eye-tracking study tested whether the classical object individuation experiments underestimate young infants' ability to individuate objects and the role word learning plays in this process. Three groups of 6-month-old infants (N = 72) saw two opaque boxes side by side on the eye-tracker screen so that the content of the boxes was not visible. During a familiarization phase, two visually identical objects emerged sequentially from one box and two visually different objects from the other box. For one group of infants the familiarization was silent (Visual Only condition). For a second group of infants the objects were accompanied with nonsense words so that objects' shape and linguistic labels indicated the same number of objects in the two boxes (Visual \& Language condition). For the third group of infants, objects' shape and linguistic labels were in conflict (Visual vs. Language condition). Following the familiarization, it was revealed that both boxes contained the same number of objects (e.g. one or two). In the Visual Only condition, infants looked longer to the box with incorrect number of objects at test, showing that they could individuate objects using visual cues alone. In the Visual \& Language condition infants showed the same looking pattern. However, in the Visual vs Language condition infants looked longer to the box with incorrect number of objects according to linguistic labels. The results show that infants can individuate objects in a complex object individuation paradigm considerably earlier than previously thought and that linguistic cues enforce their own preference in object individuation. The results are consistent with the idea that when language and visual information are in conflict, language can exert an influence on how young infants reason about the visual world.}, language = {en} } @article{PetroneTruckenbrodtWellmannetal.2017, author = {Petrone, Caterina and Truckenbrodt, Hubert and Wellmann, Caroline and Holzgrefe-Lang, Julia and Wartenburger, Isabell and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Prosodic boundary cues in German}, series = {Journal of phonetics}, volume = {61}, journal = {Journal of phonetics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {London}, issn = {0095-4470}, doi = {10.1016/j.wocn.2017.01.002}, pages = {71 -- 92}, year = {2017}, abstract = {This study investigates prosodic phrasing of bracketed lists in German. We analyze variation in pauses, phrase-final lengthening and f0 in speech production and how these cues affect boundary perception. In line with the literature, it was found that pauses are often used to signal intonation phrase boundaries, while final lengthening and f0 are employed across different levels of the prosodic hierarchy. Deviations from expectations based on the standard syntax-prosody mapping are interpreted in terms of task-specific effects. That is, we argue that speakers add/delete prosodic boundaries to enhance the phonological contrast between different bracketings in the experimental task. In perception, three experiments were run, in which we tested only single cues (but temporally distributed at different locations of the sentences). Results from identification tasks and reaction time measurements indicate that pauses lead to a more abrupt shift in listeners׳ prosodic judgments, while f0 and final lengthening are exploited in a more gradient manner. Hence, pauses, final lengthening and f0 have an impact on boundary perception, though listeners show different sensitivity to the three acoustic cues.}, language = {en} } @article{SzendrőiSchumacherFritzscheetal.2017, author = {Szendrői, Kriszta and Schumacher, Rebecca and Fritzsche, Tom and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Acquisition of quantifier raising of a universal across an existential}, series = {Glossa : a journal of general linguistics}, volume = {2}, journal = {Glossa : a journal of general linguistics}, publisher = {Open Library of Humanities}, address = {London}, issn = {2397-1835}, pages = {16}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Our paper reports an act out task with German 5- and 6-year olds and adults involving doubly-quantified sentences with a universal object and an existential subject. We found that 5- and 6-year olds allow inverse scope in such sentences, while adults do not. Our findings contribute to a growing body of research (e.g. Gualmini et al. 2008; Musolino 2009, etc.) showing that children are more flexible in their scopal considerations than initially proposed by the Isomorphism proposal (Lidz \& Musolino 2002; Musolino \& Lidz 2006). This result provides support for a theory of German, a "no quantifier raising"-language, in terms of soft violable constraints, or global economy terms (Bobaljik \& Wurmbrand 2012), rather than in terms of hard inviolable constraints or rules (Frey 1993). Finally, the results are compatible with Reinhart's (2004) hypothesis that children do not perform global interface economy considerations due to the increased processing associated with it.}, language = {en} } @article{BollAvetisyanBhataraHoehle2017, author = {Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie and Bhatara, Anjali and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Effects of musicality on the perception of rhythmic structure in speech}, series = {Laboratory phonology}, volume = {8}, journal = {Laboratory phonology}, number = {1}, publisher = {Ubiquity Press}, address = {London}, issn = {1868-6346}, doi = {10.5334/labphon.91}, pages = {16}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Language and music share many rhythmic properties, such as variations in intensity and duration leading to repeating patterns. Perception of rhythmic properties may rely on cognitive networks that are shared between the two domains. If so, then variability in speech rhythm perception may relate to individual differences in musicality. To examine this possibility, the present study focuses on rhythmic grouping, which is assumed to be guided by a domain-general principle, the Iambic/Trochaic law, stating that sounds alternating in intensity are grouped as strong-weak, and sounds alternating in duration are grouped as weak-strong. German listeners completed a grouping task: They heard streams of syllables alternating in intensity, duration, or neither, and had to indicate whether they perceived a strong-weak or weak-strong pattern. Moreover, their music perception abilities were measured, and they filled out a questionnaire reporting their productive musical experience. Results showed that better musical rhythm perception - ability was associated with more consistent rhythmic grouping of speech, while melody perception - ability and productive musical experience were not. This suggests shared cognitive procedures in the perception of rhythm in music and speech. Also, the results highlight the relevance of - considering individual differences in musicality when aiming to explain variability in prosody perception.}, language = {en} } @article{MarimonTarterHofmannVerissimoetal.2021, author = {Marimon Tarter, Mireia and Hofmann, Andrea and Ver{\´i}ssimo, Joao Marques and M{\"a}nnel, Claudia and Friederici, Angela Dorkas and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Wartenburger, Isabell}, title = {Children's Learning of Non-adjacent Dependencies Using a Web-Based Computer Game Setting}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.734877}, pages = {1 -- 15}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Infants show impressive speech decoding abilities and detect acoustic regularities that highlight the syntactic relations of a language, often coded via non-adjacent dependencies (NADs, e.g., is singing). It has been claimed that infants learn NADs implicitly and associatively through passive listening and that there is a shift from effortless associative learning to a more controlled learning of NADs after the age of 2 years, potentially driven by the maturation of the prefrontal cortex. To investigate if older children are able to learn NADs, Lammertink et al. (2019) recently developed a word-monitoring serial reaction time (SRT) task and could show that 6-11-year-old children learned the NADs, as their reaction times (RTs) increased then they were presented with violated NADs. In the current study we adapted their experimental paradigm and tested NAD learning in a younger group of 52 children between the age of 4-8 years in a remote, web-based, game-like setting (whack-a-mole). Children were exposed to Italian phrases containing NADs and had to monitor the occurrence of a target syllable, which was the second element of the NAD. After exposure, children did a "Stem Completion" task in which they were presented with the first element of the NAD and had to choose the second element of the NAD to complete the stimuli. Our findings show that, despite large variability in the data, children aged 4-8 years are sensitive to NADs; they show the expected differences in r RTs in the SRT task and could transfer the NAD-rule in the Stem Completion task. We discuss these results with respect to the development of NAD dependency learning in childhood and the practical impact and limitations of collecting these data in a web-based setting.}, language = {en} } @article{SzendroiBernardBergeretal.2017, author = {Szendroi, Kriszta and Bernard, Carline and Berger, Frauke and Gervain, Judit and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Acquisition of prosodic focus marking by English, French, and German three-, four-, five- and six-year-olds}, series = {Journal of child language}, volume = {45}, journal = {Journal of child language}, number = {1}, publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press}, address = {New York}, issn = {0305-0009}, doi = {10.1017/S0305000917000071}, pages = {219 -- 241}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Previous research on young children's knowledge of prosodic focus marking has revealed an apparent paradox, with comprehension appearing to lag behind production. Comprehension of prosodic focus is difficult to study experimentally due to its subtle and ambiguous contribution to pragmatic meaning. We designed a novel comprehension task, which revealed that three- to six-year-old children show adult-like comprehension of the prosodic marking of subject and object focus. Our findings thus support the view that production does not precede comprehension in the acquisition of focus. We tested participants speaking English, German, and French. All three languages allow prosodic subject and object focus marking, but use additional syntactic marking to varying degrees (English: dispreferred; German: possible; French preferred). French participants produced fewer subject marked responses than English participants. We found no other cross-linguistic differences. Participants interpreted prosodic focus marking similarly and in an adult-like fashion in all three languages.}, language = {en} } @article{OmaneHoehle2020, author = {Omane, Paul Okyere and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Acquiring syntactic variability}, series = {Frontiers in communication}, volume = {2021}, journal = {Frontiers in communication}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne, Schweiz}, issn = {2297-900X}, doi = {10.3389/fcomm.2021.604951}, pages = {15}, year = {2020}, abstract = {This paper investigates the predictions of the Derivational Complexity Hypothesis by studying the acquisition of wh-questions in 4- and 5-year-old Akan-speaking children in an experimental approach using an elicited production and an elicited imitation task. Akan has two types of wh-question structures (wh-in-situ and wh-ex-situ questions), which allows an investigation of children's acquisition of these two question structures and their preferences for one or the other. Our results show that adults prefer to use wh-ex-situ questions over wh-in-situ questions. The results from the children show that both age groups have the two question structures in their linguistic repertoire. However, they differ in their preferences in usage in the elicited production task: while the 5-year-olds preferred the wh-in-situ structure over the wh-ex-situ structure, the 4-year-olds showed a selective preference for the wh-in-situ structure in who-questions. These findings suggest a developmental change in wh-question preferences in Akan-learning children between 4 and 5 years of age with a so far unobserved u-shaped developmental pattern. In the elicited imitation task, all groups showed a strong tendency to maintain the structure of in-situ and ex-situ questions in repeating grammatical questions. When repairing ungrammatical ex-situ questions, structural changes to grammatical in-situ questions were hardly observed but the insertion of missing morphemes while keeping the ex-situ structure. Together, our findings provide only partial support for the Derivational Complexity Hypothesis.}, language = {en} } @article{HolzgrefeLangWellmannHoehleetal.2018, author = {Holzgrefe-Lang, Julia and Wellmann, Caroline and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Wartenburger, Isabell}, title = {Infants' Processing of Prosodic Cues}, series = {Language and speech}, volume = {61}, journal = {Language and speech}, number = {1}, publisher = {Sage Publ.}, address = {London}, issn = {0023-8309}, doi = {10.1177/0023830917730590}, pages = {153 -- 169}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Infants as young as six months are sensitive to prosodic phrase boundaries marked by three acoustic cues: pitch change, final lengthening, and pause. Behavioral studies suggest that a language-specific weighting of these cues develops during the first year of life; recent work on German revealed that eight-month-olds, unlike six-month-olds, are capable of perceiving a prosodic boundary on the basis of pitch change and final lengthening only. The present study uses Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) to investigate the neuro-cognitive development of prosodic cue perception in German-learning infants. In adults' ERPs, prosodic boundary perception is clearly reflected by the so-called Closure Positive Shift (CPS). To date, there is mixed evidence on whether an infant CPS exists that signals early prosodic cue perception, or whether the CPS emerges only later—the latter implying that infantile brain responses to prosodic boundaries reflect acoustic, low-level pause detection. We presented six- and eight-month-olds with stimuli containing either no boundary cues, only a pitch cue, or a combination of both pitch change and final lengthening. For both age groups, responses to the former two conditions did not differ, while brain responses to prosodic boundaries cued by pitch change and final lengthening showed a positivity that we interpret as a CPS-like infant ERP component. This hints at an early sensitivity to prosodic boundaries that cannot exclusively be based on pause detection. Instead, infants' brain responses indicate an early ability to exploit subtle, relational prosodic cues in speech perception—presumably even earlier than could be concluded from previous behavioral results.}, language = {en} } @article{ChenHoehle2018, author = {Chen, Aoju and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Four- to five-year-old' use of word order and prosody in focus marking in Dutch}, series = {Linguistics Vanguard}, volume = {4}, journal = {Linguistics Vanguard}, publisher = {De Gruyter}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {2199-174X}, doi = {10.1515/lingvan-2016-0101}, pages = {9}, year = {2018}, abstract = {This study investigated Dutch-speaking four- to five-year-olds' use of word order and prosody in distinguishing focus types (broad focus, narrow focus, and contrastive narrow focus) via an interactive answer-reconstruction game. We have found an overall preference for the unmarked word order SVO and no evidence for the use of OVS to distinguish focus types. But the children used pitch and duration in the subject-nouns to distinguish focus types in SVO sentences. These findings show that Dutch-speaking four- to five-year-olds differ from their German- and Finnish-speaking peers, who show evidence of varying choice of word order to mark specific focus types, and use prosody to distinguish focus types in subject and object nouns in both SVO and OVS sentences. These comparisons suggest that typological differences in the relative importance between word order and prosody can lead to differences in children's use of word order and prosody in unmarked and marked word orders. A more equal role of word order and prosody in the ambient language can stimulate more extensive use of prosody in the marked word order, whereas a more limited role of word order can restrict the use of prosody in the unmarked word order.}, language = {en} } @article{FernandezHoehleBrocketal.2018, author = {Fernandez, Leigh and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Brock, Jon and Nickels, Lyndsey}, title = {Investigating auditory processing of syntactic gaps with L2 speakers using pupillometry}, series = {Second language research}, volume = {34}, journal = {Second language research}, number = {2}, publisher = {Sage Publ.}, address = {London}, issn = {0267-6583}, doi = {10.1177/0267658317722386}, pages = {201 -- 227}, year = {2018}, abstract = {According to the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH), second language (L2) speakers, unlike native speakers, build shallow syntactic representations during sentence processing. In order to test the SSH, this study investigated the processing of a syntactic movement in both native speakers of English and proficient late L2 speakers of English using pupillometry to measure processing cost. Of particular interest were constructions where movement resulted in an intermediate gap between clauses. Pupil diameter was recorded during auditory presentation of complex syntactic constructions. Two factors were manipulated: syntactic movement (such that some conditions contained movement while others did not), as well as syntactic movement type (either causing an intermediate gap or not). Grammaticality judgments revealed no differences between the two groups, suggesting both were capable of comprehending these constructions. Pupil change slope measurements revealed a potential sensitivity to intermediate gaps for only native speakers, however, both native and late L2 speakers showed similar facilitation during processing of the second gap site. Acoustic analysis revealed potential acoustic cues that may have facilitated the processing of these constructions. This suggests that, contrary to the predictions of the SSH, late L2 speakers are capable of constructing rich syntactic representations during the processing of intermediate gap constructions in spoken language.}, language = {en} } @article{SauermannHoehle2018, author = {Sauermann, Antje and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Word order in German child language and child-directed speech}, series = {Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics}, volume = {3}, journal = {Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics}, number = {1}, publisher = {Ubiquity Press LTD}, address = {London}, issn = {2397-1835}, doi = {10.5334/gjgl.281}, pages = {32}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We report two corpus analyses to examine the impact of animacy, definiteness, givenness and type of referring expression on the ordering of double objects in the spontaneous speech of German-speaking two- to four-year-old children and the child-directed speech of their mothers. The first corpus analysis revealed that definiteness, givenness and type of referring expression influenced word order variation in child language and child-directed speech when the type of referring expression distinguished between pronouns and lexical noun phrases. These results correspond to previous child language studies in English (e.g., de Marneffe et al. 2012). Extending the scope of previous studies, our second corpus analysis examined the role of different pronoun types on word order. It revealed that word order in child language and child-directed speech was predictable from the types of pronouns used. Different types of pronouns were associated with different sentence positions but also showed a strong correlation to givenness and definiteness. Yet, the distinction between pronoun types diminished the effects of givenness so that givenness had an independent impact on word order only in child-directed speech but not in child language. Our results support a multi-factorial approach to word order in German. Moreover, they underline the strong impact of the type of referring expression on word order and suggest that it plays a crucial role in the acquisition of the factors influencing word order variation.