scholarly journals Congenital amusia in speakers of a tone language: association with lexical tone agnosia

Brain ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 133 (9) ◽  
pp. 2635-2642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Nan ◽  
Yanan Sun ◽  
Isabelle Peretz
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Congenital Amusia

Tunes and Tones: Music, Language, and Inhibitory Control

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 104-123
Author(s):  
Robert E. Graham ◽  
Usha Lakshmanan
Keyword(s):  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Pitch Contour ◽  
Musical Experience ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Cognitive Mechanisms ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Cognitive Benefits ◽  
Pitch Contours ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Stroop Tasks

Abstract A debate is underway regarding the perceptual and cognitive benefits of bilingualism and musical experience. This study contributes to the debate by investigating auditory inhibitory control in English-speaking monolingual musicians, non-musicians, tone language bilinguals, and non-tone language bilinguals. We predicted that musicians and tone language bilinguals would demonstrate enhanced processing relative to monolinguals and other bilinguals. Groups of monolinguals (N = 22), monolingual musicians (N = 19), non-tone language bilinguals (N = 20) and tone language bilinguals (N = 18) were compared on auditory Stroop tasks to assess domain-transferable processing benefits (e.g. auditory inhibitory control) resulting from potentially shared underlying cognitive mechanisms (Patel, 2003; Bialystok & DePape, 2009). In one task, participants heard the words “high” and “low” presented in high or low pitches, and responded regarding the pitch of the stimuli as quickly as possible. In another task, participants heard the words “rise” or “fall” presented in rising or falling pitch contours, and responded regarding the contour of the stimuli as quickly as possible. Results suggest transferable auditory inhibitory control benefits for musicians across pitch and contour processing, but any possible enhanced processing for speakers of tone languages may be task-dependent, as lexical tone activation may interfere with pitch contour processing.

Native and nonnative processing of Japanese pitch accent

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
XIANGHUA WU ◽  
JUNG-YUEH TU ◽  
YUE WANG
Keyword(s):  
Left Hemisphere ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Pitch Accent ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Language Experience ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Hemisphere Dominance ◽  
Nonnative Listeners ◽  
Prosodic Processing ◽  
Japanese Pitch Accent

ABSTRACTThe theoretical framework of this study is based on the prevalent debate of whether prosodic processing is influenced by higher level linguistic-specific circuits or reflects lower level encoding of physical properties. Using the dichotic listening technique, the study investigates the hemispheric processing of Japanese pitch accent by native Japanese listeners and two groups of nonnative listeners with no prior pitch accent experience but differing in their native language experience with linguistic pitch: native listeners of Mandarin (a tone language with higher linguistic functional use of pitch) and native listeners of English (a stress language with lower functional use of pitch). The overall results reveal that, for both native and nonnative listeners, the processing of Japanese pitch accent is less lateralized (compared to lexical tone processing, which has been found to be a left hemisphere property). However, detailed analysis with individual pitch accents across groups shows a right hemisphere preference for processing the high–accent–low (H*L) pattern, a left hemisphere preference for LH*, and no hemisphere dominance for LH, indicating a significant reliance on the acoustic cues. These patterns are particularly prominent with the English listeners who are least experienced with linguistic pitch. Together, the findings suggest an interplay of linguistic and acoustic aspects in the processing of Japanese pitch accent by native and nonnative listeners.

scholarly journals ASPM-lexical tone association in speakers of a tone language: Direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (22) ◽  
pp. eaba5090 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick C. M. Wong ◽  
Xin Kang ◽  
Kay H. Y. Wong ◽  
Hon-Cheong So ◽  
Kwong Wai Choy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Variants ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Language Disorders ◽  
Linguistic Anthropology ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Linguistic Feature ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Statistical Studies

How language has evolved into more than 7000 varieties today remains a question that puzzles linguists, anthropologists, and evolutionary scientists. The genetic-biasing hypothesis of language evolution postulates that genes and language features coevolve, such that a population that is genetically predisposed to perceiving a particular linguistic feature would tend to adopt that feature in their language. Statistical studies that correlated a large number of genetic variants and linguistic features not only generated this hypothesis but also specifically pinpointed a linkage between ASPM and lexical tone. However, there is currently no direct evidence for this association and, therefore, the hypothesis. In an experimental study, we provide evidence to link ASPM with lexical tone perception in a sample of over 400 speakers of a tone language. In addition to providing the first direct evidence for the genetic-biasing hypothesis, our results have implications for further studies of linguistic anthropology and language disorders.

scholarly journals Abnormal topological organization of the white matter network in Mandarin speakers with congenital amusia

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanxin Zhao ◽  
Xizhuo Chen ◽  
Suyu Zhong ◽  
Zaixu Cui ◽  
Gaolang Gong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
White Matter ◽  
Shortest Path ◽  
Path Length ◽  
Clustering Coefficient ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Functional Connections ◽  
Congenital Amusia ◽  
Brain White Matter ◽  
Holistic Understanding ◽  
Global Connectivity

Abstract Congenital amusia is a neurogenetic disorder that mainly affects the processing of musical pitch. Brain imaging evidence indicates that it is associated with abnormal structural and functional connections in the fronto-temporal region. However, a holistic understanding of the anatomical topology underlying amusia is still lacking. Here, we used probabilistic diffusion tensor imaging tractography and graph theory to examine whole brain white matter structural connectivity in 31 Mandarin-speaking amusics and 24 age- and IQ-matched controls. Amusics showed significantly reduced global connectivity, as indicated by the abnormally decreased clustering coefficient (Cp) and increased normalized shortest path length (λ) compared to the controls. Moreover, amusics exhibited enhanced nodal strength in the right inferior parietal lobule relative to controls. The co-existence of the lexical tone deficits was associated with even more deteriorated global network efficiency in amusics, as suggested by the significant correlation between the increments in normalized shortest path length (λ) and the insensitivity in lexical tone perception. Our study is the first to reveal reduced global connectivity efficiency in amusics as well as an increase in the global connectivity cost due to the co-existed lexical tone deficits. Taken together these results provide a holistic perspective on the anatomical substrates underlying congenital amusia.

scholarly journals Phonological Identity of the Neutral-tone Syllables in Taiwan Mandarin: An Acoustic Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-50
Author(s):  
Karen HUANG
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Tone Language ◽  
Taiwan Mandarin ◽  
Acoustic Study ◽  
Acoustic Analyses ◽  
Low Tone ◽  
Neutral Tone

Taiwan Mandarin, one of the more syllable-timed dialects of Mandarin, has fewer unstressed syllables than Standard Mandarin. Acoustic analyses show that the supposedly unstressed syllables—neutral-tone syllables—in Taiwan Mandarin behave differently from those of Standard Mandarin. Unlike Standard Mandarin, these syllables do not raise their pitch after Tone 3. They have a distinct static mid-low pitch target and the target is implemented with a stronger articulatory strength. Moreover, acoustic analyses demonstrate that not all of these “unstressed syllables” are unstressed. The phonetic evidence suggests that these neutral-tone syllables should be analyzed as unaccented rather than unstressed in Taiwan Mandarin. These unaccented syllables are only lexically marked, and their pitch is neutralized into a mid-low tone. This study sheds light on how rhythm can affect stress and accent in a lexical tone language.

The Effects of Acoustic Variation on the Perception of Lexical Tone in Cantonese-Speaking Congenital Amusics

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 190-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jing Shao ◽  
Rebecca Yick Man Lau ◽  
Phyllis Oi Ching Tang ◽  
Caicai Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Pitch Processing ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Tone Perception ◽  
Congenital Amusia ◽  
Tone Discrimination ◽  
High Level ◽  
Acoustic Variation

Purpose Congenital amusia is an inborn neurogenetic disorder of fine-grained pitch processing. This study attempted to pinpoint the impairment mechanism of speech processing in tonal language speakers with amusia. We designed a series of perception tasks aiming at selectively probing low-level pitch processing and relatively high-level phonological processing of lexical tones, with an aim to illuminate the deficiency mechanism underlying tone perception in amusia. Method Sixteen Cantonese-speaking amusics and 16 matched controls were tested on the effects of acoustic (talker/syllable) variations on the identification and discrimination of Cantonese tones in two conditions. In the low-variation condition, tones were always associated with the same talker or syllable; in the high-variation condition, tones were associated with either different talkers (with the syllable controlled) or different syllables (with the talker controlled). Results Largely similar results were obtained in talker and syllable variation conditions. Amusics exhibited overall poorer performance than controls in tone identification. Although amusics also demonstrated poorer performance in tone discrimination, the group difference was more obvious in low-variation conditions, where more acoustic constancy was provided. Besides, controls exhibited a greater increase in discrimination sensitivity from high- to low-variation conditions, implying a stronger benefit of acoustic constancy. Conclusions The findings suggested that amusics' lexical tone perception abilities, in terms of both low-level pitch processing and high-level phonological processing, as measured in low- and high-variation conditions, are impaired. Importantly, amusics were more impaired in taking advantage of low acoustic variation contexts and thus less efficiently sharpened their perception of tones when perceptual anchors in talker/syllable were provided, suggesting a possible “anchoring deficit” in congenital amusia. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.7616555

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