Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

How early in life, and in what situations, are children sensitive to speakers' accents? Some researchers have suggested that accent is an early-developing, perhaps intrinsic, signal of group membership. However, other studies find little sensitivity to or awareness of accent in young children. Three experiments reported here examine 3-5-yearolds' comprehension of, and social decision-making with, a familiar (US English) accent and a foreign (Dutch) accent. Dutch accents were comprehended less well, particularly when salient phonological competitors were present, but social sensitivity was fairly weak until age 6-7 years. The latter finding contrasts with accounts positing early (perhaps innate) social sensitivity to accents.