Lexical Tone Perception in Mandarin Chinese Speakers With Aphasia

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-67
Author(s):  
Qiang Li ◽  
Shuang Wang ◽  
Yunling Du ◽  
Nicole Müller
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Complex Signal ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Pitch Patterns ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Functional Hypothesis

Abstract The brain localization debate of lexical tone processing concerns functional hypothesis that lexical tone, owing to its strong linguistic features, is dominant in the left hemisphere, and acoustic hypothesis that all pitch patterns, including lexical tone, are dominant in the right hemisphere due to their acoustic features. Lexical tone as a complex signal contains acoustic components that carry linguistic, paralinguistic, and nonlinguistic information. To examine these two hypotheses, the current study adopted triplet stimuli including Chinese characters, their corresponding pinyin with a diacritic, and the four diacritics representing Chinese lexical tones. The stimuli represent the variation of lexical tone for its linguistic and acoustic features. The results of a listening task by Mandarin Chinese speakers with and without aphasia support the functional hypothesis that pitch patterns are lateralized to different hemispheres of the brain depending on their functions, with lexical tone to the left hemisphere as a function of linguistic features.

Temporal hierarchy of intonation and tone processing in Mandarin Chinese

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaqi Li
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Behavioral Reactions ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Early Interaction ◽  
The Brain

Intonation and lexical tone both rely on F0 in tonal languages. While the former one can indicate the speaker’s intention (e.g., raise a question or state a fact), the latter helps determine the meaning of a word. These two interact with each other in sentence, but the access order of them by the brain is unknown. The current study aimed at investigating the access order of intonation and lexical tones in Mandarin Chinese. Participants were required to listen to Mandarin sentences containing both intonation and lexical tone in the same syllable and judge the intonation (in the intonation task) and tone (in the tone task). Their behavioral reactions and mean amplitudes in ERP were recorded and analyzed. Results showed that in the intonation task, the participants responded to intonation first and then the lexical tone. In the tone task, participants were sensitive to both intonation and tone in an early interaction beginning from 100ms. Participants were alert to intonation and would process it no matter in which task, indicating the important role of intonation in human communication.

Changes in the Total Power of Beta and Theta Bands When Using EEG Biofeedback in Primary School-Age Children Having Difficulties with Voluntary Regulation

2020 ◽  
pp. 331-340
Author(s):  
Yuliya S. Dzhos ◽  
◽  
Irina A. Men’shikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Spectral Characteristics ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Total Power ◽  
Eeg Biofeedback ◽  
Beta Band ◽  
Bioelectric Activity ◽  
Voluntary Regulation ◽  
The Brain

This article presents the results of the study on spectral electroencephalogram (EEG) characteristics in 7–10-year-old children (8 girls and 22 boys) having difficulties with voluntary regulation of activity after 10 and 20 neurofeedback sessions using beta-activating training. Brain bioelectric activity was recorded in 16 standard leads using the Neuron-Spectrum-4/VPM complex. The dynamics was assessed by EEG beta and theta bands during neurofeedback. An increase in the total power of beta band oscillations was established both after 10 and after 20 sessions of EEG biofeedback in the frontal (p ≤ 0.001), left parietal (p ≤ 0.036), and temporal (p ≤ 0.003) areas of the brain. A decrease in the spectral characteristics of theta band oscillations was detected: after 10 neurofeedback sessions in the frontal (p ≤ 0.008) and temporal (p ≤ 0.006) areas of both hemispheres, as well as in the parietal area of the left hemisphere (p ≤ 0.005); after 20 sessions, in the central (p ≤ 0.004), frontal (p ≤ 0.001) and temporal (p ≤ 0.001) areas of both hemispheres, as well as in the occipital (p ≤ 0.047) and parietal (p ≤ 0.001) areas of the left hemisphere. The study into the dynamics of bioelectric activity during biofeedback using EEG parameters in 7–10-year-old children with impaired voluntary regulation of higher mental functions allowed us to prove the advisability of 20 sessions, as the increase in high-frequency activity and decrease in low-frequency activity do not stop with the 10th session. Changes in these parameters after 10 EEG biofeedback sessions are expressed mainly in the frontotemporal areas of both hemispheres, while after a course of 20 sessions, in both the frontotemporal and central parietal areas of the brain.

