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Dear colleagues,
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<p>I am happy to announce a talk hosted by the Psycholinguistics
Group by</p>
<p>Prof. Hamutal Kreiner</p>
<p> (Director of Linguistic Cognition Lab <br>
Ruppin Academic Center, Israel) </p>
<p><span>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!<br>
</span></p>
<p><span>DO 19.05.2022 6pm Place: Seminar Room 3, Sensengasse 3a
1.OG</span></p>
<p><span><br>
</span></p>
<p><b>Inner Speech as Language Embodiment: Evidence from the Motor
System </b><br>
</p>
<p><i>Abstract</i><br>
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. <br>
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<p><br>
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
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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