Vered Vaknin-Nusbaum

Phonological universals constrain the processing of nonspeech stimuli.

Domain-specific systems are hypothetically specialized with respect to the outputs they compute and the inputs they allow (Fodor, 1983). Here, we examine whether these 2 conditions for specialization are dissociable. An initial experiment suggests that English speakers could extend a putatively universal phonological restriction to inputs identified as nonspeech. A subsequent comparison of English and Russian participants indicates that the processing of nonspeech inputs is modulated by linguistic experience. Striking, qualitative differences between English and Russian participants suggest that they rely on linguistic principles, both universal and language-particular, rather than generic auditory processing strategies. Thus, the computation of idiosyncratic linguistic outputs is apparently not restricted to speech inputs. This conclusion presents various challenges to both domain-specific and domain-general accounts of cognition.

Phonological generalizations in dyslexia: The phonological grammar may not be impaired

Dyslexia is commonly attributed to a phonological deficit, but whether it effectively compromises the phonological grammar or lower level systems is rarely explored. To address this question, we gauge the sensitivity of dyslexics to grammatical phonological restrictions on spoken onset clusters (e.g., bl in block). Across languages, certain onsets are preferred to others (e.g., blif ≻ bnif ≻ bdif, where ≻ indicates a preference). Here, we show that dyslexic participants (adult native speakers of Hebrew) are fully sensitive to these phonological restrictions, and they extend them irrespective of whether the onsets are attested in their language (e.g., bnif vs. bdif) or unattested (e.g., mlif vs. mdif). Dyslexics, however, showed reduced sensitivity to phonetic contrasts (e.g., blif vs. belif; ba vs. pa). Together, these results suggest that the known difficulties of dyslexics in speech processing could emanate not from the phonological grammar, but rather from lower level impairments to acoustic/phonetic encoding, lexical storage, and retrieval.

Dyslexia Impairs Speech Recognition but Can Spare Phonological Competence

Dyslexia is associated with numerous deficits to speech processing. Accordingly, a large literature asserts that dyslexics manifest a phonological deficit. Few studies, however, have assessed the phonological grammar of dyslexics, and none has distinguished a phonological deficit from a phonetic impairment. Here, we show that these two sources can be dissociated. Three experiments demonstrate that a group of adult dyslexics studied here is impaired in phonetic discrimination (e.g., ba vs. pa), and their deficit compromises even the basic ability to identify acoustic stimuli as human speech. Remarkably, the ability of these individuals to generalize grammatical phonological rules is intact. Like typical readers, these Hebrew-speaking dyslexics identified ill-formed AAB stems (e.g., titug) as less wordlike than well-formed ABB controls (e.g., gitut), and both groups automatically extended this rule to nonspeech stimuli, irrespective of reading ability. The contrast between the phonetic and phonological capacities of these individuals demonstrates that the algebraic engine that generates phonological patterns is distinct from the phonetic interface that implements them. While dyslexia compromises the phonetic system, certain core aspects of the phonological grammar can be spared.

The importance of vowel diacritics for the temporary retention of high and low frequency Hebrew words of varying syllabic length

This study investigates the importance of vowel diacritics for the retention of Hebrew word lists, with word lists being manipulated along the dimension of word frequency and syllabic length. Eighty university students participated in the study. Half of the participants (40) were tested with the word lists presented in fully-pointed (voweled) Hebrew while the other half (40) were given the word lists in unpointed Hebrew (with vowel diacritics removed). Analyses of each group’s recall rates and recall-order accuracy indicate that, overall, the presence of vowel diacritics had no facilitating effect on the participants’ quantitative and qualitative Short Term Memory (STM) performance. This was found to be true whether word frequency (high vs. medium to low) or syllabic length (mono vs. trisyllabic) were computed as within-subject factors. Attempts to adequately interpret the absence of a pointing effect on STM performance based upon Orthographic Depth Hypothesis (ODH) and Grain Size Theory (GST) proved unfruitful. The authors propose an adaptation of the GST to the peculiarities of Hebrew orthography and discuss a morphology-centered grain-size theory (MGST).

The double identity of linguistic doubling

Significance Across languages, certain linguistic forms are systematically preferred to others (e.g., blog > lbog), but whether such preferences reflect abstract linguistic principles or the sensorimotor demands associated with the encoding of linguistic stimuli is unknown. To inform this debate, here we examine whether the preferences for linguistic forms can be disentangled from their sensorimotor characteristics. Our results demonstrate that people’s linguistic preferences doubly dissociate from the demands exacted by the linguistic stimulus: A single stimulus can elicit diverse percepts, whereas each such percept can remain invariant despite radical changes to stimulus modality—speech and signs. These conclusions are in line with the possibility that linguistic principles are amodal and abstract. Does knowledge of language consist of abstract principles, or is it fully embodied in the sensorimotor system? To address this question, we investigate the double identity of doubling (e.g., slaflaf, or generally, XX; where X stands for a phonological constituent). Across languages, doubling is known to elicit conflicting preferences at different levels of linguistic analysis (phonology vs. morphology). Here, we show that these preferences are active in the brains of individual speakers, and they are demonstrably distinct from sensorimotor pressures. We first demonstrate that doubling in novel English words elicits divergent percepts: Viewed as meaningless (phonological) forms, doubling is disliked (e.g., slaflaf < slafmak), but once doubling in form is systematically linked to meaning (e.g., slaf = ball, slaflaf = balls), the doubling aversion shifts into a reliable (morphological) preference. We next show that sign-naive speakers spontaneously project these principles to novel signs in American Sign Language, and their capacity to do so depends on the structure of their spoken language (English vs. Hebrew). These results demonstrate that linguistic preferences doubly dissociate from sensorimotor demands: A single stimulus can elicit diverse percepts, yet these percepts are invariant across stimulus modality––for speech and signs. These conclusions are in line with the possibility that some linguistic principles are abstract, and they apply broadly across language modality.