scholarly journals The use of discourse markers but and so by native English speakers and Chinese speakers of English

Pragmatics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binmei Liu
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Oral Proficiency ◽  
Discourse Markers ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Oral Discourse ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Native Speakers Of English

Abstract Previous studies have found that but and so occur frequently in native and non-native English speakers’ speech and that they are easy to acquire by non-native English speakers. The current study compared ideational and pragmatic functions of but and so by native and non-native speakers of English. Data for the study were gathered using individual sociolinguistic interviews with five native English speakers and ten L1 Chinese speakers. The results suggest that even though the Chinese speakers of English acquired the ideational functions of but and so as well as the native English speakers, they underused the pragmatic functions of them. The findings indicate that there is still a gap between native and non-native English speakers in communicative competence in the use of but and so. The present study also suggests that speakers’ L1 (Mandarin Chinese) and overall oral proficiency in oral discourse affect their use of but and so.

Coherence on Electroencephalography and Aberrant Functional Organisation of the Brain in Schizophrenic Patients During Activation Tasks

1991 ◽  
Vol 159 (5) ◽  
pp. 636-644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra L. Morrison-Stewart ◽  
Peter C. Williamson ◽  
William C. Corning ◽  
Stanley P. Kutcher ◽  
Harold Merskey
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Normal Control ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Normal Subjects ◽  
Cognitive Activation ◽  
Functional Organisation ◽  
Schizophrenic Patients ◽  
Discriminant Analyses ◽  
Eeg Alpha ◽  
The Brain

Thirty schizophrenic patients (20 medicated, 10 off medication) were compared with 30 normal control subjects matched for age, sex, handedness, and intelligence. During the performance of left-hemisphere cognitive activation tasks, normal subjects had significantly increased EEG alpha coherence in areas related to left focal frontal sites, with decreases in temporal and posterior areas. Schizophrenic patients did not show the same degree of focal activation of left frontal areas. During the performance of right-hemisphere cognitive activation tasks, normal subjects and schizophrenic patients had similar patterns of right posterior increases in alpha coherence. Discriminant analyses were able to classify 81.4% of all subjects correctly. It is suggested that the findings indicate an aberrant functional organisation of the brain in schizophrenia, particularly affecting the left hemisphere.

Dominance and geographic information contained within black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) song

Behaviour ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 150 (13) ◽  
pp. 1601-1622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison H. Hahn ◽  
Lauren M. Guillette ◽  
Marisa Hoeschele ◽  
Daniel J. Mennill ◽  
Ken A. Otter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Discriminant Function ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Relative Amplitude ◽  
Complex Signal ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Song Variation ◽  
Eastern Ontario ◽  
Discriminant Function Analyses

In songbirds, male song is an acoustic signal used to attract mates and defend territories. Typically, song is an acoustically complex signal; however, the fee-bee song of the black-capped chickadee is relatively simple. Despite this relative simplicity, two previous studies (Christie et al., 2004b; Hoeschele et al., 2010) found acoustic features within the fee-bee song that contain information regarding an individual’s dominance rank; however each of these studies reported a different dominance-related acoustic cue. Specifically, the relative amplitude of the two notes differed between the songs of dominant and subordinate males from northern British Columbia, while the interval pitch ratio differed between the songs of dominant and subordinate males from eastern Ontario. In the current study, we examined six acoustic features within songs from both of the chickadee populations (northern British Columbia and eastern Ontario) examined in these previous studies and used bioacoustic analyses and discriminant function analyses to determine whether there is a consistent dominance-related acoustic cue across both, or in each of these populations. Consistent with the previous findings, the current results indicate that relative amplitude differs based on dominance status in the songs from British Columbia; however, our results failed to reach significance with songs from Ontario. These results suggest that acoustic cues that signal a male’s dominance in this species vary with geographic location. Furthermore, examining songs from these two locations and one additional location in northern British Columbia, we found that discriminant function analyses could correctly classify songs based on geographic location. Considering the broad extent of the species’ range, black-capped chickadee song is considered relatively invariant; however, our results suggest that there is geographic variation in songs, although the differences are subtle compared to geographic song variation in other species.

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