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Early childhood language memory in the speech perception of international adoptees.

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Early childhood language memory in the speech perception of international adoptees.
Authors: OH JS (AUTHOR), AU TK (AUTHOR), SUN-AH JUN (AUTHOR)
Source: Journal of Child Language. Nov2010, Vol. 37 Issue 5, p1123-1132. 10p.
Subject Terms: *Adopted children, *College students, *Language acquisition, *Learning, *Memory, *Self-evaluation, *Speech perception, *Data analysis, *Children, Analysis of variance, Interviewing, Linguistics, Phonetics, Questionnaires, Research funding, Statistics
Geographic Terms: Korea, Minnesota
Abstract: It is as yet unclear whether the benefits of early linguistic experiences can be maintained without at least some minimal continued exposure to the language. This study compared 12 adults adopted from Korea to the US as young children (all but one prior to age one year) to 13 participants who had no prior exposure to Korean to examine whether relearning can aid in accessing early childhood language memory. All 25 participants were recruited and tested during the second week of first-semester college Korean language classes. They completed a language background questionnaire and interview, a childhood slang task and a Korean phoneme identification task. Results revealed an advantage for adoptee participants in identifying some Korean phonemes, suggesting that some components of early childhood language memory can remain intact despite many years of disuse, and that relearning a language can help in accessing such a memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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URL: 54227590
Database: Education Research Complete
Description
Abstract:It is as yet unclear whether the benefits of early linguistic experiences can be maintained without at least some minimal continued exposure to the language. This study compared 12 adults adopted from Korea to the US as young children (all but one prior to age one year) to 13 participants who had no prior exposure to Korean to examine whether relearning can aid in accessing early childhood language memory. All 25 participants were recruited and tested during the second week of first-semester college Korean language classes. They completed a language background questionnaire and interview, a childhood slang task and a Korean phoneme identification task. Results revealed an advantage for adoptee participants in identifying some Korean phonemes, suggesting that some components of early childhood language memory can remain intact despite many years of disuse, and that relearning a language can help in accessing such a memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:03050009
DOI:10.1017/S0305000909990286