How Linguistic Chickens Help Spot Spoken-Eggs: Phonological Constraints on Speech Identification

It has long been known that the identification of aural stimuli as speech is context-dependent (Remez et al., 1981). Here, we demonstrate that the discrimination of speech stimuli from their non-speech transforms is further modulated by their linguistic structure. We gauge the effect of phonological structure on discrimination across different manifestations of well-formedness in two distinct languages. One case examines the restrictions on English syllables (e.g., the well-formed melif vs. ill-formed mlif); another investigates the constraints on Hebrew stems by comparing ill-formed AAB stems (e.g., TiTuG) with well-formed ABB and ABC controls (e.g., GiTuT, MiGuS). In both cases, non-speech stimuli that conform to well-formed structures are harder to discriminate from speech than stimuli that conform to ill-formed structures. Auxiliary experiments rule out alternative acoustic explanations for this phenomenon. In English, we show that acoustic manipulations that mimic the mlif–melif contrast do not impair the classification of non-speech stimuli whose structure is well-formed (i.e., disyllables with phonetically short vs. long tonic vowels). Similarly, non-speech stimuli that are ill-formed in Hebrew present no difficulties to English speakers. Thus, non-speech stimuli are harder to classify only when they are well-formed in the participants’ native language. We conclude that the classification of non-speech stimuli is modulated by their linguistic structure: inputs that support well-formed outputs are more readily classified as speech.

What Do They Want From My Life? Parent-Child Relationships as Perceived by Druze Adolescents in Israel:

This research examined Druze adolescents’ perception of their relationships with parents in Israel. Israeli Druze is a small group accounting for only 2% of Israel’s population. The Druze society is patriarchal; it demands absolute loyalty to the values of religion, family, and clan. Our goal was to explore the impact of increasing intercultural contact with modern Israeli society and the outside world on parent-child relationships in a traditional society that demands absolute loyalty and obedience to elders. The researchers used the phenomenological approach to understand parent-child relationships from the perspective of the adolescents themselves. Twelve Druze adolescents, six females and six males ranging in age from 16 to 18, completed a semi-structured interview in which they were asked to describe their relationships with parents. Participants were prompted to describe a recent conflict, if any, and the way in which the conflict was resolved, as well as a positive and a negative interaction with parents in the past year. Thematic analyses revealed intergenerational conflict related to perceived acculturation gaps. Other consistent themes portrayed supportive parent-child relationships and the adolescents’ commitment to Druze heritage. Overall, findings suggest that although increasing exposure to modern society may lead to intergenerational conflict, Druze adolescents remained grounded in supportive family relationships and their religious heritage.

The use of modern standard and spoken Arabic in mathematics lessons: the case of a diglossic language / El uso del árabe estándar moderno y del árabe hablado en las clases de matemáticas: el caso de una lengua diglósica

Abstract Researchers have shown an increased interest in the way teachers use their knowledge about language (KAL) to enhance student understanding and learning. This qualitative case study investigated first- and second-grade teachers’ use of KAL in Arabic. We investigated the linguistic transitions from standard Arabic to spoken Arabic made by the teachers during mathematics lessons. The results suggested that Arab-speaking mathematics teachers were aware of the gap between home language (Spoken Arabic) and school language (Modern Standard Arabic) and used linguistic transition as a teaching strategy to develop academic thinking and behaviour among their students. The results suggested that Arab teachers built a non-formal bilingual education programme where the two languages were used to teach mathematics. Despite the requirement to use Modern Standard Arabic, participants bridged the gap between the languages, which suggests an inherent understanding that ‘language and identity are ultimately inseparable’.

A Joint Interactive Storybook Intervention Program for Preschool and Kindergarten Children

The effectiveness of a joint interactive storybook reading program delivered by class teachers to develop literacy skills is examined in Hebrew-speaking preschool and kindergarten children. Post-intervention, both groups achieved significantly higher gains in language and print concept skills than age-matched comparison groups that did not have the intervention. However, motivation to read improved significantly more in the experimental group than the comparison group in kindergarteners. Results suggest that intervention program using stories and embedded activities can enhance language and print concepts in young children. Also, motivation to read should be part of every intervention program aimed at enhancing literacy skills.

Enhancing language and print-concept skills by using interactive storybook reading in kindergarten:

The effectiveness of a short interactive storybook-reading intervention programme delivered by a kindergarten teacher to develop language and print-concept skills was examined in 30 Hebrew-speaking kindergarten children exhibiting different levels of emergent literacy skills. Post-intervention, the intervention group showed a clear advantage over a control group on most measures, including vocabulary, morphology, phonological awareness and print concepts. Pre-test motivation to read was predictive of post-test performance in these same language and print-concept skills. The study suggests that a short intervention programme, using stories and embedded activities, can enhance language and print concepts in kindergarten children; and that motivation to read is equally important in the development of their language and literacy abilities.