MEG evidence for phonological underspecification
نویسندگان
چکیده
Subjects (n=12) listened to the synthesized syllable tokens ba, da, ma, and na. Evoked magnetic fields were recorded using a 93sensor whole-head biomagnetometer array while subjects performed a same-different judgment task. A model of phonology which does not incorporate underspecification predicts no difference in the MMF for labial/coronal consonant pairs, regardless of which is presented as standard and which as deviant. An underspecification model, on the other hand, predicts an asymmetry – coronal deviants should elicit stronger MMFs than labial deviants. This asymmetry is exactly what we observe (F(1,11)=7.218, p=.02). This finding provides support for the existence of maximally abstract linguistic mental representations.
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