Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Semantic Effect on the Processing of Emotional Prosody in a tone language: A Neurolinguistic Study

博士论文研究：声调语言中情感韵律处理的语义效应：一项神经语言学研究

• 批准号: 2234914
• 负责人: Jiang Liu
• 金额: $ 1.79万
• 依托单位: University of South Carolina at Columbia
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-05-01 至 2025-04-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2234914&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Semantic; Effect

Emotional information in spoken languages is expressed via two channels: semantic and prosodic cues. Semantics is the meaning of words and sentences. Prosody is the patterns of intonation and stress in a language; the melody of a language. While individuals process the meaning of utterances in conversation (i.e., what you say), they also detect the emotional prosody of the speaker (i.e., how you say it). Emotional prosody refers to the ways in which the tone of voice can be modulated to convey positive and negative emotions. The simultaneous processing of semantics and emotional prosody can be challenging for second language (L2) learners, especially in tonal languages, where the tone of voice can encode both meaning and emotion. This study investigates how meaning is affected by emotional prosody, and it elucidates the neural basis of how native speakers and second language learners process semantics and emotional prosody in a tonal language. The doctoral dissertation project uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), which identifies language processing areas in the working human brain, to examine how semantics (e.g., positive, ‘wise’; negative meaning ‘arrogant’) affect the processing of emotional prosody in words (Experiment 1) and sentences (Experiment 2) in a tonal language. Specifically, the researchers compare the brain areas activated by semantics and emotional prosody, and then examine brain regions that process emotions regardless of channels (semantics or prosody), and brain regions that are unique to semantics and to emotional prosody respectively. The results thus clarify whether native speakers and L2 learners use the same brain mechanisms to process semantics and emotional prosody in words and sentences in a tonal language. The project has pedagogical implications for L2 instruction where emotional cues in language use is often ignored and provides insights into the role of emotional prosody in cross-cultural communication.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

口语中的情感信息通过两个渠道表达：语义线索和韵律线索。语义是单词和句子的含义。韵律是语言中的语调和重音模式；一种语言的旋律。当人们处理对话中话语的含义（即你所说的内容）时，他们也会检测说话者的情感韵律（即你如何说出来）。情感韵律是指通过调节语气来传达积极和消极情绪的方式。同时处理语义和情感韵律对于第二语言 (L2) 学习者来说可能具有挑战性，尤其是在声调语言中，其中语气可以编码意义和情感。这项研究调查了情感韵律如何影响意义，并阐明了母语者和第二语言学习者如何处理声调语言中的语义和情感韵律的神经基础。该博士论文项目使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）来识别工作中的人类大脑中的语言处理区域，以检查语义（例如积极的“明智”；消极的“傲慢”）如何影响声调语言中单词（实验1）和句子（实验2）的情感韵律处理。具体来说，研究人员比较了语义和情感韵律激活的大脑区域，然后检查了无论通道（语义或韵律）如何处理情感的大脑区域，以及分别对语义和情感韵律独特的大脑区域。因此，结果阐明了母语者和第二语言学习者是否使用相同的大脑机制来处理声调语言的单词和句子中的语义和情感韵律。该项目对二语教学具有教学意义，因为语言使用中的情感线索经常被忽视，并提供了对情感韵律在跨文化交流中的作用的见解。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。