Abstract
Syntax is a species-specific component of human language combining a finite set of words in a potentially infinite number of sentences. Since words are by definition expressed by sound, factoring out syntactic information is normally impossible. Here, we circumvented this problem in a novel way by designing phrases with exactly the same acoustic content but different syntactic structures depending on the other words they occur with. In particular, we used phrases merging an article with a noun yielding a Noun Phrase (NP) or a clitic with a verb yielding a Verb Phrase (VP). We performed stereo-electroencephalographic (SEEG) recordings in epileptic patients. We measured a different electrophysiological correlates of verb phrases vs. noun phrases in multiple cortical areas in both hemispheres, including language areas and their homologous in the non-dominant hemisphere. The high gamma band activity (150-300 Hz frequency), which plays a crucial role in inter-regional cortical communications, showed a significant difference during the presentation of the homophonous phrases, depending on whether the phrase was a verb phrase or a noun phrase. Our findings contribute to the ultimate goal of a complete neural decoding of linguistic structures from the brain.
Highlights
Syntax is a species-specific component of human language combining a finite set of words in a potentially infinite number of sentences
We investigated the electrophysiological correlates of exposure to these Noun Phrase (NP) vs. Verb Phrase (VP) with intracranial electrodes for stereo-electro-encephalography (SEEG) monitoring
We found higher event related spectral perturbation (ERSP) for VPs with respect to NPs in 74% of responsive contacts” (RC) (6 subjects)
Summary
Syntax is a species-specific component of human language combining a finite set of words in a potentially infinite number of sentences. The role of syntax in this complex system is crucial for at least three distinct empirical and theoretical reasons: first, syntax can generate new meaning by permuting the same set of words (so for example, Abel killed Cain is different from Cain killed Abel); second, there is no upper limit to the number of words that can enter the syntactic composition: syntax can potentially generate an infinite set of structures; third, it appears to be the real species-specific boundary distinguishing human language from that of all other animals[3] Given this integrated and complex design characterizing language, isolating electrophysiological information solely related to syntax seems to be impossible by definition, since sound is inevitably intertwined with syntactic information[4,5] even during inner speech[6]: sound representation is already associated to the words in the lexicon before entering the syntactic computation. As for other variables constituting the homophonous phrases, words were balanced for major semantic features (such as abstract vs. concrete) and length (number of syllables)
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