Developmental trajectory of tongue control for speech with real-time MRI. This project aims to evaluate the developmental trajectory of tongue control during speech, relating dynamic 3D vocal tract modelling to the acoustic signal. By optimising real-time MRI technology to capture and model articulatory movements, the project expects to accelerate understanding of how tongue control for speech is developed, mastered, and perturbed by factors such as rapid growth and foreign accent. Expected outc ....Developmental trajectory of tongue control for speech with real-time MRI. This project aims to evaluate the developmental trajectory of tongue control during speech, relating dynamic 3D vocal tract modelling to the acoustic signal. By optimising real-time MRI technology to capture and model articulatory movements, the project expects to accelerate understanding of how tongue control for speech is developed, mastered, and perturbed by factors such as rapid growth and foreign accent. Expected outcome is a new understanding of how different speakers' vocal tracts change and how speech is reshaped, informed by real physiological data. Significant benefits will be realised through refined methods and theory development for diverse fields e.g. linguistics, speech science, and automatic speech recognition/synthesis. Read moreRead less
Does word similarity across languages help or hinder bilingual speakers? This project aims to understand in more detail how bilinguals can accurately speak in both their languages. Speaking is a complex skill, particularly if you have two languages to choose from, which will be true for over half of Australia’s population by 2025. This project aims to investigate the factors that influence speech production in both monolinguals and bilinguals including those with language impairment, and develop ....Does word similarity across languages help or hinder bilingual speakers? This project aims to understand in more detail how bilinguals can accurately speak in both their languages. Speaking is a complex skill, particularly if you have two languages to choose from, which will be true for over half of Australia’s population by 2025. This project aims to investigate the factors that influence speech production in both monolinguals and bilinguals including those with language impairment, and develop a better bilingual theory. The benefit of this new theory will be to provide a clear basis for diagnosis and treatment for children in bilingual households who have problems learning to speak, and for bilingual people with language problems after a stroke or dementia.Read moreRead less
Categorisation, communication and the local environment. Languages around the world incorporate different systems of categories, and understanding this variation can contribute to a better understanding of similarities and differences between cultures. This project examines how linguistic variation is shaped in part by variation in the local physical and social environment. The methods include computational analyses of large electronic data sets including dictionaries and linguistic corpora tha ....Categorisation, communication and the local environment. Languages around the world incorporate different systems of categories, and understanding this variation can contribute to a better understanding of similarities and differences between cultures. This project examines how linguistic variation is shaped in part by variation in the local physical and social environment. The methods include computational analyses of large electronic data sets including dictionaries and linguistic corpora that have become available only recently, and psychological experiments that probe the causal mechanisms that lead to variation across languages. The outcomes include computational tools that pick out key differences between languages and therefore support cross-cultural communication.Read moreRead less
Beyond Segments: Towards a lexical model for tonal bilinguals. Most people in the world today speak more than one language. Thus, they need to decide, unconsciously, which language to use at any given time. This project aims to understand how healthy adult bilinguals resolve competition from their unintended language to communicate successfully in the intended language. In both bilingual language comprehension and production, the project will characterise the role of an under-explored linguistic ....Beyond Segments: Towards a lexical model for tonal bilinguals. Most people in the world today speak more than one language. Thus, they need to decide, unconsciously, which language to use at any given time. This project aims to understand how healthy adult bilinguals resolve competition from their unintended language to communicate successfully in the intended language. In both bilingual language comprehension and production, the project will characterise the role of an under-explored linguistic dimension, lexical tone, in cross-language processing. Expected outcomes include enhanced understanding of bilingual communication and theories of bilingual language use, and practical implications for optimal language learning for bilinguals and intervention for clinical populations who speaks two languages. Read moreRead less
