Linda Polka
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 172659 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Linda Polka |
| NOMBRES | Linda |
| APELLIDO | Polka |
| FIRMA | POLKA L |
| AFILIACIONES | McGill University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4761-9057 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 21 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 39 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 21 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1993 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
A corpus-assisted discourse study of parental concerns regarding multilingual child-rearing
Many parents have concerns about raising their children with multiple languages. However, there is a paucity of previous research regarding parental concerns about multilingual child-rearing, particularly in multilingual societies. We address this gap with a corpus-assisted discourse study of parental concerns regarding multilingual child-rearing in Quebec, Canada. We created two corpora comprising 641 parents' responses to an open-ended survey q…
Family language policy among Québec-based parents raising multilingual infants and toddlers
This is the first large-scale study of resources as a form of language management - that is, a way of influencing children's language practices. We introduce the distinction between child-directed resources (i.e., those providing parents with opportunities to engage with their children in the languages they are transmitting) and parent-directed resources (i.e., those providing parents with information about multilingual child-rearing). This study…
Mixed-language input and infant volubility
Language mixing is a common feature of many bilingually-raised children's input. Yet how it is related to their language development remains an open question. The current study investigated mixed-language input indexed by observed (30-second segment) counts and proportions in day-long recordings as well as parent-reported scores, in relation to infant vocal activeness (i.e., volubility) when infants were 10 and 18 months old. Results suggested in…
Quebec-based parents’ concerns regarding their children’s multilingual development
Many parents express concerns for their children's multilingual development, yet little is known about the nature and strength of these concerns - especially among parents in multilingual societies. This pre-registered, questionnaire-based study addresses this gap by examining the concerns of 821 Quebec-based parents raising infants and toddlers aged 0-4 years with multiple languages in the home. Factor analysis of parents' Likert-scale responses…
Code-switching in parents’ everyday speech to bilingual infants
Code-switching is a common phenomenon in bilingual communities, but little is known about bilingual parents’ code-switching when speaking to their infants. In a pre-registered study, we identified instances of code-switching in day-long at-home audio recordings of 21 French–English bilingual families in Montreal, Canada, who provided recordings when their infant was 10 and 18 months old. Overall, rates of infant-directed code-switching were low, …
Quebec-based Parents’ Attitudes Towards Childhood Multilingualism
This is the first large-scale, quantitative study of the evaluative dimensions and potential predictors of Quebec-based parents’ attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Such attitudes are assumed to constitute a determinant of parental language choices, and thereby influence children's multilingual development. The newly-developed Attitudes towards Childhood Multilingualism Questionnaire was used to gather data from 825 participants raising …
Intersections of official and family language policy in Quebec
The current paper describes a study that sought to determine the beliefs, practices, and needs of parents living in Montreal, Quebec, who were raising their children bi/multilingually. The parents (N = 27) participated in a total of nine focus group and individual interviews in which they discussed their family language policies (language ideologies, practices, and actions taken to maintain a language). Through rounds of deductive and inductive c…
A Multilab Study of Bilingual Infants
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed speech (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, and across cultures, both in form and in prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used the diversity of bilingual infant experiences to explore the impact of different types of linguistic experience on infants' IDS preference. As part of the …
A multi-lab study of bilingual infants
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed speech (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, and across cultures, both in form and in prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used the diversity of bilingual infant experiences to explore the impact of different types of linguistic experience on infants’ IDS preference. As part of the …
Quantifying Sources of Variability in Infancy Research Using the Infant-Directed-Speech Preference
Psychological scientists have become increasingly concerned with issues related to methodology and replicability, and infancy researchers in particular face specific challenges related to replicability: For example, high-powered studies are difficult to conduct, testing conditions vary across labs, and different labs have access to different infant populations. Addressing these concerns, we report on a large-scale, multisite study aimed at (a) as…
Monolingual and bilingual infants’ word segmentation abilities in an inter‐mixed dual‐language task
Previous studies show that young monolingual infants use language‐specific cues to segment words in their native language. Here, we asked whether 8 and 10‐month‐old infants ( N = 84) have the capacity to segment words in an inter‐mixed bilingual context. Infants heard an English‐French mixed passage that contained one target word in each language, and were then tested on their recognition of the two target words. The English‐monolingual and Frenc…
Early word segmentation in infants acquiring Parisian French
Six experiments explored Parisian French-learning infants' ability to segment bisyllabic words from fluent speech. The first goal was to assess whether bisyllabic word segmentation emerges later in infants acquiring European French compared to other languages. The second goal was to determine whether infants learning different dialects of the same language have partly different segmentation abilities, and whether segmenting a non-native dialect h…
