Project description
Melody of a language and active speech prediction
Intonation, tone, stress or rhythm are all features that build the ‘melody’ of a language. Also known as the prosody of a language, it helps the listener to focus on important words and to put sentences into phrases and phrases into words. It basically reflects a language’s linguistic structure. It also helps the listeners to predict the next piece of information. However, little is known about how prediction and prosodic rhythm are linked to the neural activity of a listener. The EU-funded RhythmicPrediction project will use the latest neuroscientific data on speech processing. It will combine the findings with prosodic typology to explain the role of a native language in the neural oscillator activity patterns and the relation between cortical oscillations and prosody perception.
Objective
Speech has rhythmic properties that widely differ across languages. When we listen to foreign languages, we may perceive them to be more musical, or rather more rap-like than our own. Even if we are unaware of it, the rhythm and melody of language, i.e. prosody, reflects its linguistic structure. On the one hand, prosody emphasizes content words and new information with stress and accents. On the other hand, it is aligned to phrase edges, marking them with boundary tones. Prosody hence helps the listener to focus on important words and to chunk sentences into phrases, and phrases into words. In fact, prosody is even used predictively, for instance to time the onset of the next word, the next piece of new information, or the total remaining length of the utterance, so the listener can seamlessly start their own speaking turn.
So, the listener, or rather their brain, is actively predicting when important speech events will happen, using prosody. How prosodic rhythms are exploited to predict speech timing, however, is unclear. No link between prosody and neural predictive processing has yet been empirically made. One hypothesis is that rhythm, such as the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables, helps listeners time their attention. Similar behavior is best captured by the notion of an internal oscillator which can be set straight by attentional spikes. While neuroscientific evidence for the relation of neural oscillators to speech processing is starting to emerge, no link to the use of prosody nor predictive listening exists, yet. Furthermore, it is still unknown how native language knowledge affects cortical oscillations, and how oscillations are affected by cross-linguistic differences in rhythmic structure. The current project combines the standing knowledge of prosodic typology with the recent advances in neuroscience on cortical oscillations, to investigate the role of internal oscillators on native prosody perception, and active speech prediction.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
You need to log in or register to use this function
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme -
H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019
See all projects funded under this callCoordinator
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1211 Geneve
Switzerland
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.