The Study of Speech Processes: Addressing the Writing Bias in Language Science

Cover
Half-title page
Title page
Copyright page
Contents
List of
Figures
List of
Tables
List of
Abbreviations
Preface
Introducing a Fundamental Problem of Language Science
Part I Questions of Ontology: Writing and the Speech–Language Divide
	1 How We Are Introduced to the Study of Spoken Language
		1.1 Language as an “Autonomous” System, or the Effects of Scriptism
		1.2 Defining “Speech”
		1.3 Was the Speech–Language Division Ever Physiologically Grounded?
			1.3.1 Saussure’s Argument of a Separate Language Faculty in Broca’s Area
			1.3.2 Arguments of the Arbitrariness of Signs and Abstract Phonology
			1.3.3 On the Primacy of Linguistic Criteria: The Historical Disconnect from Instrumental Observations
			1.3.4 Explaining Systems of Distinctive Features: Lindblom’s Demonstration (1986)
	2 The Modality-Independence Argument and Storylines of the Origin of Symbolic Language
		2.1 Cognitive Skills as Insufficient Factors in the Rise of Symbolic Communication
		2.2 The Case against Modality-Independent Accounts of Symbolic Language
		2.3 Modality-Dependent Accounts of the Rise of Symbolic Language
			2.3.1 Mimesis, Procedural Learning, and the Case of Sign Languages
			2.3.2 “Sound Symbolism”: Questions of the Efficiency of Iconic Signs
			2.3.3 Articulated Vocalization and the Rise of Symbolic Signs: A Laboratory Demonstration
		2.4 The Phylogeny and Ontogeny of an Amodal Symbol Function as a Pseudo-Puzzle
	3 The Recent History of Attempts to Ground Orthographic Concepts of Language Theory
		3.1 From Orthographic Representations to “Substantive Universals”
		3.2 Shoehorning Orthographic Concepts: Issues in Grounding the LAD
			3.2.1 Biases and Limitations of Analyzing Language Development through Writing
			3.2.2 The Search for Marks of Words and Phrases, versus “Chunks”
		3.3 Neuroscience Falls upon Nonexistent Substantive Universals: Why This Invalidation Is Different
		3.4 Abandoning the Competence–Performance Divide
		Postscript – On the Use of the IPA and Terms of Latin Grammar in the Present Work
Part II Questions of Epistemology: The Role of Instrumental Observations
	4 Recognizing the Bias
		4.1 On the Tradition of Overlooking Instrumental Observations: The Case of the Phoneme
			4.1.1 From Instrumental Records of Co-articulation to Transcribed Spoonerisms
			4.1.2 On the Origin of Alphabet Signs: The Hypothesis of a Preliterate Awareness of Phonemes
			4.1.3 Testing Phoneme Awareness: Issues in Defining Reference Units
		4.2 The Looking-Glass Effect: Viewing Phoneme Awareness by Reference to IPA Transcripts
			4.2.1 “Phonological” Evidence of Phonemes Versus Motor Processes
			4.2.2 On Arguments of the “Logical Necessity” of Phonemes and the Success of Alphabet Systems
			4.2.3 Effects of Writing on Speakers’ Awareness of Words, Phrases, Sentences
	5 (Re-)defining the Writing Bias, and the Essential Role of Instrumental Invalidation
		5.1 On the Persistence of Scriptism in the Study of Spoken Language
		5.2 The Need to Address Complaints of Cultural Centrism and Ethical Concerns
Part III The Structure of Speech Acts
	6 Utterances as Communicative Acts
		6.1 Describing Speech Acts and Their Meaning
		6.2 The Parity Condition, Motor-Sensory Coupling, and the Issue of Utterance Structure
			Reinforcement Learning
			Supervised Learning
			Unsupervised Learning
		6.3 The Coding of Speech Acoustics in the Auditory Brain Stem and Effects of Motor-Sensory Coupling
		6.4 Multimodal Sensory Integration: Introducing Neural Entrainment to Speech Structure