Word Segmentation in Monolingual Infants Acquiring Canadian English and Canadian French
In five experiments, we tested segmentation of word forms from natural speech materials by 8‐month‐old monolingual infants who are acquiring Canadian French or Canadian English. These two languages belong to different rhythm classes; Canadian French is syllable‐timed and Canada English is stress‐timed. Findings of Experiments 1, 2, and 3 show that 8‐month‐olds acquiring either Canadian French or Canadian English can segment bi‐syllable words in t…
Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of an emerging new framework for understanding early phonetic development—the Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework. The initial support for this framework was the finding that directional asymmetries occur often in infant vowel discrimination. The asymmetries point to an underlying perceptual bias favoring vowels that fall closer to the periphery of the F1/F2 vowel space. In Polka and Bohn (2003) …
Using the lens of phonetic experience to resolve phonological forms
Speech Perception by 6‐to 8‐Month‐Olds in the Presence of Distracting Sounds
The role of selective attention in infant phonetic perception was examined using a distraction masker paradigm. We compared perception of /bu/ versus /gu/ in 6‐ to 8‐month‐olds using a visual fixation procedure. Infants were habituated to multiple natural productions of 1 syllable type and then presented 4 test trials (old‐new‐old‐new). Perception of the new syllable (indexed as novelty preference) was compared across 3 groups: habituated and tes…
Emergence of the corner vowels in the babble produced by infants exposed to Canadian English or Canadian French
Production of coronal stops by simultaneous bilingual adults
This study investigated acoustic-phonetics of coronal stop production by adult simultaneous bilingual and monolingual speakers of Canadian English (CE) and Canadian French (CF). Differences in the phonetics of CF and CE include voicing and place of articulation distinctions. CE has a two-way voicing distinction (in syllable initial position) contrasting short-and long-lag VOT; coronal stops in CE are described as alveolar. CF also has a two-way v…
The Impact of Otitis Media With Effusion on Infant Phonetic Perception
The effect of prior otitis media with effusion (OME) or current middle ear effusion (MEE) on phonetic perception was examined by testing infants' discrimination of boo and goo syllables in 2 test sessions. Middle ear function was assessed following each perception test using tympanometry. Perceptual performance was compared across 3 infant groups: (a) history-negative, infants with normal middle ear function who had never received medical treatme…
Developmental changes in perception of nonnative vowel contrasts.
Discrimination of 2 German vowel contrasts was examined in English-learning infants of 6-8 and 10-12 months of age using a head turn procedure. The younger infants were better able than the older infants to discriminate the nonnative contrasts, but performance at 6-8 months was below levels that have been reported for nonnative consonant contrasts. A 2nd experiment using a habituation looking procedure showed that 4-month-old infants discriminate…
Developmental changes in speech perception
Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of an emerging new framework for understanding early phonetic development—the Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework. The initial support for this framework was the finding that directional asymmetries occur often in infant vowel discrimination. The asymmetries point to an underlying perceptual bias favoring vowels that fall closer to the periphery of the F1/F2 vowel space. In Polka and Bohn (2003) …
Intersections of official and family language policy in Quebec
The current paper describes a study that sought to determine the beliefs, practices, and needs of parents living in Montreal, Quebec, who were raising their children bi/multilingually. The parents (N = 27) participated in a total of nine focus group and individual interviews in which they discussed their family language policies (language ideologies, practices, and actions taken to maintain a language). Through rounds of deductive and inductive c…
Developmental changes in speech perception
Quebec-based parents’ concerns regarding their children’s multilingual development
Many parents express concerns for their children's multilingual development, yet little is known about the nature and strength of these concerns - especially among parents in multilingual societies. This pre-registered, questionnaire-based study addresses this gap by examining the concerns of 821 Quebec-based parents raising infants and toddlers aged 0-4 years with multiple languages in the home. Factor analysis of parents' Likert-scale responses…
Emergence of the corner vowels in the babble produced by infants exposed to Canadian English or Canadian French
A corpus-assisted discourse study of parental concerns regarding multilingual child-rearing
Many parents have concerns about raising their children with multiple languages. However, there is a paucity of previous research regarding parental concerns about multilingual child-rearing, particularly in multilingual societies. We address this gap with a corpus-assisted discourse study of parental concerns regarding multilingual child-rearing in Quebec, Canada. We created two corpora comprising 641 parents' responses to an open-ended survey q…
Family language policy among Québec-based parents raising multilingual infants and toddlers
This is the first large-scale study of resources as a form of language management - that is, a way of influencing children's language practices. We introduce the distinction between child-directed resources (i.e., those providing parents with opportunities to engage with their children in the languages they are transmitting) and parent-directed resources (i.e., those providing parents with information about multilingual child-rearing). This study…
Using the lens of phonetic experience to resolve phonological forms
Developmental changes in speech perception
Developmental changes in perception of nonnative vowel contrasts.
