Minimal representations of alternating vowels

Scharinger, Mathias

doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2007.12.009

Cited by 12 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Our findings are discussed in detail below, and are compatible with both a neuropsychological predictive coding framework (Baldeweg, 2006; Friston, 2005) and a linguistic underspecification account (Lahiri and Reetz, 2002, 2010; Scharinger, 2009). …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Linguistic category structure influences early auditory processing: Converging evidence from mismatch responses and cortical oscillations

2016

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While previous research has established that language-specific knowledge influences early auditory processing, it is still controversial as to what aspects of speech sound representations determine early speech perception. Here, we propose that early processing primarily depends on information propagated top-down from abstractly represented speech sound categories. In particular, we assume that mid-vowels (as in ‘bet’) exert less top-down effects than the high-vowels (as in ‘bit’) because of their less specific (default) tongue height position as compared to either high- or low-vowels (as in ‘bat’). We tested this assumption in a Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) study where we contrasted mid- and high-vowels, as well as the low- and high-vowels in a passive oddball paradigm. Overall, significant differences between deviants and standards indexed reliable mismatch-negativity (MMN) responses between 200 and 300 ms post stimulus onset. MMN amplitudes differed in the mid/high-vowel contrasts and were significantly reduced when a mid-vowel standard was followed by a high-vowel deviant, extending previous findings. Furthermore, mid-vowel standards showed reduced oscillatory power in the pre-stimulus beta-frequency band (18–26 Hz), compared to high-vowel standards. We take this as converging evidence for linguistic category structure to exert top-down influences on auditory processing. The findings are interpreted within the linguistic model of underspecification and the neuropsychological predictive coding framework.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Linguistic category structure influences early auditory processing: Converging evidence from mismatch responses and cortical oscillations

2016

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“…plural) refer to one abstract stem vowel representation. This representation lacks a place of articulation information, and the vowel is said to be underspecified (Lahiri & Marslen-Wilson, 1991;Lahiri & Reetz, 2002b;Scharinger, 2009). In contrast, vowels of words with a non-alternating stem are always specified for their place of articulation.…”

Section: The Probabilities Of [O] Versus [Oe] [Ok] Versus [Of] and [mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mismatch negativity effects of alternating vowels in morphologically complex word forms

Scharinger¹,

Lahiri²,

Eulitz³

2010

Journal of Neurolinguistics

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a b s t r a c tIn some languages, morphologically complex word forms may involve vowel alternations between front and back phonemes, as illustrated in the German noun Stock (Stock~Stöcke 'stick~sticks') versus the non-alternating Stoff (Stoff~Stoffe 'cloth~cloths'). This study was aimed to investigate the consequences of the presence or absence of these alternations for the fine structure of lexical representations. Previous research has shown that certain vowel oppositions are processed in an asymmetric way, as studied by means of brain electric activity (e.g. Eulitz & Lahiri, 2004). Here, we contrasted base form and diminutive stems of German nouns in a Mismatch Negativity (MMN) study. We compared the alternating noun Stock with non-alternating Stoff and obtained a consistently stronger MMN if Stoff was preceded by a fronted stem. This was an initial stem fragment in Experiment 1 and its diminutive form in Experiment 2. The results of our experiments indicate asymmetries in processing at the phonetics/morpho-phonology interface and are discussed on the background of several models of lexical representation and morphological processing. We conjecture that our findings are best explained by differences in abstract phonological representations.

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“…In phonology, the notion of minimality surfaces mainly in accounts on markedness or underspecification (see also Buchwald, 2008;Scharinger, 2008 for a detailed discussion). Regarding prosodic systems, minimality has also been discussed by means of the minimal shape of prosodic entities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental evidence for optimal and minimal metrical structure of German word prosody

Knaus

Domahs

2009

Lingua

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Minimal representations of alternating vowels

Cited by 12 publications

References 21 publications

Linguistic category structure influences early auditory processing: Converging evidence from mismatch responses and cortical oscillations

Linguistic category structure influences early auditory processing: Converging evidence from mismatch responses and cortical oscillations

Mismatch negativity effects of alternating vowels in morphologically complex word forms

Experimental evidence for optimal and minimal metrical structure of German word prosody

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