}, language = {en} } @article{KrasotkinaGoetzHoehleetal.2018, author = {Krasotkina, Anna and G{\"o}tz, Antonia and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Schwarzer, Gudrun}, title = {Perceptual narrowing in speech and face recognition}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01711}, pages = {5}, year = {2018}, abstract = {During the first year of life, infants undergo perceptual narrowing in the domains of speech and face perception. This is typically characterized by improvements in infants' abilities in discriminating among stimuli of familiar types, such as native speech tones and same-race faces. Simultaneously, infants begin to decline in their ability to discriminate among stimuli of types with which they have little experience, such as nonnative tones and other-race faces. The similarity in time-frames during which perceptual narrowing seems to occur in the domains of speech and face perception has led some researchers to hypothesize that the perceptual narrowing in these domains could be driven by shared domain-general processes. To explore this hypothesis, we tested 53 Caucasian 9-month-old infants from monolingual German households on their ability to discriminate among non-native Cantonese speech tones, as well among same-race German faces and other-race Chinese faces. We tested the infants using an infant-controlled habituation-dishabituation paradigm, with infants' preferences for looking at novel stimuli versus the habituated stimuli (dishabituation scores) acting as indicators of discrimination ability. As expected for their age, infants were able to discriminate between same-race faces, but not between other-race faces or non-native speech tones. Most interestingly, we found that infants' dishabituation scores for the non-native speech tones and other-race faces showed significant positive correlations, while the dishabituation scores for non-native speech tones and same-race faces did not. These results therefore support the hypothesis that shared domain-general mechanisms may drive perceptual narrowing in the domains of speech and face perception.}, language = {en} } @article{GarciaDeryRoeseretal.2018, author = {Garcia, Rowena and Dery, Jeruen E. and Roeser, Jens and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Word order preferences of Tagalog-speaking adults and children}, series = {First language}, volume = {38}, journal = {First language}, number = {6}, publisher = {Sage Publ.}, address = {London}, issn = {0142-7237}, doi = {10.1177/0142723718790317}, pages = {617 -- 640}, year = {2018}, abstract = {This article investigates the word order preferences of Tagalog-speaking adults and five- and seven-year-old children. The participants were asked to complete sentences to describe pictures depicting actions between two animate entities. Adults preferred agent-initial constructions in the patient voice but not in the agent voice, while the children produced mainly agent-initial constructions regardless of voice. This agent-initial preference, despite the lack of a close link between the agent and the subject in Tagalog, shows that this word order preference is not merely syntactically-driven (subject-initial preference). Additionally, the children's agent-initial preference in the agent voice, contrary to the adults' lack of preference, shows that children do not respect the subject-last principle of ordering Tagalog full noun phrases. These results suggest that language-specific optional features like a subject-last principle take longer to be acquired.}, language = {en} } @article{TamasiMckeanGafosetal.2018, author = {Tamasi, Katalin and Mckean, Cristina and Gafos, Adamantios I. and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Children's gradient sensitivity to phonological mismatch}, series = {Journal of child language}, volume = {46}, journal = {Journal of child language}, number = {1}, publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press}, address = {New York}, issn = {0305-0009}, doi = {10.1017/S0305000918000259}, pages = {1 -- 23}, year = {2018}, abstract = {In a preferential looking paradigm, we studied how children's looking behavior and pupillary response were modulated by the degree of phonological mismatch between the correct label of a target referent and its manipulated form. We manipulated degree of mismatch by introducing one or more featural changes to the target label. Both looking behavior and pupillary response were sensitive to degree of mismatch, corroborating previous studies that found differential responses in one or the other measure. Using time-course analyses, we present for the first time results demonstrating full separability among conditions (detecting difference not only between one vs. more, but also between two and three featural changes). Furthermore, the correct labels and small featural changes were associated with stable target preference, while large featural changes were associated with oscillating looking behavior, suggesting significant shifts in looking preference over time. These findings further support and extend the notion that early words are represented in great detail, containing subphonemic information.}, language = {en} } @article{ChenSzendroiCrainetal.2018, author = {Chen, Hui-Ching and Szendroi, Krizsta and Crain, Stephen and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Understanding Prosodic Focus Marking in Mandarin Chinese}, series = {Journal of Psycholinguistic Research}, volume = {48}, journal = {Journal of Psycholinguistic Research}, number = {1}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {0090-6905}, doi = {10.1007/s10936-018-9580-9}, pages = {19 -- 32}, year = {2018}, abstract = {This study investigated whether Mandarin speakers interpret prosodic information as focus markers in a sentence-picture verification task. Previous production studies have shown that both Mandarin-speaking adults and Mandarin-speaking children mark focus by prosodic information (Ouyang and Kaiser in Lang Cogn Neurosc 30(1-2):57-72, 2014; Yang and Chen in Prosodic focus marking in Chinese four-and eight-year-olds, 2014). However, while prosodic focus marking did not seem to affect sentence comprehension in adults Mandarin-speaking children showed enhanced sentence comprehension when the sentence focus was marked by prosodic information in a previous study (Chen in Appl Psycholinguist 19(4):553-582, 1998). The present study revisited this difference between Mandarin speaking adults and children by applying a newly designed task that tested the use of prosodic information to identify the sentence focus. No evidence was obtained that Mandarin-speaking children (as young as 3years of age) adhered more strongly to prosodic information than adults but that word order was the strongest cue for their focus interpretation. Our findings support the view that children attune to the specific means of information structure marking in their ambient language at an early age.}, language = {en} } @article{RichterPaulHoehleetal.2020, author = {Richter, Maria and Paul, Mariella and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Wartenburger, Isabell}, title = {Common Ground Information Affects Reference Resolution}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {11}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2020.565651}, pages = {17}, year = {2020}, abstract = {One of the most important social cognitive skills in humans is the ability to "put oneself in someone else's shoes," that is, to take another person's perspective. In socially situated communication, perspective taking enables the listener to arrive at a meaningful interpretation of what is said (sentence meaning) and what is meant (speaker's meaning) by the speaker. To successfully decode the speaker's meaning, the listener has to take into account which information he/she and the speaker share in their common ground (CG). We here further investigated competing accounts about when and how CG information affects language comprehension by means of reaction time (RT) measures, accuracy data, event-related potentials (ERPs), and eye-tracking. Early integration accounts would predict that CG information is considered immediately and would hence not expect to find costs of CG integration. Late integration accounts would predict a rather late and effortful integration of CG information during the parsing process that might be reflected in integration or updating costs. Other accounts predict the simultaneous integration of privileged ground (PG) and CG perspectives. We used a computerized version of the referential communication game with object triplets of different sizes presented visually in CG or PG. In critical trials (i.e., conflict trials), CG information had to be integrated while privileged information had to be suppressed. Listeners mastered the integration of CG (response accuracy 99.8\%). Yet, slower RTs, and enhanced late positivities in the ERPs showed that CG integration had its costs. Moreover, eye-tracking data indicated an early anticipation of referents in CG but an inability to suppress looks to the privileged competitor, resulting in later and longer looks to targets in those trials, in which CG information had to be considered. Our data therefore support accounts that foresee an early anticipation of referents to be in CG but a rather late and effortful integration if conflicting information has to be processed. We show that both perspectives, PG and CG, contribute to socially situated language processing and discuss the data with reference to theoretical accounts and recent findings on the use of CG information for reference resolution.