How the brain produces speech: Neuronal oscillations to neuromodulation. Speech is crucial for facilitating human communication through language, yet there is a lack of clarity about where, when and what type of activity occurs in the brain during key stages of production. This project will use intracranial recordings to characterise neuronal oscillations in combination with direct electrical stimulation, functional neuroimaging and non-invasive brain stimulation to establish critical areas and ....How the brain produces speech: Neuronal oscillations to neuromodulation. Speech is crucial for facilitating human communication through language, yet there is a lack of clarity about where, when and what type of activity occurs in the brain during key stages of production. This project will use intracranial recordings to characterise neuronal oscillations in combination with direct electrical stimulation, functional neuroimaging and non-invasive brain stimulation to establish critical areas and their timecourses with millisecond resolution. The outcome will be a better theoretical account of the brain mechanisms involved in spoken production. The benefit of this new theoretical account will be a better basis for prevention of post-surgical language impairment and neuromodulatory treatments after brain injury.Read moreRead less
A more sound approach to the neurobiology of language. How does the brain attain spoken language? Current neurobiological models assume either implicitly or explicitly that there is no relationship between a word's sound and its meaning. Yet considerable evidence shows this strong assumption about the arbitrariness of language is invalid. This project will use a combination of behavioural, neuroimaging and computational studies to characterise how the brain processes statistical regularities in ....A more sound approach to the neurobiology of language. How does the brain attain spoken language? Current neurobiological models assume either implicitly or explicitly that there is no relationship between a word's sound and its meaning. Yet considerable evidence shows this strong assumption about the arbitrariness of language is invalid. This project will use a combination of behavioural, neuroimaging and computational studies to characterise how the brain processes statistical regularities in sound-to-meaning correspondences as probabilistic cues to attain spoken language. The outcome will be a better neural account of language comprehension and production. The benefit of this new account will be a stronger basis for assessment and treatment of developmental and acquired language impairments.Read moreRead less
Lexical access in Australian languages. This project aims to investigate how listeners use cues from the way speech sounds are produced to break the speech stream into individual, recognisable words. The project investigates Australian languages which show unusual patterns in the production of speech sounds to generate new knowledge about speech perception and production. Outcomes will include advances in theories of speech processing, informing the development of speech processing systems, and ....Lexical access in Australian languages. This project aims to investigate how listeners use cues from the way speech sounds are produced to break the speech stream into individual, recognisable words. The project investigates Australian languages which show unusual patterns in the production of speech sounds to generate new knowledge about speech perception and production. Outcomes will include advances in theories of speech processing, informing the development of speech processing systems, and contributions to Indigenous cultural maintenance.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100318
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Solving the puzzle of complex speech sounds. Speech sounds that fall into the 'l' and 'r' family of consonants ('liquids') are amongst the most difficult to master, both for children learning their first language and for learners of a second. This is because liquids are highly complex and require finely tuned, and language specific, coordination of articulatory gestures. The details of this complexity remain poorly understood, posing significant challenges for remediation of speech errors and fo ....Solving the puzzle of complex speech sounds. Speech sounds that fall into the 'l' and 'r' family of consonants ('liquids') are amongst the most difficult to master, both for children learning their first language and for learners of a second. This is because liquids are highly complex and require finely tuned, and language specific, coordination of articulatory gestures. The details of this complexity remain poorly understood, posing significant challenges for remediation of speech errors and for effective pedagogy in language learning. This project aims to use state-of-the-art articulatory methods to examine liquids in four typologically distinct languages of increasing importance in modern Australian society to lay essential foundations for future work on remediation and instruction.Read moreRead less
Beyond Speech: Towards better communication for children with hearing loss. Despite the benefits of early newborn hearing screening and early intervention programs for children with hearing loss, most still experience academic and social challenges at school. This is partly due to ongoing listening effort, leading to communicative breakdown. This project aims to identify the locus of the communicative challenges these children face during daily discourse interactions. The outcomes will identify ....Beyond Speech: Towards better communication for children with hearing loss. Despite the benefits of early newborn hearing screening and early intervention programs for children with hearing loss, most still experience academic and social challenges at school. This is partly due to ongoing listening effort, leading to communicative breakdown. This project aims to identify the locus of the communicative challenges these children face during daily discourse interactions. The outcomes will identify which levels of language are most compromised and will inform future interventions to reduce children’s listening effort. This will be undertaken by bringing together researchers in basic science with hearing service providers, parents and industry, providing an innovative model for solving multidisciplinary challenges.Read moreRead less