We examined the neurophysiological underpinnings of lexical-tone and vowel-quality perception in learners of a non-tonal language. We tested 25 6- and 25 9-month-old German-learning infants, as well as 24 German adults and expected developmental differences for the two linguistic properties, as they are both carried by vowels, but have a different status in German. In adults, both lexical-tone and vowel-quality contrasts elicited mismatch negativities, with a stronger response to the vowel-quality contrast. Six-month-olds showed positive mismatch responses for lexical-tone and vowel-quality contrasts, with an emerging negative mismatch response for vowel-quality only. The negative mismatch responses became more pronounced for the vowel-quality contrast at 9 months, while the lexical-tone contrast elicited mainly positive mismatch responses. Our data reveal differential developmental changes in the processing of vowel properties that differ in their lexical relevance in the ambient language.

中文翻译：

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6 个月和 9 个月大的德语学习婴儿和成人词汇声调和元音质量处理的神经相关性


我们研究了非声调语言学习者词汇声调和元音质量感知的神经生理学基础。我们测试了 25 名 6 个月大和 25 名 9 个月大的德语学习婴儿，以及 24 名德国成年人，并预期这两种语言特性的发展差异，因为它们都由元音携带，但在德语中具有不同的地位。在成年人中，词汇声调和元音质量对比都会引起不匹配的负面影响，对元音质量对比的反应更强烈。六个月大的孩子对词汇音调和元音质量对比表现出积极的不匹配反应，而仅对元音质量出现消极的不匹配反应。 9 个月时，元音质量对比的负面不匹配反应变得更加明显，而词汇声调对比则主要引发积极的不匹配反应。我们的数据揭示了元音属性处理过程中的差异性发展变化，这些变化在环境语言中的词汇相关性有所不同。