Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Semantic Effect on the Processing of Emotional Prosody in a tone language: A Neurolinguistic Study

Emotional information in spoken languages is expressed via two channels: semantic and prosodic cues. Semantics is the meaning of words and sentences. Prosody is the patterns of intonation and stress in a language; the melody of a language. While individuals process the meaning of utterances in conversation (i.e., what you say), they also detect the emotional prosody of the speaker (i.e., how you say it). Emotional prosody refers to the ways in which the tone of voice can be modulated to convey positive and negative emotions. The simultaneous processing of semantics and emotional prosody can be challenging for second language (L2) learners, especially in tonal languages, where the tone of voice can encode both meaning and emotion. This study investigates how meaning is affected by emotional prosody, and it elucidates the neural basis of how native speakers and second language learners process semantics and emotional prosody in a tonal language. The doctoral dissertation project uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), which identifies language processing areas in the working human brain, to examine how semantics (e.g., positive, ‘wise’; negative meaning ‘arrogant’) affect the processing of emotional prosody in words (Experiment 1) and sentences (Experiment 2) in a tonal language. Specifically, the researchers compare the brain areas activated by semantics and emotional prosody, and then examine brain regions that process emotions regardless of channels (semantics or prosody), and brain regions that are unique to semantics and to emotional prosody respectively. The results thus clarify whether native speakers and L2 learners use the same brain mechanisms to process semantics and emotional prosody in words and sentences in a tonal language. The project has pedagogical implications for L2 instruction where emotional cues in language use is often ignored and provides insights into the role of emotional prosody in cross-cultural communication. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.