}, language = {en} } @article{GarciaRoeserHoehle2019, author = {Garc{\´i}a, Rowena and Roeser, Jens and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Thematic role assignment in the L1 acquisition of Tagalog}, series = {Language acquisition : a journal of developmental linguistics}, volume = {26}, journal = {Language acquisition : a journal of developmental linguistics}, number = {3}, publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {1048-9223}, doi = {10.1080/10489223.2018.1525613}, pages = {235 -- 261}, year = {2019}, abstract = {It is a common finding across languages that young children have problems in understanding patient-initial sentences. We used Tagalog, a verb-initial language with a reliable voice-marking system and highly frequent patient voice constructions, to test the predictions of several accounts that have been proposed to explain this difficulty: the frequency account, the Competition Model, and the incremental processing account. Study 1 presents an analysis of Tagalog child-directed speech, which showed that the dominant argument order is agent-before-patient and that morphosyntactic markers are highly valid cues to thematic role assignment. In Study 2, we used a combined self-paced listening and picture verification task to test how Tagalog-speaking adults and 5- and 7-year-old children process reversible transitive sentences. Results showed that adults performed well in all conditions, while children's accuracy and listening times for the first noun phrase indicated more difficulty in interpreting patient-initial sentences in the agent voice compared to the patient voice. The patient voice advantage is partly explained by both the frequency account and incremental processing account.}, language = {en} } @article{BollAvetisyanBhataraHoehle2020, author = {Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie and Bhatara, Anjali and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Processing of rhythm in speech and music in adult dyslexia}, series = {Brain Sciences}, volume = {10}, journal = {Brain Sciences}, number = {5}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2076-3425}, doi = {10.3390/brainsci10050261}, pages = {26}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Recent studies have suggested that musical rhythm perception ability can affect the phonological system. The most prevalent causal account for developmental dyslexia is the phonological deficit hypothesis. As rhythm is a subpart of phonology, we hypothesized that reading deficits in dyslexia are associated with rhythm processing in speech and in music. In a rhythmic grouping task, adults with diagnosed dyslexia and age-matched controls listened to speech streams with syllables alternating in intensity, duration, or neither, and indicated whether they perceived a strong-weak or weak-strong rhythm pattern. Additionally, their reading and musical rhythm abilities were measured. Results showed that adults with dyslexia had lower musical rhythm abilities than adults without dyslexia. Moreover, lower musical rhythm ability was associated with lower reading ability in dyslexia. However, speech grouping by adults with dyslexia was not impaired when musical rhythm perception ability was controlled: like adults without dyslexia, they showed consistent preferences. However, rhythmic grouping was predicted by musical rhythm perception ability, irrespective of dyslexia. The results suggest associations among musical rhythm perception ability, speech rhythm perception, and reading ability. This highlights the importance of considering individual variability to better understand dyslexia and raises the possibility that musical rhythm perception ability is a key to phonological and reading acquisition.}, language = {en} } @misc{LinnikBastiaanseHoehle2016, author = {Linnik, Anastasia and Bastiaanse, Roelien and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Discourse production in aphasia: a current review of theoretical and methodological challenges}, series = {Aphasiology : an international, interdisciplinary journal}, volume = {30}, journal = {Aphasiology : an international, interdisciplinary journal}, publisher = {Copernicus}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {0268-7038}, doi = {10.1080/02687038.2015.1113489}, pages = {765 -- 800}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Background: Discourse abilities play an important role in the assessment, classification, and therapy outcome evaluation of people with aphasia. Discourse production in aphasia has been studied quite extensively in the last 15 years. Nevertheless, many questions still do not have definitive answers.Aims: The aim of this review is to present the current situation in the research on a number of crucial aspects of discourse production in aphasia, focusing on methodological progress and related challenges. This review continues the discussion of the core themes in the field, aiming to render it as up-to-date as possible.Main Contribution: The review focuses on a number of unexplored theoretical issues, specifically, the interface between micro- and macrolinguistic abilities, and the relationship between linguistic competence and communicative success in aphasia. The emphasis on theoretical challenges, along with the thorough discussion of methodological problems in the field, makes this review a starting point and a comprehensive information source for researchers planning to address language production in people with aphasia.Conclusion: Although the picture is not yet complete, recent advancements lead to a better understanding of the processes involved in aphasic discourse production. Different approaches provide insights into the complex multifaceted nature of discourse-level phenomena; however, methodological issues, including low comparability, substantially slow down the progress in the field.}, language = {en} } @article{HolzgrefeLangWellmannPetroneetal.2016, author = {Holzgrefe-Lang, Julia and Wellmann, Caroline and Petrone, Caterina and Raeling, Romy and Truckenbrodt, Hubert and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Wartenburger, Isabell}, title = {How pitch change and final lengthening cue boundary perception in German: converging evidence from ERPs and prosodic judgements}, series = {Language, cognition and neuroscience}, volume = {31}, journal = {Language, cognition and neuroscience}, publisher = {Begell House}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {2327-3798}, doi = {10.1080/23273798.2016.1157195}, pages = {904 -- 920}, year = {2016}, abstract = {This study examines the role of pitch and final lengthening in German intonation phrase boundary (IPB) perception. Since a prosody-related event-related potential (ERP) component termed Closure Positive Shift reflects the processing of major prosodic boundaries, we combined ERP and behavioural measures (i.e. a prosodic judgement task) to systematically test the impact of sole and combined cue occurrences on IPB perception. In two experiments we investigated whether adult listeners perceived an IPB in acoustically manipulated speech material that contained none, one, or two of the prosodic boundary cues. Both ERP and behavioural results suggest that pitch and final lengthening cues have to occur in combination to trigger IPB perception. Hence, the combination of behavioural and electrophysiological measures provides a comprehensive insight into prosodic boundary cue perception in German and leads to an argument in favour of interrelated cues from the frequency (i.e. pitch change) and the time (i.e. final lengthening) domain.}, language = {en} } @article{BijeljacBabicHoehleNazzi2016, author = {Bijeljac-Babic, Ranka and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Nazzi, Thierry}, title = {Early Prosodic Acquisition in Bilingual Infants: The Case of the Perceptual Trochaic Bias}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {7}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00210}, pages = {1753 -- 1802}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Infants start learning the prosodic properties of their native language before 12 months, as shown by the emergence of a trochaic bias in English-learning infants between 6 and 9 months (Jusczyk et al., 1993), and in German-learning infants between 4 and 6 months (Huhle et al., 2009, 2014), while French-learning infants do not show a bias at 6 months (Hohle et al., 2009). This language-specific emergence of a trochaic bias is supported by the fact that English and German are languages with trochaic predominance in their lexicons, while French is a language with phrase-final lengthening but lacking lexical stress. We explored the emergence of a trochaic bias in bilingual French/German infants, to study whether the developmental trajectory would be similar to monolingual infants and whether amount of relative exposure to the two languages has an impact on the emergence of the bias. Accordingly, we replicated Hohle et al. (2009) with 24 bilingual 6-month-olds learning French and German simultaneously. All infants had been exposed to both languages for 30 to 70\% of the time from birth. Using the Head Preference Procedure, infants were presented with two lists of stimuli, one made up of several occurrences of the pseudoword /GAba/ with word-initial stress (trochaic pattern), the second one made up of several occurrences of the pseudoword /gaBA/ with word-final stress (iambic pattern). The stimuli were recorded by a native German female speaker. Results revealed that these French/German bilingual 6-month olds have a trochaic bias (as evidenced by a preference to listen to the trochaic pattern). Hence, their listening preference is comparable to that of monolingual German-learning 6-month-olds, but differs from that of monolingual French-learning 6-month-olds who did not show any preference (Noble et al., 2009). Moreover, the size of the trochaic bias in the bilingual infants was not correlated with their amount of exposure to German. The present results thus establish that the development of a trochaic bias in simultaneous bilinguals is not delayed compared to monolingual German-learning infants (Hohle et al., 2009) and is rather independent of the amount of exposure to German relative to French.