Abstract
Understanding speech at the basic levels entails the simultaneous and independent processing of phonemic and prosodic features. While it is well-established that phoneme perception relies on language-specific long-term traces, it is unclear if the processing of prosodic features similarly involves language-specific representations. In the present study, we investigated the processing of a specific prosodic feature, word stress, using the method of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) employing a cross-linguistic approach. Hungarian participants heard disyllabic pseudowords stressed either on the first (legal stress) or on the second (illegal stress) syllable, pronounced either by a Hungarian or a German speaker. Results obtained using a data-driven ERP analysis methodology showed that all pseudowords in the deviant position elicited an Early Differentiating Negativity and a Mismatch Negativity component, except for the Hungarian pseudowords stressed on the first syllable. This suggests that Hungarian listeners did not process the native legal stress pattern as deviant, but the same stress pattern with a nonnative accent was processed as deviant. This implies that the processing of word stress was based on language-specific long-term memory traces.
Highlights
Understanding speech requires the simultaneous processing of segmental and suprasegmental information, suggested to be based on parallel and independent processing mechanisms (Poeppel, 2014), and possibly relying on separate neural pathways (Bornkessel-Schlesewsky & Schlesewsky, 2013)
Pair-wise tests showed that the mean amplitude of the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) was more negative for the deviant than for the standard for Hungarian S2 stimuli (p < .001) but not for the Hungarian S1 stimuli (p = .560)
The mean amplitude of the ERPs was more negative for the deviant (0.59 μV) than for the standard (1.58 μV) and for the S2 stimuli (0.86 μV) than for S1 (1.31 μV)
Summary
Understanding speech requires the simultaneous processing of segmental and suprasegmental (prosodic) information, suggested to be based on parallel and independent processing mechanisms (Poeppel, 2014), and possibly relying on separate neural pathways (Bornkessel-Schlesewsky & Schlesewsky, 2013). Among the available prosodic information, word stress is a relative emphasis given to certain syllables within words or to certain words in sentences (for review, see Kager, 2010). Word stress can emphasize or separate certain parts of the speech stream; it potentially contributes to the segmentation of continuous speech into words (Cutler & Norris, 1988). The language processing system of individuals has to adapt to the specific features of word stress of a given language.
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