How adults understand what young children say

Stephan C. Meylan (), Ruthe Foushee, Nicole H. Wong, Elika Bergelson and Roger P. Levy
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Stephan C. Meylan: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ruthe Foushee: University of Chicago
Nicole H. Wong: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Elika Bergelson: Harvard University
Roger P. Levy: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nature Human Behaviour, 2023, vol. 7, issue 12, 2111-2125

Abstract: Abstract Children’s early speech often bears little resemblance to that of adults, and yet parents and other caregivers are able to interpret that speech and react accordingly. Here we investigate how adult listeners’ inferences reflect sophisticated beliefs about what children are trying to communicate, as well as how children are likely to pronounce words. Using a Bayesian framework for modelling spoken word recognition, we find that computational models can replicate adult interpretations of children’s speech only when they include strong, context-specific prior expectations about the messages that children will want to communicate. This points to a critical role of adult cognitive processes in supporting early communication and reveals how children can actively prompt adults to take actions on their behalf even when they have only a nascent understanding of the adult language. We discuss the wide-ranging implications of the powerful listening capabilities of adults for theories of first language acquisition.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01698-3

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