}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleFritzscheMueller2016, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Fritzsche, Tom and M{\"u}ller, Anja}, title = {of Cognitive Control: An Eye Tracking Study with German-Learning 4-Year-Olds}, series = {PLoS one}, volume = {11}, journal = {PLoS one}, publisher = {PLoS}, address = {San Fransisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0149870}, pages = {27}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Children's interpretations of sentences containing focus particles do not seem adult-like until school age. This study investigates how German 4-year-old children comprehend sentences with the focus particle 'nur' (only) by using different tasks and controlling for the impact of general cognitive abilities on performance measures. Two sentence types with 'only' in either pre-subject or pre-object position were presented. Eye gaze data and verbal responses were collected via the visual world paradigm combined with a sentence-picture verification task. While the eye tracking data revealed an adult-like pattern of focus particle processing, the sentence-picture verification replicated previous findings of poor comprehension, especially for 'only' in pre-subject position. A second study focused on the impact of general cognitive abilities on the outcomes of the verification task. Working memory was related to children's performance in both sentence types whereas inhibitory control was selectively related to the number of errors for sentences with 'only' in pre-subject position. These results suggest that children at the age of 4 years have the linguistic competence to correctly interpret sentences with focus particles, which-depending on specific task demands-may be masked by immature general cognitive abilities.}, language = {en} } @article{AbboubBollAvetisyanBhataraetal.2016, author = {Abboub, Nawal and Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie and Bhatara, Anjali and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Nazzi, Thierry}, title = {An Exploration of Rhythmic Grouping of Speech Sequences by French- and German-Learning Infants}, series = {Frontiers in human neuroscienc}, volume = {10}, journal = {Frontiers in human neuroscienc}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1662-5161}, doi = {10.3389/fnhum.2016.00292}, pages = {6707 -- 6712}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Rhythm in music and speech can be characterized by a constellation of several acoustic cues. Individually, these cues have different effects on rhythmic perception: sequences of sounds alternating in duration are perceived as short-long pairs (weak-strong/iambic pattern), whereas sequences of sounds alternating in intensity or pitch are perceived as loud-soft, or high-low pairs (strong-weak/trochaic pattern). This perceptual bias—called the Iambic-Trochaic Law (ITL)-has been claimed to be an universal property of the auditory system applying in both the music and the language domains. Recent studies have shown that language experience can modulate the effects of the ITL on rhythmic perception of both speech and non-speech sequences in adults, and of non-speech sequences in 7.5-month-old infants. The goal of the present study was to explore whether language experience also modulates infants' grouping of speech. To do so, we presented sequences of syllables to monolingual French- and German-learning 7.5-month-olds. Using the Headturn Preference Procedure (HPP), we examined whether they were able to perceive a rhythmic structure in sequences of syllables that alternated in duration, pitch, or intensity. Our findings show that both French- and German-learning infants perceived a rhythmic structure when it was cued by duration or pitch but not intensity. Our findings also show differences in how these infants use duration and pitch cues to group syllable sequences, suggesting that pitch cues were the easier ones to use. Moreover, performance did not differ across languages, failing to reveal early language effects on rhythmic perception. These results contribute to our understanding of the origin of rhythmic perception and perceptual mechanisms shared across music and speech, which may bootstrap language acquisition.}, language = {en} } @article{BhataraBollAvetisyanAgusetal.2016, author = {Bhatara, Anjali and Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie and Agus, Trevor and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Nazzi, Thierry}, title = {Language Experience Affects Grouping of Musical Instrument Sounds}, series = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society}, volume = {40}, journal = {Cognitive science : a multidisciplinary journal of anthropology, artificial intelligence, education, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology ; journal of the Cognitive Science Society}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0364-0213}, doi = {10.1111/cogs.12300}, pages = {1816 -- 1830}, year = {2016}, language = {en} } @article{BollAvetisyanBhataraUngeretal.2016, author = {Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie and Bhatara, Anjali and Unger, Annika and Nazzi, Thierry and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Effects of experience with L2 and music on rhythmic grouping by French listeners}, series = {Bilingualism : language and cognition.}, volume = {19}, journal = {Bilingualism : language and cognition.}, publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press}, address = {New York}, issn = {1366-7289}, doi = {10.1017/S1366728915000425}, pages = {971 -- 986}, year = {2016}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleBergerSauermann2016, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Berger, Frauke and Sauermann, Antje}, title = {Information structure in first language acquisition}, series = {The Oxford handbook of information structure}, journal = {The Oxford handbook of information structure}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, address = {Oxford}, isbn = {978-0-19-964267-0}, pages = {562 -- 580}, year = {2016}, language = {en} } @article{GoetzYeungKrasotkinaetal.2018, author = {G{\"o}tz, Antonia and Yeung, H. Henny and Krasotkina, Anna and Schwarzer, Gudrun and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Perceptual Reorganization of Lexical Tones}, series = {Frontiers in Psychology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in Psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00477}, pages = {1 -- 16}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Findings on the perceptual reorganization of lexical tones are mixed. Some studies report good tone discrimination abilities for all tested age groups, others report decreased or enhanced discrimination with increasing age, and still others report U-shaped developmental curves. Since prior studies have used a wide range of contrasts and experimental procedures, it is unclear how specific task requirements interact with discrimination abilities at different ages. In the present work, we tested German and Cantonese adults on their discrimination of Cantonese lexical tones, as well as German-learning infants between 6 and 18 months of age on their discrimination of two specific Cantonese tones using two different types of experimental procedures. The adult experiment showed that German native speakers can discriminate between lexical tones, but native Cantonese speakers show significantly better performance. The results from German-learning infants suggest that 6- and 18-month-olds discriminate tones, while 9-month-olds do not, supporting a U-shaped developmental curve. Furthermore, our results revealed an effect of methodology, with good discrimination performance at 6 months after habituation but not after familiarization. These results support three main conclusions. First, habituation can be a more sensitive procedure for measuring infants' discrimination than familiarization. Second, the previous finding of a U-shaped curve in the discrimination of lexical tones is further supported. Third, discrimination abilities at 18 months appear to reflect mature perceptual sensitivity to lexical tones, since German adults also discriminated the lexical tones with high accuracy.}, language = {en} } @article{BrandtKobeleHoehle2014, author = {Brandt-Kobele, Oda-Christina and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {The detection of subject-verb agreement violations by German-speaking children: An eye-tracking study}, series = {Lingua : international review of general linguistics}, volume = {144}, journal = {Lingua : international review of general linguistics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0024-3841}, doi = {10.1016/j.lingua.2013.12.008}, pages = {7 -- 20}, year = {2014}, abstract = {This study examines the processing of sentences with and without subject verb agreement violations in German-speaking children at three and five years of age. An eye-tracking experiment was conducted to measure whether children's looking behavior was influenced by the grammaticality of the test sentences. The older group of children turned their gaze faster towards a target picture and looked longer at it when the object noun referring to the target was presented in a grammatical sentence with subject verb agreement compared to when the object noun was presented in a sentence in which an agreement violation occurred. The younger group of children displayed less conclusive results, with a tendency to look longer but not faster towards the target picture in the grammatical compared to the ungrammatical condition. This is the first experimental evidence that German-speaking five-year old children are sensitive to subject verb agreement and violations thereof. Our results additionally substantiate that the eye-tracking paradigm is suitable to examine children's sensitivity to subtle grammatical violations.