Development of vowel quantity perception in late childhood

A distinction in vowel quantity is typically realized acoustically by vowel duration. Research on the perception of Swedish vowel quantity by adult native speakers supports this. It further suggests that when the duration of a vowel is relatively long (due, e.g., to inherent duration), listeners may also make use of vowel spectra to distinguish vowel quantities. The current project investigates the perceptual cues used to distinguish vowel quantities in language development by children 9 to 13 years old. Of particular interest is whether these developing listeners use spectral cues to identify the quantity of vowels which have a relatively long inherent duration. Results are compared with the findings for Swedish adults and the developmental use of vowel duration and spectra as cues for vowel quantity are described.