Speech perception : development

Speech perception proceeds by extracting acoustic cues and mapping them onto linguistic information. Early speech perception studies sought to determine which speech sound contrasts infants could detect. Over the past few decades, research has shown that young infants can discriminate a wide range of speech sounds, and by 12 months, infants categorically perceive speech sounds; segment units from the speech stream; learn about legal sound combinations, rhythm, and stress; and track statistical properties of the speech input. Infants then use this knowledge to begin extracting and learning words. This article reviews infant speech abilities over the first 2 years of life, discusses theoretical accounts, and outlines some challenges