}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleHoernigWeskottetal.2014, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Hoernig, Robin and Weskott, Thomas and Knauf, Selene and Krueger, Agnes}, title = {Effects of focus and definiteness on children's word order: evidence from German five-year-olds' reproductions of double object constructions}, series = {Journal of child language}, volume = {41}, journal = {Journal of child language}, number = {4}, publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press}, address = {New York}, issn = {0305-0009}, doi = {10.1017/S0305000913000196}, pages = {780 -- 810}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Two experiments tested how faithfully German children aged 4; 5 to 5; 6 reproduce ditransitive sentences that are unmarked or marked with respect to word order and focus (Exp1) or definiteness (Exp2). Adopting an optimality theory (OT) approach, it is assumed that in the German adult grammar word order is ranked lower than focus and definiteness. Faithfulness of children's reproductions decreased as markedness of inputs increased; unmarked structures were reproduced most faithfully and unfaithful outputs had most often an unmarked form. Consistent with the OT proposal, children were more tolerant against inputs marked for word order than for focus; in conflict with the proposal, children were less tolerant against inputs marked for word order than for definiteness. Our results suggest that the linearization of objects in German double object constructions is affected by focus and definiteness, but that prosodic principles may have an impact on the position of a focused constituent.}, language = {en} } @article{HoehlePauenHesseetal.2014, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Pauen, Sabina and Hesse, Volker and Weissenborn, Juergen}, title = {Discrimination of rhythmic pattern at 4 months and language performance at 5 years: a longitudinal analysis of data from german-learning children}, series = {Language learning : a journal of research in language studies}, volume = {64}, journal = {Language learning : a journal of research in language studies}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, address = {Hoboken}, issn = {0023-8333}, doi = {10.1111/lang.12075}, pages = {141 -- 164}, year = {2014}, abstract = {In this article we report on early rhythmic discrimination performance of children who participated in a longitudinal study following children from birth to their 6th year of life. Thirty-four children including 8 children with a family risk for developmental language impairment were tested on the discrimination of trochaic and iambic disyllabic sequences when they were 4 months old. At 5 years of age, standardized measures on language performance (SETK3-5) and nonverbal intelligence (SON-R) were obtained. Overall, evidence of discrimination of the rhythmic patterns was found only for children without a family risk. The performance in early rhythmic discrimination correlated with the later outcomes in SETK3-5 subtests on sentence comprehension and morphological skills, but not with subtests related to memory performance nor with nonverbal intelligence. Our results suggest that indicators of language development can be discovered as early as 4 months of age, and seem to correlate with later outcomes in rather specific language skills.}, language = {en} } @article{SchroederHoehle2011, author = {Schr{\"o}der, C. and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Prosodic perception during early language acquisition}, series = {Sprache, Stimme, Geh{\"o}r : Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Kommunikationsst{\"o}rungen}, volume = {35}, journal = {Sprache, Stimme, Geh{\"o}r : Zeitschrift f{\"u}r Kommunikationsst{\"o}rungen}, number = {3}, publisher = {Thieme}, address = {Stuttgart}, issn = {0342-0477}, doi = {10.1055/s-0031-1284404}, pages = {E91 -- E98}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Prosody plays an important role in early language acquisition that in most children proceeds rapidly and easily. From birth on infants are able to perceive prosodic information in the speech signal. During the course of the first year of life prosodic perception abilities continue to develop. Cross-linguistic studies have shown that this development is already influenced by the native language. As prosodic and syntactic units occur often in correlation, prosodic cues in the continuous speech signal might help infants to derive information on how to segment their native language into syntactically relevant units. Indeed, infants use their prosodic perception and are able to detect word, phrase and clause boundaries using prosodic cues from the speech signal. Thus, during the first year of life when perceiving speech the processing of prosodic cues is focussed and allows for an efficient access to language acquisition. Future studies need to determine whether early prosodic perception abilities can provide markers for later language development and predict language impairment.}, language = {de} } @article{WellmannHolzgrefeLangTruckenbrodtetal.2012, author = {Wellmann, Caroline and Holzgrefe-Lang, Julia and Truckenbrodt, Hubert and Wartenburger, Isabell and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {How each prosodic boundary cue matters evidence from German infants}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {3}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00580}, pages = {13}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Previous studies have revealed that infants aged 6-10 months are able to use the acoustic correlates of major prosodic boundaries, that is, pitch change, preboundary lengthening, and pause, for the segmentation of the continuous speech signal. Moreover, investigations with American-English- and Dutch-learning infants suggest that processing prosodic boundary markings involves a weighting of these cues. This weighting seems to develop with increasing exposure to the native language and to underlie crosslinguistic variation. In the following, we report the results of four experiments using the headturn preference procedure to explore the perception of prosodic boundary cues in German infants. We presented 8-month-old infants with a sequence of names in two different prosodic groupings, with or without boundary markers. Infants discriminated both sequences when the boundary was marked by all three cues (Experiment 1) and when it was marked by a pitch change and preboundary lengthening in combination (Experiment 2). The presence of a pitch change (Experiment 3) or preboundary lengthening (Experiment 4) as single cues did not lead to a successful discrimination. Our results indicate that pause is not a necessary cue for German infants. Pitch change and preboundary lengthening in combination, but not as single cues, are sufficient. Hence, by 8 months infants only rely on a convergence of boundary markers. Comparisons with adults' performance on the same stimulus materials suggest that the pattern observed with the 8-month-olds is already consistent with that of adults. We discuss our findings with respect to crosslinguistic variation and the development of a language-specific prosodic cue weighting.}, language = {en} } @article{BijeljacBabicSerresHoehleetal.2012, author = {Bijeljac-Babic, Ranka and Serres, Josette and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Nazzi, Thierry}, title = {Effect of bilingualism on lexical stress pattern discrimination in french-learning infants}, series = {PLoS one}, volume = {7}, journal = {PLoS one}, number = {2}, publisher = {PLoS}, address = {San Fransisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0030843}, pages = {8}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Monolingual infants start learning the prosodic properties of their native language around 6 to 9 months of age, a fact marked by the development of preferences for predominant prosodic patterns and a decrease in sensitivity to non-native prosodic properties. The present study evaluates the effects of bilingual acquisition on speech perception by exploring how stress pattern perception may differ in French-learning 10-month-olds raised in bilingual as opposed to monolingual environments. Experiment 1 shows that monolinguals can discriminate stress patterns following a long familiarization to one of two patterns, but not after a short familiarization. In Experiment 2, two subgroups of bilingual infants growing up learning both French and another language (varying across infants) in which stress is used lexically were tested under the more difficult short familiarization condition: one with balanced input, and one receiving more input in the language other than French. Discrimination was clearly found for the other-language-dominant subgroup, establishing heightened sensitivity to stress pattern contrasts in these bilinguals as compared to monolinguals. However, the balanced bilinguals' performance was not better than that of monolinguals, establishing an effect of the relative balance of the language input. This pattern of results is compatible with the proposal that sensitivity to prosodic contrasts is maintained or enhanced in a bilingual population compared to a monolingual population in which these contrasts are non-native, provided that this dimension is used in one of the two languages in acquisition, and that infants receive enough input from that language.}, language = {en} } @article{BergerHoehle2012, author = {Berger, Frauke and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Restrictions on addition}, series = {Journal of child language}, volume = {39}, journal = {Journal of child language}, number = {2}, publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press}, address = {New York}, issn = {0305-0009}, doi = {10.1017/S0305000911000122}, pages = {383 -- 410}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Children up to school age have been reported to perform poorly when interpreting sentences containing restrictive and additive focus particles by treating sentences with a focus particle in the same way as sentences without it. Careful comparisons between results of previous studies indicate that this phenomenon is less pronounced for restrictive than for additive particles. We argue that this asymmetry is an effect of the presuppositional status of the proposition triggered by the additive particle. We tested this in two experiments with German-learning three-and four-year-olds using a method that made the exploitation of the information provided by the particles highly relevant for completing the task. Three-year-olds already performed remarkably well with sentences both with auch 'also' and with nur 'only'. Thus, children can consider the presuppositional contribution of the additive particle in their sentence interpretation and can exploit the restrictive particle as a marker of exhaustivity.