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Human speech production is strongly influenced by the auditory feedback it generates. Auditory feedback-what we hear when we speak-enables us to learn and maintain speaking skills and to rapidly correct errors in our speech. Over the last three decades, the real-time altered auditory feedback (AAF) paradigm has gained popularity as a tool to study auditory feedback control during speech production. This method involves changing a speaker's speech and feeding it back to them in near real time. More than 50% of the world's population speak tonal languages, in which the pitch or tone used to pronounce a word can change its meaning. This review article aims to offer an overview of the progression of AAF paradigm as a method to study pitch motor control among speakers of tonal languages. Eighteen studies were included in the current mini review and were compared based on their methodologies and results. Overall, findings from these studies provide evidence that tonal language speakers can compensate and adapt when receiving inconsistent and consistent pitch perturbations. Response magnitude and latency are influenced by a range of factors. Moreover, by combining AAF with brain stimulation and neuroimaging techniques, the neural basis of pitch motor control in tonal language speakers has been investigated. To sum up, AAF has been demonstrated to be an emerging tool for studying pitch motor control in speakers of tonal languages.
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OBJECTIVE: To develop the Cantonese matrix (YUEmatrix) test according to the international standard procedure and examine possible different outcomes in another tonal language. DESIGN: A 50-word Cantonese base-matrix was established. Word-specific speech recognition functions, speech recognition thresholds (SRT), and slopes were obtained. The speech material was homogenised in intelligibility by applying level corrections up to ± 3 dB. Subsequently, the YUEmatrix test was evaluated in five aspects: training effect, test-list equivalence, test-retest reliability, establishment of reference data for normal-hearing Cantonese-speakers, and comparison with the Cantonese-Hearing-In-Noise-Test. STUDY SAMPLE: Overall, 64 normal-hearing native Cantonese-speaking listeners. RESULTS: SRT measurements with adaptive procedures resulted in a reference SRT of -9.7 ± 0.7 dB SNR for open-set and -11.1 ± 1.2 dB SNR for the closed-set response format. Fixed SNR measurements suggested a test-specific speech intelligibility function slope of 15.5 ± 0.7%/dB. Seventeen 10-sentences base test lists were confirmed to be equivalent with respect to speech intelligibility. Training effect was not observed after two measurements of 20-sentences lists. CONCLUSIONS: The YUEmatrix yields comparable results to matrix tests in other languages including Mandarin. Level adjustments to homogenise sentences appear to be less effective for tonal languages than for most other languages developed so far.
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In tonal languages such as Thai, lexical tone (the pitch of a syllable) affects word meaning. This study examined the effects of lexical tone awareness (LTA) on early word recognition and the relationship between these abilities and word reading and spelling in subsequent grades. A longitudinal design was used to assess reading-related skills in 259 Thai children, first in kindergarten (130 girls, Mage=67.25months) and later in Grade 3 (Mage=102.25months). In kindergarten, the children were tested on lexical tone identification and differentiation, early literacy skills, non-verbal IQ, and early word recognition. In Grade 3, they were tested on word reading and spelling from dictation. The hierarchical regression analyses showed that the lexical tone identification skills in kindergarten accounted for 2% of the unique variance in early word recognition. However, none of the LTA skills could predict word reading and spelling from dictation after controlling for other literacy-related skills. These findings suggest that LTA skill positively associated with early word recognition at the kindergarten level, but not for word reading and spelling from dictation at a Grade 3 level.
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Nonword repetition (NWR) has been a widely used measure of language-learning ability in children with and without language disorders. Although NWR tasks have been created for a variety of languages, minimal attention has been given to Asian tonal languages. This study introduces a new set of NWR stimuli for Vietnamese. The stimuli include 20 items ranging in length from one to four syllables. The items consist of dialect-neutral phonemes in consonant-vowel (CV) and CVC sequences that follow the phonotactic constraints of the language. They were rated high on wordlikeness and have comparable position segments and biphone probabilities across stimulus lengths. We validated the stimuli with a sample of 59 typically developing Vietnamese-English bilingual children, ages 5 to 8. The stimuli exhibited the expected age and length effects commonly found in NWR tasks: Older children performed better on the task than younger children, and longer items were more difficult to repeat than shorter items. We also compared different scoring systems in order to examine the individual phoneme types (consonants, vowels, and tones) and composite scores (proportions of phonemes correct, with and without tone). The study demonstrates careful construction and validation of the stimuli, and future directions are discussed.
Asunto(s)
Desarrollo del Lenguaje , Memoria Implícita , Estimulación Acústica , Niño , Preescolar , Femenino , Humanos , Pruebas del Lenguaje , Masculino , MultilingüismoRESUMEN
Abstract Background: Zapotec is a language used mainly in the state of Oaxaca in Mexico of tonal characteristic; homophone words with difference in fundamental frequency with different meanings. Our objective was to analyze changes in the electroencephalographic (EEG) theta rhythm during word discrimination of lexical tonal bi-syllabic homophone word samples of Zapotec. Methods: We employed electroencephalography analysis during lexical tonal discrimination in 12 healthy subjects 9-16 years of age. Results: We observed an increase in theta relative power between lexical discrimination and at rest eyes-open state in right temporal site. We also observed several significant intra- and inter-hemispheric correlations in several scalp sites, mainly in left fronto-temporal and right temporal areas when subjects were performing lexical discrimination. Conclusions: Our data suggest more engagement of neural networks of the right hemisphere are involved in Zapotec language discrimination.
Resumen Introducción: El zapoteco es un lenguaje hablado principalmente en el estado de Oaxaca, en México, que tiene la característica de ser tonal; es decir, las palabras homófonas que difieren en la altura del fundamental tienen diferente significado. El objetivo de este trabajo fue analizar los cambios del ritmo theta del electroencefalograma en el curso de la discriminación de palabras bisilábicas homófonas en zapoteco. Método: Se empleó el análisis espectral del electroencefalograma durante la discriminación tonal léxica del lenguaje zapoteco en 12 niños sanos de 9-16 años. Resultados: Se observó una mayor potencia relativa theta en la región temporal derecha durante la discriminación léxica en comparación con el registro de reposo-ojos abiertos. También se observaron varias correlaciones significativas intra e interhemisféricas con predominio entre la región frontotemporal izquierda y temporal derecha mientras se realizaba la discriminación tonal léxica. Conclusión: Estos resultados sugieren que hay un mayor compromiso de las redes neuronales en el hemisferio derecho que participan en la discriminación del lenguaje zapoteco.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Zapotec is a language used mainly in the state of Oaxaca in Mexico of tonal characteristic; homophone words with difference in fundamental frequency with different meanings. Our objective was to analyze changes in the electroencephalographic (EEG) theta rhythm during word discrimination of lexical tonal bi-syllabic homophone word samples of Zapotec. METHODS: We employed electroencephalography analysis during lexical tonal discrimination in 12 healthy subjects 9-16 years of age. RESULTS: We observed an increase in theta relative power between lexical discrimination and at rest eyes-open state in right temporal site. We also observed several significant intra- and inter-hemispheric correlations in several scalp sites, mainly in left fronto-temporal and right temporal areas when subjects were performing lexical discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest more engagement of neural networks of the right hemisphere are involved in Zapotec language discrimination.