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Phonotactic constraint violations in German grammar are detected automatically in auditory speech processing: A human event‐related potentials study
Author(s) -
Steinberg Johanna,
Truckenbrodt Hubert,
Jacobsen Thomas
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01200.x
Subject(s) - phonotactics , german , psychology , grammar , event (particle physics) , linguistics , speech recognition , event related potential , phonology , natural language processing , constraint (computer aided design) , speech perception , communication , computer science , cognition , perception , neuroscience , philosophy , mechanical engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
In this human ERP study, effects of language‐specific phonotactic restrictions on automatic auditory speech processing were investigated by means of the dorsal fricative assimilation (DFA) that is obligatory in German grammar. Using a multiple passive oddball paradigm, we studied the deviance‐related processing of phonotactically ill‐formed strings violating DFA. Eight VC‐syllables were created by exhaustively combining the vowels and the dorsal fricatives, resulting in four well‐formed and four ill‐formed stimuli that were contrasted in oddball blocks with changing probabilities of occurrence. Only the ill‐formed deviants elicited a negative ERP deflection maximal at about 100 msec after the onset of the fricative. This negativity is considered to reflect a phonotactic evaluation process requiring the activation of implicit phonotactic knowledge from long‐term memory and resulting in the automatic detection of a DFA violation.