}, language = {en} } @article{OttHoehle2011, author = {Ott, Susan and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Verb inflection in German-learning children with typical and atypical language acquisition}, series = {Journal of child language}, volume = {40}, journal = {Journal of child language}, number = {1}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, address = {New York}, issn = {0305-0009}, doi = {10.1017/S030500091200027X}, pages = {169 -- 192}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Previous research has shown that high phonotactic frequencies facilitate the production of regularly inflected verbs in English-learning children with specific language impairment (SLI) but not with typical development (TD). We asked whether this finding can be replicated for German, a language with a much more complex inflectional verb paradigm than English. Using an elicitation task, the production of inflected nonce verb forms (3rd person singular with - t suffix) with either high-or low-frequency subsyllables was tested in sixteen German-learning children with SLI (ages 4;1-5;1), sixteen TD-children matched for chronological age (CA) and fourteen TD-children matched for verbal age (VA) (ages 3;0-3;11). The findings revealed that children with SLI, but not CA-or VA-children, showed differential performance between the two types of verbs, producing more inflectional errors when the verb forms resulted in low-frequency subsyllables than when they resulted in high-frequency subsyllables, replicating the results from English-learning children.}, language = {en} } @article{HolzgrefeLangWellmannPetroneetal.2013, author = {Holzgrefe-Lang, Julia and Wellmann, Caroline and Petrone, Caterina and Truckenbrodt, Hubert and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Wartenburger, Isabell}, title = {Brain response to prosodic boundary cues depends on boundary position}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {4}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, number = {28}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00421}, pages = {14}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Prosodic information is crucial for spoken language comprehension and especially for syntactic parsing, because prosodic cues guide the hearer's syntactic analysis. The time course and mechanisms of this interplay of prosody and syntax are not yet well-understood. In particular, there is an ongoing debate whether local prosodic cues are taken into account automatically or whether they are processed in relation to the global prosodic context in which they appear. The present study explores whether the perception of a prosodic boundary is affected by its position within an utterance. In an event-related potential (PRP) study we tested if the brain response evoked by the prosodic boundary differs when the boundary occurs early in a list of three names connected by conjunctions (i.e., after the first name) as compared to later in the utterance (i.e., after the second name). A closure positive shift (CPS)-marking the processing of a prosodic phrase boundary-was elicited for stimuli with a late boundary, but not for stimuli with an early boundary. This result is further evidence for an immediate integration of prosodic information into the parsing of an utterance. In addition, it shows that the processing of prosodic boundary cues depends on the previously processed information from the preceding prosodic context.}, language = {en} } @article{BhataraBollAvetisyanUngeretal.2013, author = {Bhatara, Anjali and Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie and Unger, Annika and Nazzi, Thierry and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Native language affects rhythmic grouping of speech}, series = {The journal of the Acoustical Society of America}, volume = {134}, journal = {The journal of the Acoustical Society of America}, number = {5}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville}, issn = {0001-4966}, doi = {10.1121/1.4823848}, pages = {3828 -- 3843}, year = {2013}, abstract = {Perceptual attunement to one's native language results in language-specific processing of speech sounds. This includes stress cues, instantiated by differences in intensity, pitch, and duration. The present study investigates the effects of linguistic experience on the perception of these cues by studying the Iambic-Trochaic Law (ITL), which states that listeners group sounds trochaically (strong-weak) if the sounds vary in loudness or pitch and iambically (weak-strong) if they vary in duration. Participants were native listeners either of French or German; this comparison was chosen because French adults have been shown to be less sensitive than speakers of German and other languages to word-level stress, which is communicated by variation in cues such as intensity, fundamental frequency (F0), or duration. In experiment 1, participants listened to sequences of co-articulated syllables varying in either intensity or duration. The German participants were more consistent in their grouping than the French for both cues. Experiment 2 was identical to experiment 1 except that intensity variation was replaced by pitch variation. German participants again showed more consistency for both cues, and French participants showed especially inconsistent grouping for the pitch-varied sequences. These experiments show that the perception of linguistic rhythm is strongly influenced by linguistic experience.}, language = {en} } @article{BrandtKobeleHoehle2010, author = {Brandt-Kobele, Oda-Christina and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {What asymmetries within comprehension reveal about asymmetries between comprehension and production : the case of verb inflection in language acquisition}, issn = {0024-3841}, doi = {10.1016/j.lingua.2010.02.008}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Two recent studies (Johnson et al., 2005; Perez-Leroux, 2006) found that English- and Spanish-learning children do not show the ability to use verb inflection as a cue to subject number before the age of 5 to 6 years. These findings suggest an asymmetric development as verb inflections are usually correctly produced before this age. In the present study we investigated whether German 3- to 4-year-olds take advantage of the information provided by the verb inflection in sentence comprehension. In a first study, children's looking behavior at two pictures was measured after presentation of a sentence in which the subject number was coded only by the verb inflection. The results from this study suggest that children's looks reflect correct interpretation of the sentences and thus show their ability to make use of verb inflection. In a second experiment, preferential looking was combined with an additional task in which the children had to point to the matching picture. in this case children did not perform above chance level. Our results underline the relevance that specific task demands have on the performance of children in comprehension testing. These have to be accounted for when interpreting findings on production and comprehension asymmetries in language acquisition.}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleBijeljacBabicHeroldetal.2009, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Bijeljac-Babic, Ranka and Herold, Birgit and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen and Nazzi, Thierry}, title = {Language specific prosodic preferences during the first year of life : evidence from German and French infants}, issn = {0163-6383}, doi = {10.1016/j.infbeh.2009.03.004}, year = {2009}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleBergerMuelleretal.2009, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Berger, Frauke and M{\"u}ller, Anja and Schmitz, Michaela and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Focus particles in children's language : production and comprehension of auch "also" in German learners from 1 year to 4 years of age}, issn = {1048-9223}, doi = {10.1080/10489220802584550}, year = {2009}, language = {en} } @article{Hoehle2009, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Bootstrapping mechanisms in first language acquisition}, issn = {0024-3949}, doi = {10.1515/Ling.2009.013}, year = {2009}, language = {en} } @article{vanKampenParmaksizvandeVijveretal.2008, author = {van Kampen, Anja and Parmaksiz, G{\"u}liz and van de Vijver, Ruben and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Metrical and statistical cues for word segmentation : the use of vowel harmony and word stress as a cue to word boundaries by 6- and 9-month-old Turkish learners}, isbn = {978-1-8471-8618-8}, year = {2008}, language = {en} } @article{MuellerHoehleWeissenborn2008, author = {M{\"u}ller, Anja and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Teaching a new word : properties of CDS to 12-month-old German-learning children}, isbn = {978-1-8471-8532-7}, year = {2008}, language = {en} } @article{Hoehle2009, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Crosslinguistic perspectives on segmentation and categorization in early language acquisition}, isbn = {978-0-521- 88337-5}, year = {2009}, language = {en} } @article{vandeVijverHoehleOtt2009, author = {van de Vijver, Ruben and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Ott, Susan}, title = {On the distribution of dorsals in complex and simple onsets in child German, Dutch and English}, isbn = {978-3-11-021931-9}, year = {2009}, language = {en} } @article{MuellerHoehleSchmitzetal.2009, author = {M{\"u}ller, Anja and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Schmitz, Michaela and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Information structural constraints on children's early language production : the acquisition of the focus particle "auch" (also) in German learning 12-to 36-month-olds}, issn = {0142-7237}, year = {2009}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleWang2008, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Wang, Hao}, title = {Syntactic categorization of new words : distributional and morphological cues to form class}, issn = {0020-7594}, year = {2008}, language = {en} } @book{GrobaHoehle2009, author = {Groba, Agnes and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Auswirkungen