			6.4.1 The Specificity of Neural Entrainment in the Speech Modality
			6.4.2 Neural Entrainment to Structures of Motor Speech: Linking to Spiking Activity
			6.4.3 On the Role of Subcortical Processes: Multisensory-to-Motor Integration and Chunking
		6.5 Relating to Utterance Structure, or What the Brain Does Not Intrinsically Construct
	7 Relating to Basic Units: Syllable-Like Cycles
		7.1 Speech Production: On the Brain–Utterance Interface That Never Was
		7.2 Basic Sequencing Units in Theories of Speech-Motor Control: Some Examples
			7.2.1 The Equilibrium-Point (EP) Hypothesis
			7.2.2 The Task Dynamics (TD) Model
			7.2.3 Directions in Auditory Space Into Velocities of Articulators: The DIVA model
		7.3 Critical Evidence of Basic Sequencing Units and What Shapes Them
			7.3.1 Intrinsic Muscle-Tissue Elasticity and Its Effect on Speech Motions
			7.3.2 Other Intrinsic Effects of Muscle Tissues on Motion Sequencing within Syllable Cycles
			7.3.3 Just How Many Units Are There in CV and VC, and Are These Represented in Memory?
			7.3.4 Syllable Cycles within Chunks and Graded Motion Control without Phonemes
	8 Relating Neural Oscillations to Syllable Cycles and Chunks
		8.1 The Entrainment of Low-Frequency Oscillations and Speech Processing
			8.1.1 On the Role of Theta- and Delta-Size Processing Windows
			8.1.2 Reviewing Claims of a Non-sensory Entrainment of Delta to Content Units
		8.2 Delta-Size Windows and the Sensory Chunking of Speech
			8.2.1 Chunks and Their Signature Marks
			8.2.2 Neural Entrainment in Speech Processing
	9 Breath Units of Speech and Their Structural Effects
		9.1 Utterances as Breath Units versus Sentences in Speaker–Listener Interaction
		9.2 On Interpreting Measures of “Mean Length of Utterance” (MLU)
			9.2.1 Utterance Complexity, Lexical Diversity, and MLU: Linking to Developing Motor Structures
			9.2.2 Chunks in Breath Units of Speech and the Development of Vocabulary
			9.2.3 On Explaining Developmental Milestones
		9.3 The Structure of Spoken Language: An Interim Summary with a View on Addressing the Issue of Scriptism
Part IV The Processing of Speech Meaning
	10 The Neural Coding of Semantics
		10.1 Units of Writing, Structures of Utterances, and the Semantics of Speech
		10.2 The Lexico-Semantic Approach: Context Information as “Nonessential”
			10.2.1 Lexico-Semantics and Traditional Models of Language Processing
			10.2.2 Embodied versus Disembodied Semantics
		10.3 How Semantic Representations of Verbal Expressions Develop: On “Modes of Acquisition”
		10.4 The Partitioning of Semantic Memory and Its Formatting in Spoken Languages
			10.4.1 Words Are Not Biologically Grounded Units: Why Sensory Chunking Is Necessary
			10.4.2 On Representations of Verbalized Forms in Memory: Activating Episodes of Speech Acts
		10.7 The Nature of Semantic Representations: On the Neural Coding of Context Information in Action Blocks of Speech
	11 Processes of Utterance Interpretation: For a Neuropragmatics
		11.1 The Issue of the Selective Activation of Semantic Representations in Speech Contexts
			11.1.1 Context-Based Semantics: Clinical Observations Using Unconventional Test Batteries
		11.2 On Context-Based Speech Comprehension: Selective Activation of Semantic Representations On-Line
			11.2.1 Thalamocortical Interactions and the Integrating Role of the Motor Thalamus
			11.2.2 The Semantics of Utterances: The Analogy of Action Selection in Spatial Navigation
			11.2.3 Subcortical Mechanisms of Buffering and Context-Based Semantic Processing
	Epilogue
References
Index