Calendrier

Abstract:

Embodied theories of cognition consider language as grounded in the sensorimotor system. Converging evidence shows that speech perception induces activations of sensorimotor brain areas that are involved in speech production. Notably, motor activity is elicited during both native and non-native phoneme perception, and it is somatotopically organized depending on the place of articulation of native phonemes. Specific motor activity is elicited depending on distinct articulatory features: listening to bilabial and dental consonants activates the cortical motor representations of the lips and the tongue, respectively. However, some studies have not replicated this precise somatotopic mapping within the motor cortex for native speech perception, while others have shown premotor recruitment only when speech sounds are degraded yet identifiable. Thus, the necessity and role of motor activation in processing both native and non-native, as well as clear and degraded, speech sounds remain uncertain. When speech in the native language is distorted by noise, or when sounds come from a foreign language, motor regions seem to support speech perception by retrieving articulatory features that are grounded in the speech production system. Given this motor contribution, the question arises of whether training that engages motor regions might enhance the learning and processing of non-native phonemes.

This thesis aims to explore sensorimotor processing in speech perception through an experimental study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a review of foreign language learning paradigms with sensorimotor training. In the experimental study, we combined behavioral and fMRI measures and conducted Multivariate Pattern Analyses (MVPA) to investigate how sensorimotor regions are activated as a function of, and encode the phonetic features of native and foreign phonemes under optimal and degraded perceptual conditions. We show that neural activity for lip and tongue articulatory movements in the precentral gyrus predicts neural activation for bilabial and dental degraded native consonants, thus highlighting somatotopic coding of articulatory features in the motor cortex. Moreover, sensorimotor neural patterns associated with the perception of native and non-native phonemes reflect the phonetic similarity between speech sounds both within and between the two language repertoires. In the review article, we first outline current findings on speech processing in the context of embodied cognition, highlighting the functional contribution of the motor cortex to speech perception. We discuss the contribution of sensorimotor activity to foreign language learning, especially for phonemes, through gestural training that strengthens the embodiment of foreign articulatory features. Finally, we propose potential developments in training paradigms and directions for future neuroimaging studies to address existing gaps in the literature.

This thesis therefore contributes to ongoing discussions on motor resonance in native speech perception, especially under challenging conditions, as well as addresses gaps in understanding the motor contribution to non-native phoneme perception. Our fMRI study provides solid empirical evidence that the motor system, in conjunction with the auditory system, is fundamental to speech perception. We corroborate the sensorimotor nature of speech processing, both for native and non-native languages, thus opening pathways for advancements in foreign language learning. By offering an overview of sensorimotor training paradigms, together with neuroimaging evidence for central sensorimotor processes in speech perception, our research lays a foundation for future investigations exploiting the embodied nature of language processing.

Keywords: Speech Perception, Motor Cortex, Sensorimotor Integration, Phonetic Features, Foreign Phonemes, fMRI

• Laurène Barbier (DDL-CNRS Université Lumière Lyon 2)

séminaire NINJAL

Spatial frames of reference, as theorized by Levinson (1996, 2003), have been applied to describe the many types of orientation systems attested in the world’s languages, either relative, absolute or intrinsic. As shown in the literature on other language families such as, for example, Austronesian (Blust 2013; Nagaya 2020) and Sino-Tibetan (Post 2019; Shirai 2020), the description of spatial orientation has often proved useful in understanding the encoding of direction across languages (Honkasalo 2019: 533-544; Nagaya 2020). In this context, Upper Negidal, one of two varieties of Negidal, a now moribund North-Tungusic language (Whaley & Oskolskaya, 2020) spoken in the Russian Far East by four speakers with variable language practices (Pakendorf & Aralova 2018) remains underdescribed. Despite its critical linguistic situation, its spatial system has not yet been the object of an in-depth and systematic research. The Negidals are a semi-sedentary people, traditionally established along the middle reaches of the Amgun River, a tributary of the Amur River (Pevnov & Khasanova 2006: 450). The North of the Lower Amur basin is indeed a region of rivers surrounded by taiga forests, and it is reflected in the Negidal’s traditional economy based on fishing. Given this close relationship with rivers, the aim of this presentation is to examine the characteristics of Upper Negidal’s orientation system, particularly in terms of expressing riverine motion. The purpose is to describe how orientation in Upper Negidal expresses information on direction and how closely related it is to the riverine surroundings. Hence, what is Upper Negidal’s spatial frame of reference? To what extent does riverine vocabulary play a particular role in Upper Negidal’s spatial grammar? And how is it embedded in the orientation system? For the purpose of this study, I examined a corpus of narratives told by 9 Upper Negidal speakers (Pakendorf & Aralova 2017). From this corpus, I extracted 3733 utterances expressing spontaneous translational motion (i.e. not caused by an event or a person). The data was then coded following Slobin’s Berkeley coding manual (2005). The analysis of these narratives, whether life anecdotes or folk tales and legends, reveals frequent references to rivers, highlighting the Negidals' profound connection to their riverine environment. It shows how deeply intertwined it is with the linguistic and social practices of the community. It is indeed reflected in Upper Negidal spatial grammar, since riverine verbs, directionals and relational nouns are attested in the language’s system, as also described in other Asian languages (Sims & Genetti 2017:121-123, Honkasalo 2019: 533). Results reveal that Upper Negidal displays an absolute orientation system based on the river flow and the topographical features linked to the rivers, such as riverbanks and forests rising from the riverbed, that characterizes Upper Negidal’s area of practice. In fact, Upper Negidal orientation system can be represented as a biaxial system composed of a forest-river vertical axis, perpendicular to the river, and an upriver-downriver horizontal axis, therefore parallel to the river.

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