Neural Correlates of Indicators of Sound Change in Cantonese: Evidence from Cortical and Subcortical Processes.

ABSTRACT: Across time, languages undergo changes in phonetic, syntactic, and semantic dimensions. Social, cognitive, and cultural factors contribute to sound change, a phenomenon in which the phonetics of a language undergo changes over time. Individuals who misperceive and produce speech in a slightly divergent manner (called innovators) contribute to variability in the society, eventually leading to sound change. However, the cause of variability in these individuals is still unknown. In this study, we examined whether such misperceptions are represented in neural processes of the auditory system. We investigated behavioral, subcortical (via FFR), and cortical (via P300) manifestations of sound change processing in Cantonese, a Chinese language in which several lexical tones are merging. Ac

SUBMITTER: Maggu AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5179532 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature