Cortical Tracking of Speech Across Rhythm Classes in English‐, French‐, and Japanese‐Learning 4‐ and 8‐Month‐Old Infants
Varghese Peter, Marina Kalashnikova, Sandrien van Ommen, Reiko Mazuka, Denis Burnham, Thierry Nazzi · 2026
Read Cortical Tracking of Speech Across Rhythm Classes in English‐, French‐, and Japanese‐Learning 4‐ and 8‐Month‐Old Infants by Varghese Peter, Marina Kalashnikova, Sandrien van Ommen, Reiko Mazuka, Denis Burnham, Thierry Nazzi (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13491566.txt.
Description
Varghese Peter and co-authors track how babies' brains follow the rhythm of speech, in a study from 2026. Languages fall into rhythm types based on stress, syllables, or smaller beats. The syllable has been proposed as the shared default unit for all babies. The team tested infants who hear English, French, or Japanese at home.
They studied 119 babies at four and eight months of age. Each baby heard strings of syllables in their home language, in a foreign tongue, and in a scrambled non-speech version. Brain tracking was strong at the syllable rate in all three groups. Tracking at the smaller beat rate was also clear, while the larger foot rate was patchy. Speech drew a unlike response from non-speech by four months. The results back the syllable as a shared early anchor.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Varghese Peter, Marina Kalashnikova, Sandrien van Ommen, Reiko Mazuka, Denis Burnham, Thierry Nazzi |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 53 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |