OLA1 Models

OLA1 Modelization of speech perception processes and phonological theory

Responsible: Willy Serniclaes

Members:  Pierre Hallé

Description

One of the objectives of Axe 4 is to better understand the acquisition of abstract linguistic structures. The distinction between vowels and consonants is a cornerstone of phonological systems and its acquisition has major importance for the study of language development. While the main focus of previous research is about differences between the vowels and consonants, there also has been a debate about possible similarities in their internal structure. The question raised is whether the perception of vowel and consonant place-of-articulation can be represented with the same features.  Arguments have been advanced either in support of a common representation (Jakobson, 1973) or against (Fant, 1973), but the question remains open (Serniclaes, 2010, Cong. Français d’Ac, http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00554463).

Recent results established a shared perceptual representation for differences in the place of articulation boundaries of consonants and vowels (Serniclaes & Salinas, 2011a, Faits de Langue; 2011b, ICSPhS). These results open new perspectives for investigating key issues in speech perception (on the nature of invariants) and phonological theory (on the structural equivalence between consonants and vowels). The common representation of consonants and vowels seems to be based on fairly complex processes, i.e. mental rotations similar to those evidenced in spatial perception, and might be related to the segmentation of the syllables into phoneme segments. These hypotheses will be tested with behavioral and brain investigations (the latter with a procedure similar with the one used by Pülvermuller and Fadiga (2010, Nature Neuroscience) in both adults and children of different ages, before and after reading acquisition.

Links:

Anne-Lise Giraud, Sophie Bouton & Maria Pefkou, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Centre (CMU), 1, rue Michel-Servet, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland. http://neurocenter.unige.ch/education.php

Michel Hoen & Léo Varnet (U. Lyon 1). CR1 CNRS - HDR. Centre de Recherche en Neurosciences de Lyon, Equipe Dynamique Cérébrale et Cognition, INSERM U1028 - CNRS UMR5292. Groupe de recherche ALP, Institut des Sciences Cognitives - 67, bd PINEL 69675 BRON CEDEX.Research project: Neural bases of speech perception, intelligibility and language comprehension. http://crnl.univ-lyon1.fr/index.php/fr