Discrimination of 2 German vowel contrasts was examined in English-learning infants of 6-8 and 10-12 months of age using a head turn procedure. The younger infants were better able than the older infants to discriminate the nonnative contrasts, but performance at 6-8 months was below levels that have been reported for nonnative consonant contrasts. A 2nd experiment using a habituation looking procedure showed that 4-month-old infants discriminate…
The Impact of Otitis Media With Effusion on Infant Phonetic Perception
The effect of prior otitis media with effusion (OME) or current middle ear effusion (MEE) on phonetic perception was examined by testing infants' discrimination of boo and goo syllables in 2 test sessions. Middle ear function was assessed following each perception test using tympanometry. Perceptual performance was compared across 3 infant groups: (a) history-negative, infants with normal middle ear function who had never received medical treatme…
Production of coronal stops by simultaneous bilingual adults
This study investigated acoustic-phonetics of coronal stop production by adult simultaneous bilingual and monolingual speakers of Canadian English (CE) and Canadian French (CF). Differences in the phonetics of CF and CE include voicing and place of articulation distinctions. CE has a two-way voicing distinction (in syllable initial position) contrasting short-and long-lag VOT; coronal stops in CE are described as alveolar. CF also has a two-way v…
Speech Perception by 6‐to 8‐Month‐Olds in the Presence of Distracting Sounds
The role of selective attention in infant phonetic perception was examined using a distraction masker paradigm. We compared perception of /bu/ versus /gu/ in 6‐ to 8‐month‐olds using a visual fixation procedure. Infants were habituated to multiple natural productions of 1 syllable type and then presented 4 test trials (old‐new‐old‐new). Perception of the new syllable (indexed as novelty preference) was compared across 3 groups: habituated and tes…
Emergence of the corner vowels in the babble produced by infants exposed to Canadian English or Canadian French
Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of an emerging new framework for understanding early phonetic development—the Natural Referent Vowel (NRV) framework. The initial support for this framework was the finding that directional asymmetries occur often in infant vowel discrimination. The asymmetries point to an underlying perceptual bias favoring vowels that fall closer to the periphery of the F1/F2 vowel space. In Polka and Bohn (2003) …
Using the lens of phonetic experience to resolve phonological forms
Word Segmentation in Monolingual Infants Acquiring Canadian English and Canadian French
In five experiments, we tested segmentation of word forms from natural speech materials by 8‐month‐old monolingual infants who are acquiring Canadian French or Canadian English. These two languages belong to different rhythm classes; Canadian French is syllable‐timed and Canada English is stress‐timed. Findings of Experiments 1, 2, and 3 show that 8‐month‐olds acquiring either Canadian French or Canadian English can segment bi‐syllable words in t…
Early word segmentation in infants acquiring Parisian French
Six experiments explored Parisian French-learning infants' ability to segment bisyllabic words from fluent speech. The first goal was to assess whether bisyllabic word segmentation emerges later in infants acquiring European French compared to other languages. The second goal was to determine whether infants learning different dialects of the same language have partly different segmentation abilities, and whether segmenting a non-native dialect h…
Monolingual and bilingual infants’ word segmentation abilities in an inter‐mixed dual‐language task
Previous studies show that young monolingual infants use language‐specific cues to segment words in their native language. Here, we asked whether 8 and 10‐month‐old infants ( N = 84) have the capacity to segment words in an inter‐mixed bilingual context. Infants heard an English‐French mixed passage that contained one target word in each language, and were then tested on their recognition of the two target words. The English‐monolingual and Frenc…
A multi-lab study of bilingual infants
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed speech (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, and across cultures, both in form and in prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used the diversity of bilingual infant experiences to explore the impact of different types of linguistic experience on infants’ IDS preference. As part of the …
Quantifying Sources of Variability in Infancy Research Using the Infant-Directed-Speech Preference
