Paul Okyere Omane
Postdoctoral Researcher
I am a postdoctoral researcher studying language acquisition and processing in bi- and multilingual infants and toddlers, particularly those from underrepresented communities and those learning understudied languages. My research project focuses on cross-linguistic approaches to early lexical acquisition and processing in both native and non-native languages.
Ongoing projects
In this cross-linguistic project, we investigate the early development of key abilities in phonolexical acquisition and how these are shaped by the ambient language(s). Using a behavioral method and an interactive word learning approach, we aim to provide an understanding of (1) how French toddlers process phonological information (consonants, vowels, tones) when learning new words in an African language, (2) how Akan-learning infants and toddlers recognize familiar words and learn new words in their native and non-native language, and (3) how Akan-learning infants and toddlers process phonological information (consonants, vowels, tones) and whether the presence of tones in their ambient language(s) leads to a V-bias. This project is under the supervision of Thierry Nazzi, and it is funded by the Fyssen Foundation and LABEX.
Selected Publications
Omane, P. O., Benders, T., & Boll-Avetisyan, N. (2024). Vowel harmony preferences in infants growing up in multilingual Ghana (Africa).Developmental Psychology, 60(8), 1372–1383. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001776
Omane, P. O., Benders, T., & Boll-Avetisyan, N. (2025). Exploring the nature of multilingual input to infants in multiple caregiver families in an African city: The case of Accra (Ghana). Cognitive Development, 74, 101558. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2025.101558