einer simultan bilingualen Spracherwerbssituation auf die Anwendung des Mutual Exclusivity Constraints im Erwerb von Adjektiven}, year = {2009}, language = {de} } @article{HoehleWeissenborn1998, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Sensitivity to closed-class-elements in preverbal children}, isbn = {1- 574-73032-0}, year = {1998}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleWeissenborn1999, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Discovering Grammar : prosodic and morpho-syntactic aspects of rule formation in first language acquisition}, year = {1999}, language = {en} } @article{WeissenbornHoehleKieferetal.2000, author = {Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Kiefer, D. and Cavar, Damir}, title = {On the Structure of early syntactic knowledge : continuity and Economy}, year = {2000}, language = {en} } @article{PennerHoehle2000, author = {Penner, Zvi and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Extremely early knowledge of language specific word-order}, year = {2000}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleWeissenborn2000, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Lauter Laute? : Lautsegmente und Silben in der Sprachperzeption und im Spracherwerb}, isbn = {3-484-73053-6}, year = {2000}, language = {de} } @article{HoehleWeissenborn2000, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {The origins of syntactic knowledge : recognition of determiners in one old German children}, year = {2000}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleWeissenborn2003, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {German-learning infants' ability to detect unstressed closed-class elements in continuous speech}, year = {2003}, language = {en} } @article{BlennSeidlHoehle2003, author = {Blenn, Lydia and Seidl, Amanda and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Recognition of phrases in early language acquision : the role of morphological markers}, year = {2003}, language = {en} } @article{NubelKruckHoehleetal.2003, author = {Nubel, K. and Kruck, S. and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Suhl, U. and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen and Gross, M.}, title = {Interaktion behavioraler und elektrophysiologischer Ergebnisse zur Phonemdiskrimination bei S{\"a}uglingen}, year = {2003}, language = {de} } @article{Hoehle2004, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Sprachwahrnehmung und Spracherwerb im ersten Lebensjahr}, year = {2004}, language = {de} } @article{HoehleKieferSchulzetal.2004, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Kiefer, D. and Schulz, A. and Weissenborn, E. and Schmitz, M.}, title = {Functional elements in infants' speech processing : the role of determiners in syntactic categorization of lexical elements}, year = {2004}, abstract = {How do children determine the syntactic category of novel words? In this article we present the results of 2 experiments that investigated whether German children between 12 and 16 months of age can use distributional knowledge that determiners precede nouns and subject pronouns precede verbs to syntactically categorize adjacent novel words. Evidence from the head-turn preference paradigm shows that, although 12- to 13-month-olds cannot do this, 14- to 16- month-olds are able to use a determiner to categorize a following novel word as a noun. In contrast, no categorization effect was found for a novel word following a subject pronoun. To understand this difference we analyzed adult child- directed speech. This analysis showed that there are in fact stronger co-occurrence relations between determiners and nouns than between subject pronouns and verbs. Thus, in German determiners may be more reliable Cues to the syntactic category of an adjacent novel word than are subject pronouns. We propose that the capacity to syntactically categorize novel words, demonstrated here for the first time in children this young, mediates between the recognition of the specific morphosyntactic frame in which a novel word appears and the word-to-world mapping that is needed to build up a semantic representation for the novel word}, language = {en} } @article{Hoehle2004, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Sprachwahrnehmung und Spracherwerb im ersten Lebensjahr}, year = {2004}, language = {de} } @article{Hoehle2005, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Der Einstieg in die Grammatik : Spracherwerb w{\"a}hrend des ersten Lebensjahres}, year = {2005}, language = {de} } @article{PelzerHoehle2006, author = {Pelzer, Lydia and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {The impact of morphological markers on infants' and adults' speech processing}, year = {2006}, language = {en} } @article{HoehlevandeVijverBartelsetal.2006, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and van de Vijver, Ruben and Bartels, Sonja and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Phonological specificity of early lexical representations in German 19-month-olds at risk for SLI}, year = {2006}, language = {en} } @article{HoehleSchmitzSantelmannetal.2006, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Schmitz, M. and Santelmann, L. M. and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {The recognition of discontinuous verbal dependencies by German 19-month-olds : evidence for lexical and structural influences on childrens early processing capacities}, year = {2006}, language = {en} } @article{MuellerHoehleSchmitzetal.2006, author = {M{\"u}ller, A. and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Schmitz, M. and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {Focus-to-stress alignment in 4- to 5-year-old German-learning children}, isbn = {1847180280}, year = {2006}, language = {en} } @article{SchmitzHoehleMuelleretal.2006, author = {Schmitz, Michaela and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and M{\"u}ller, Anja and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {The recognition of the prosodic focus position in German-Learning Infants from 4 to 14 Months}, year = {2006}, language = {en} } @article{PelzerHoehle2006, author = {Pelzer, Lydia and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Processing of morphological markers as a cue to syntactic phrases by 10-month-olds German-learning infants}, isbn = {1847180280}, year = {2006}, language = {en} } @article{OttvandeVijverHoehle2006, author = {Ott, Susan and van de Vijver, Ruben and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {The effect of phonotactic constraints in German-speaking children with delayed phonological acquisition : Evidence from production of word-initial consonant clusters}, year = {2006}, language = {en} } @article{HoehlevandeVijverWeisenborn2006, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and van de Vijver, Ruben and Weisenborn, J.}, title = {Word processing at 19 months at its relation to language performance at 30 months : a retrospective analysis of data from German learning children}, year = {2006}, language = {en} } @article{HeroldHoehleWalchetal.2008, author = {Herold, Birgit and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Walch, Elisabeth and Weber, Tanja and Obladen, Michael}, title = {Impaired word stress pattern discrimination in very-low-birthweight infants during the first 6 months of life}, issn = {0012-1622}, doi = {10.1111/j.1469-8749.2008.03055.x}, year = {2008}, language = {en} } @article{BergerMuellerHoehleetal.2007, author = {Berger, Frauke and M{\"u}ller, Anja and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Weissenborn, J{\"u}rgen}, title = {German 4-year-olds comprehension of sentences containing the focus particle "auch" (also) : evidence from eye- tracking}, year = {2007}, language = {en} } @article{SchmitzHoehle2007, author = {Schmitz, M. and H{\"o}hle, Barbara}, title = {Habituierung und Dishabituierung als Maße der perzeptuellen und kognitiven Entwicklung : Methoden und Anwendungsbereiche}, isbn = {978-3-8017-1898-5}, year = {2007}, language = {de} } @article{WatermeyerHoehleKauschke2011, author = {Watermeyer, Melanie and H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Kauschke, Christina}, title = {Ausagieren von S{\"a}tzen versus Satz-Bild-Zuordnung: Vergleich zweier Methoden zur Untersuchung des Sprachverst{\"a}ndnisses anhand von semantisch reversiblen S{\"a}tzen mit Objektvoranstellung bei drei- und f{\"u}nfj{\"a}hrigen Kindern}, year = {2011}, language = {de} } @article{HoehleFritzscheMueller2016, author = {H{\"o}hle, Barbara and Fritzsche, Tom and M{\"u}ller, Anja}, title = {Children's Comprehension of Sentences with Focus Particles and the Role of Cognitive Control}, series = {PLoS one}, volume = {11}, journal = {PLoS one}, number = {3}, publisher = {PLoS}, address = {Lawrence, Kan.}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0149870}, pages = {1 -- 27}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Children's interpretations of sentences containing focus particles do not seem adult-like until school age. This study investigates how German 4-year-old children comprehend sentences with the focus particle 'nur' (only) by using different tasks and controlling for the impact of general cognitive abilities on performance measures. Two sentence types with 'only' in either pre-subject or pre-object position were presented. Eye gaze data and verbal responses were collected via the visual world paradigm combined with a sentence-picture verification task. While the eye tracking data revealed an adult-like pattern of focus particle processing, the sentence-picture verification replicated previous findings of poor comprehension, especially for 'only' in pre-subject position. A second study focused on the impact of general cognitive abilities on the outcomes of the verification task. Working memory was related to children's performance in both sentence types whereas inhibitory control was selectively related to the number of errors for sentences with 'only' in pre-subject position. These results suggest that children at the age of 4 years have the linguistic competence to correctly interpret sentences with focus particles, which-depending on specific task demands-may be masked by immature general cognitive abilities.}, language = {en} }