Psychological scientists have become increasingly concerned with issues related to methodology and replicability, and infancy researchers in particular face specific challenges related to replicability: For example, high-powered studies are difficult to conduct, testing conditions vary across labs, and different labs have access to different infant populations. Addressing these concerns, we report on a large-scale, multisite study aimed at (a) as…
A Multilab Study of Bilingual Infants
From the earliest months of life, infants prefer listening to and learn better from infant-directed speech (IDS) than adult-directed speech (ADS). Yet, IDS differs within communities, across languages, and across cultures, both in form and in prevalence. This large-scale, multi-site study used the diversity of bilingual infant experiences to explore the impact of different types of linguistic experience on infants' IDS preference. As part of the …
Code-switching in parents’ everyday speech to bilingual infants
Code-switching is a common phenomenon in bilingual communities, but little is known about bilingual parents’ code-switching when speaking to their infants. In a pre-registered study, we identified instances of code-switching in day-long at-home audio recordings of 21 French–English bilingual families in Montreal, Canada, who provided recordings when their infant was 10 and 18 months old. Overall, rates of infant-directed code-switching were low, …
Quebec-based Parents’ Attitudes Towards Childhood Multilingualism
This is the first large-scale, quantitative study of the evaluative dimensions and potential predictors of Quebec-based parents’ attitudes towards childhood multilingualism. Such attitudes are assumed to constitute a determinant of parental language choices, and thereby influence children's multilingual development. The newly-developed Attitudes towards Childhood Multilingualism Questionnaire was used to gather data from 825 participants raising …
Intersections of official and family language policy in Quebec
The current paper describes a study that sought to determine the beliefs, practices, and needs of parents living in Montreal, Quebec, who were raising their children bi/multilingually. The parents (N = 27) participated in a total of nine focus group and individual interviews in which they discussed their family language policies (language ideologies, practices, and actions taken to maintain a language). Through rounds of deductive and inductive c…
Mixed-language input and infant volubility
Language mixing is a common feature of many bilingually-raised children's input. Yet how it is related to their language development remains an open question. The current study investigated mixed-language input indexed by observed (30-second segment) counts and proportions in day-long recordings as well as parent-reported scores, in relation to infant vocal activeness (i.e., volubility) when infants were 10 and 18 months old. Results suggested in…
Quebec-based parents’ concerns regarding their children’s multilingual development
Many parents express concerns for their children's multilingual development, yet little is known about the nature and strength of these concerns - especially among parents in multilingual societies. This pre-registered, questionnaire-based study addresses this gap by examining the concerns of 821 Quebec-based parents raising infants and toddlers aged 0-4 years with multiple languages in the home. Factor analysis of parents' Likert-scale responses…
Family language policy among Québec-based parents raising multilingual infants and toddlers
This is the first large-scale study of resources as a form of language management - that is, a way of influencing children's language practices. We introduce the distinction between child-directed resources (i.e., those providing parents with opportunities to engage with their children in the languages they are transmitting) and parent-directed resources (i.e., those providing parents with information about multilingual child-rearing). This study…
A corpus-assisted discourse study of parental concerns regarding multilingual child-rearing
Many parents have concerns about raising their children with multiple languages. However, there is a paucity of previous research regarding parental concerns about multilingual child-rearing, particularly in multilingual societies. We address this gap with a corpus-assisted discourse study of parental concerns regarding multilingual child-rearing in Quebec, Canada. We created two corpora comprising 641 parents' responses to an open-ended survey q…
Psychology (20 obras) · Linguistics (17 obras) · Language Development and Disorders (16 obras) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (12 obras) · Developmental psychology (9 obras) · Computer Science (8 obras) · Linguistic Variation and Morphology (7 obras) · Reading and Literacy Development (7 obras) · Multilingual Education and Policy (6 obras) · Perception (6 obras)