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Recognition of Familiar Wordforms and Phonological Variation in Akan by Multilingual Infants Learning African Tone Languages in Ghana.

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Title: Recognition of Familiar Wordforms and Phonological Variation in Akan by Multilingual Infants Learning African Tone Languages in Ghana.
Authors: Omane PO; Language and Cognition Team, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS-Université Paris Cité, Paris, France., Duah RA; Department of Linguistics, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana., Nazzi T; Language and Cognition Team, Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition Center, CNRS-Université Paris Cité, Paris, France.
Source: Developmental science [Dev Sci] 2026 Sep; Vol. 29 (5), pp. e70253.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Language: English
Journal Info: Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 9814574 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1467-7687 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 1363755X NLM ISO Abbreviation: Dev Sci Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Original Publication: Oxford, UK ; Malden, MA, USA : Wiley-Blackwell, c1998-
MeSH Terms: Recognition, Psychology*/physiology , Speech Perception*/physiology , Learning*/physiology , Multilingualism* , Phonetics* , Language Development* , Language*, Humans ; Ghana ; Infant ; Male ; Female
Abstract: Recent developmental evidence shows that the proposal that consonants are more important than vowels for lexical processing is not universal but language-specific. In non-tone languages, a consonant bias emerges early in development in Romance languages (e.g., French) but later in Germanic languages (e.g., English), while evidence from Asian tone languages (Mandarin, Cantonese) shows a reverse vowel bias. The V-bias in tone languages has been linked to the presence of lexical tones-mainly carried by vowels-which may increase vowel prominence. The present study tests the hypothesis that a V-bias is more generally found in tone languages by examining infants learning an understudied African tone language, Akan (Kwa, Niger-Congo). More specifically, we tested Akan-learning multilingual infants (11-14 months) in Ghana (Sub-Saharan Africa) in a wordform recognition task, using a central fixation procedure. After establishing that these infants preferred familiar Akan words over pseudowords (Experiment 1), Experiment 2 assessed whether one-feature consonant or vowel mispronunciations of these words would differentially block recognition, indicative of a V-bias. Infants showed comparable sensitivity to consonant and vowel mispronunciations, failing to establish a bias in these infants. Both findings were not modulated by age and relative exposure to Akan (and also relative exposure to tone languages in Experiment 2). Our findings add to existing evidence that early lexical processing is language-specific. They also suggest that the emergence of a V-bias in tone languages may depend on tone complexity and developmental age.
(© 2026 The Author(s). Developmental Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
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Grant Information: Fondation Fyssen; ANR-18-IDEX-0001 Initiative d'excellence (IdEx) - University Paris Cité
Contributed Indexing: Keywords: African tone languages; Akan; language acquisition; multilingualism; phonological developments; wordform recognition
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20260707 Date Completed: 20260707 Latest Revision: 20260813
Update Code: 20260814
PubMed Central ID: PMC13338718
DOI: 10.1111/desc.70253
PMID: 42411174
Database: MEDLINE
Description
ISSN:1467-7687
DOI:10.1111/desc.70253