LANGUAGE MODALITY AND THE BRAIN

语言形态和大脑

基本信息

批准号：
2196983
负责人：
URSULA BELLUGI
金额：
$ 27.35万
依托单位：
SALK INSTITUTE FOR BIOLOGICAL STUDIES
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
1979
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
1979-07-01 至 1998-11-30
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

The general objective of our research is to study the biological foundations of human language. We aim to investigate language and its formal architecture, as well as its representation in the brain, by studying languages which have arisen outside of the mainstream of spoken languages, the visual-gestural language of deaf people. For the form of its grammatical devices, the modality in which a language develops makes a crucial difference. The use of space in the service of syntax is the most highly modality-determined aspect of American Sign Language. One of the central issues in the renewal grant is the consequences of the spatial realization of syntactic function on mental representations for language, and on the nature of language representation in the brain. We proceed along three major lines of inquiry: I. On-line Processing of ASL Spatial Syntax. The area where ASL is most clearly conditioned by the visual modality is in the spatialized mechanisms for conveying syntax and discourse. ASL thus provides a critical vehicle by which to investigate language processing. Two uses of space within sign language, for spatially organized syntax and for topological representations of space itself, have very different implications for processing. We use on-line techniques to provide a rigorous assessment of moment to moment construction of these different linguistic representations as sentences are parsed. II. The Interplay between Spatial Language and Spatial Cognition. We investigate modality effects from the converging perspectives of universals of visuospatial languages and their spatial cognitive underpinnings. We examine formal devices for spatially organized syntax and spatial mapping across ASL and Chinese Sign Language. In sign language processing, spatial perception, memory, and spatial transformations are complex prerequisites to grammatical processing. We propose an intensive investigation of the interplay between spatial language and its spatial cognitive underpinnings. III. Hemispheric Specialization in Deaf Signers. Language and spatial representation are attributes for which the two cerebral hemispheres in hearing people show different predominant functioning. We propose experiments that help illuminate the nature of hemispheric specialization for sign language and for its cognitive prerequisites. We propose studies of hemispheric specialization for spatial cognitive functions in deaf and hearing signers. We then investigate specialization for aspects of sign language structures are unique to a visual-gestural language, including a differentiation between two uses of space in the language: the use of space for syntax and the use of space for mapping. These experiments allow us to understand how linguistic and modality factors determine the specialized capacities of the two cerebral hemispheres.

我们研究的总体目标是研究生物人类语言的基础。我们的目标是研究语言及其形式架构，以及它在大脑，通过研究在外部出现的语言口语的主流，视觉手势语言聋人。就其语法手段的形式而言，语言发展的方式具有至关重要的差异。空间在语法服务中的使用是最高的美国手语的形态决定方面。中的一个续展补助金的核心问题是心理句法功能的空间实现语言的表征以及语言的本质大脑中的表征。我们沿着三个主要路线前进查询方式： I. ASL 空间语法的在线处理。 ASL 所在区域最明显地受视觉形态的制约的是传达句法和话语的空间化机制。美国手语因此提供了研究语言的关键工具加工。手语中空间的两种用途，空间组织语法和拓扑表示空间本身对处理有非常不同的影响。我们使用在线技术来提供严格的评估这些不同语言的即时构造句子被解析时的表示。二. 空间语言与空间的相互作用认识。我们研究收敛的模态效应视觉空间语言的普遍性观点及其空间认知基础。我们检查正式设备跨 ASL 和的空间组织语法和空间映射中国手语。在手语处理中，空间感知、记忆和空间变换是复杂的语法处理的先决条件。我们建议强化空间语言及其相互作用的研究空间认知基础。三．聋哑人的半球专业化。语言和空间表征是两个大脑的属性人们的听力半球表现出不同的优势发挥作用。我们提出实验来帮助阐明手语和手语半球专业化的本质它的认知先决条件。我们建议对半球进行研究聋哑人空间认知功能专业化听力签名者。然后我们研究各个方面的专业化手语结构对于视觉手势来说是独一无二的语言，包括两种空间用途之间的区别在语言中：语法中空间的使用以及用于映射的空间。这些实验让我们了解如何语言和情态因素决定了专业化两个大脑半球的能力。