Limits of variability in phonotactic acquisition due to universal biases (C07)

• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 317633480

This project aims at disentangling to what extent phonotactic acquisition is experience-dependent, leading to variability across infants with different language experiences (learning different or multiple languages), and to what extent experience-independent universal biases might place a limit on this acquisition. To this end, we will compare infants growing up mono- or bilingually with German and/or Russian, two phonotactically distinct languages. We will conduct corpus-based lexical statistics to understand what phonotactic input the infants receive, and eye-tracking experiments to test whether the infants’ phonotactic listening preferences are shaped by universal biases beyond their language experience conditions.  

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1287: Limits of Variability in Language: Cognitive, Grammatical, and Social Aspects
• Applicant Institution: Universität Potsdam
• Project Head: Professorin Natalie Boll-Avetisyan, Ph.D.