Functional MRI of Native and Non-native Speech Sound Production in Sequential German-English Bilinguals.

Miriam Treutler,Peter Sörös

doi:10.3389/fnhum.2021.683277

Miriam Treutler, Peter Sörös

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.683277

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Abstract

Bilingualism and multilingualism are highly prevalent. Non-invasive brain imaging has been used to study the neural correlates of native and non-native speech and language production, mainly on the lexical and syntactic level. Here, we acquired continuous fast event-related FMRI during visually cued overt production of exclusively German and English vowels and syllables. We analyzed data from 13 university students, native speakers of German and sequential English bilinguals. The production of non-native English sounds was associated with increased activity of the left primary sensorimotor cortex, bilateral cerebellar hemispheres (lobule VI), left inferior frontal gyrus, and left anterior insula compared to native German sounds. The contrast German > English sounds was not statistically significant. Our results emphasize that the production of non-native speech requires additional neural resources already on a basic phonological level in sequential bilinguals.

Highlights

Bilingualism and multilingualism, the ability to communicate in two or more languages, are highly prevalent
We have previously investigated the production of speech sounds of different complexity frequently used in the participants’ native language with clustered functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (FMRI) acquisition (Sörös et al, 2006, 2011)
We found that the production of an isolated vowel (“a”), a consonant-vowel syllable (“pa,” “ta,” or “ka”), and a trisyllabic utterance (“pataka”) was associated with the activation of a distributed neural network of cortical and subcortical brain regions, including the primary sensorimotor cortex, the supplementary motor area, the cerebellum, and the superior temporal gyrus

Summary

Introduction

Bilingualism and multilingualism, the ability to communicate in two or more languages, are highly prevalent. An exact definition of bilingualism and precise statistics are missing, it is estimated that more than 50% of the global population actively use more than one language (Bialystok et al, 2012). At least 55 countries have two or more official languages. Many individuals are exposed to and use two languages on a daily basis from birth or starting in their first years of life (simultaneous or early bilinguals). Many others learn at least one foreign language (L2) at school or later in life (sequential or late bi- or multilinguals). In the European Union, 95% of all students in upper secondary education learn English as a foreign language, 22% Spanish, 18% French, and 17% German

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