Speech to infants as hyperspeech: knowledge-driven processes in early word recognition.

The intelligibility of a word in continuous speech depends on the clarity of the word and on linguistic and nonlinguistic contextual information available to the listener. Despite limited knowledge of language and the world, infants in the first 2 years are already beginning to make use of contextual information in processing speech. Adults interacting with infants tend to modify their speech in ways that serve to maximize predictability for the immature listener by highlighting focussed words and using frequent repetition and formulaic utterances. Infant-directed speech is viewed as a form of 'hyperspeech' which facilities comprehension, not by modifying phonetic properties of individual words but rather by providing contextual support on perceptual levels accessible to infants even in the earliest stages of language learning. Copyright 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel