[PLing] upcoming talk

[Jutta Mueller]

Dear colleagues,

I am happy to announce a talk hosted by the Psycholinguistics Group by

Prof. Hamutal Kreiner

(Director of Linguistic Cognition Lab
Ruppin Academic Center, Israel)

The talk will be in presence respecting the current Covid measures of 
the University of Vienna (FFP2 mask indoors). Everybody who is 
interested is invited to join!

DO 19.05.2022 6pm Place: Seminar Room 3,  Sensengasse 3a 1.OG


*Inner Speech as Language Embodiment: Evidence from the Motor System *

/Abstract/
Within the theoretical model of language embodiment, inner (covert) 
speech is conceptualized as a simulation of overt language experience. 
Most of the research within the theoretical framework of embodied 
linguistics focused on representation of word meanings and their 
correlations with brain activation patterns. However, very often meaning 
is conveyed not by what one says but rather by how it is said, 
suggesting that form is not less important than content in language 
processing. The studies I am going to present are part of a larger 
research project that investigates the role of inner speech in the 
processing of form, in particular we focused on syntactic, emotional, 
and pragmatic aspects of language, which are largely conveyed by 
prosodic forms. The main objectives of the two studies that I will 
present in my talk were (a) to show that inner speech is manifested in 
the motor system, and (b) to examine the manifestation of prosodic 
characteristics associated with pragmatic (direct vs. indirect speech), 
syntactic (question vs. statement) and emotional (negative, neutral, 
positive) aspects of the sentence.  The first study focused on the motor 
system of the hands when typing and examined the hypothesis that 
prosodic characteristics of spoken sentences such as speech tempo and 
tension will be manifested in corresponding measures of the motor system 
while typing these sentences. Participants listened to a sentence, 
repeated it in their inner voice, and then typed it while we measured 
the tempo and pitch of acoustic patterns of the spoken sentences and the 
motoric patterns of typing. Results from two experiments showed that 
typing tempo was predicted by the tempo of spoken sentences and the word 
serial order. Moreover, in emotional sentences, typing pressure was 
predicted by pitch of the spoken sentences. These findings suggest that 
the motor programs involved in typing are subserved by inner speech 
simulation that represents prosodic aspects of the acoustic signal. The 
second study used electromyography to measure activity in facial 
articulatory muscles, while participants repeated sentences in their 
inner speech. Results showed increased muscle activity in direct 
compared to indirect speech, increased activation for statement compared 
to question sentences, and increased activation for positive compared to 
negative sentences. Taken together the results from the two studies 
indicate that inner speech simulation is manifested in the motor system 
during typing and during silent sentence rehearsing. They further 
suggest that prosodic aspects of speech are represented in inner speech 
simulation. The findings offer two innovations (a) the embodiment of 
non-verbal aspects of language (i.e., structure and emotion), and (b) 
the manifestation of embodiment in the motor system. The implications of 
these findings with regard to language embodiment theories will be 
discussed.


-- 

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jutta L. Mueller
Institute of Linguistics
University of Vienna
Sensengasse 3A, Room O5.08
1090 Vienna

Phone: +43-1-4277-41733

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