In this book, some of today’s leading neurolinguists and psycholinguists provide insight into the nature of phonological processing using behavioural measures, computational modeling, EEG and fMRI. The essays cover a range of topics including categorization, acoustic variability and invariance, underspecification, talker-specificity and machine learning, focusing on the acoustics, perception, acquisition and neural representation of speech.

Despite earlier work by Trubetzkoy, Jakobson and Greenberg, phonological typology is often underrepresented in typology textbooks. At the same time, most phonologists do not see a difference between phonological typology and cross-linguistic (formal) phonology. The purpose of this book is to bring together leading scholars to address the issue of phonological typology, both in terms of the unity and the diversity of phonological systems.

A comprehensive overview of theories of the mental representation of the sounds of language.

The mismatch negativity (MMN) is the electrophysiological change-detection response of the brain. MMN is stimulated when there is any discernible change to a repetitive sequence of sound, occurring even in the absence of attention. MMN is an automatic response and causes an involuntary attentional shift, representing a function which is of vital significance. A parallel response can also be detected in the other sensory modalities- visual, somatosensory, and olfactory. MMN occurs in different species, and across the different developmental stages, from infancy to old age. Importantly, the MMN response is affected in different cognitive brain disorders, providing an index to the severity of the disorder and consequently, a guide to the effectiveness of different treatments. MMN has become extremely popular around the world for investigating a wide range of clinical populations. It is a versatile tool for studying perception, memory, and learning functions in both the healthy and dysfunctional brain. Furthermore, being elicited irrespective of attention, it is ideal for investigating inattentive participants, such as sleeping infants or patients in a coma, whose cognitive processes are otherwise hard to access. Written by pioneers and leading authorities in the subject, this book provides an introduction to MMN and its contribution within different clinical fields: developmental disorders, neurological disorders, psychiatric disorders, and aging.

Language, as a system we use to communicate, represents the brain’s biologically perfected machinery for converting thoughts (ideas, concepts, and reflections of both the outside world and our inner feelings) into words and sentences. Crucially, this process occurs in real time. How hundreds of billions of neurons within the dark of the skull control language and speech remains, in some respects, a mystery. To track such neural dynamics in time, we need to exploit physiological tools capable of following temporal patterns of neural activity on a fine-grain time scale. In parallel, it is necessary to begin to provide a real interdisciplinary academic background for scholars wishing to embark on this field of study. Unlike many similar efforts, this book has been conceived as a hands-on tool offering the reader the possibility to progressively acquire principles, techniques, and methods necessary to pursue interdisciplinary research in a fascinating field intersecting linguistic and neuroscience. It focuses on neurophysiological methods and applications useful to track the high speed and rapid temporal dynamics of neural activity involved in language and speech. The chapters in this book are organized into four parts. Part One discusses neural principles and tools for an effective approach to the field of investigation. Part Two looks at the issues and perspectives concerned with the use of a range of neurophysiological technologies to investigate the neural computations of language and speech processes. Part Three focuses on an in-depth exploration of the neural processes associated with the main types of linguistic information, ranging from phonemes and prosody to syntax, pragmatics, and figurative language. Lastly, Part Five explores the phenomena that goes beyond the segments of basic linguistic units. In the Neuromethods series style, chapters include the kind of detail and key advice from the specialists needed to get successful results in your laboratory Cutting-edge and thorough, Language Electrified: Principles, Methods, and Future Perspectives of Investigation is a valuable resource that offers the necessary tool-box for all researchers and scientists interested in the challenging field of the neurophysiology of language and speech.

This book provides state-of-the-art coverage of research in laboratory phonology. Laboratory phonology denotes a research perspective, not a specific theory: it represents a broad community of scholars dedicated to bringing interdisciplinary experimental approaches and methods to bear on how spoken language is structured, learned and used; it draws on a wide range of tools and concepts from cognitive and natural sciences. This book describes the investigative approaches,disciplinary perspectives, and methods deployed in laboratory phonology, and highlights the most promising areas of current research.Part one introduces the history, nature, and aims of laboratory phonology. The remaining four parts cover central issues in research done within this perspective, as well as methodological resources used for investigating these issues. Contributions to this volume address how laboratory phonology approaches have provided insight into human speech and language structure and how theoretical questions and methodologies are intertwined. This Handbook, the first specifically dedicated tothe laboratory phonology approach, builds on the foundation of knowledge amassed in linguistics, speech research and allied disciplines. With the varied interdisciplinary contributions collected, the Handbook advances work in this vibrant field.