Goswami Usha
Centre for Neuroscience in Education, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
R Soc Open Sci. 2022 Jul 27;9(7):211855. doi: 10.1098/rsos.211855. eCollection 2022 Jul.
All human infants acquire language, but their brains do not know which language/s to prepare for. This observation suggests that there are fundamental components of the speech signal that contribute to building a language system, and fundamental neural processing mechanisms that use these components, which are shared across languages. Equally, disorders of language acquisition are found across all languages, with the most prevalent being developmental language disorder (approx. 7% prevalence), where oral language comprehension and production is atypical, and developmental dyslexia (approx. 7% prevalence), where written language acquisition is atypical. Recent advances in auditory neuroscience, along with advances in modelling the speech signal from an amplitude modulation (AM, intensity or energy change) perspective, have increased our understanding of both language acquisition and these developmental disorders. Speech rhythm patterns turn out to be fundamental to both sensory and neural linguistic processing. The rhythmic routines typical of childcare in many cultures, the parental practice of singing lullabies to infants, and the ubiquitous presence of BabyTalk (infant-directed speech) all enhance the fundamental AM components that contribute to building a linguistic brain.
所有人类婴儿都会习得语言，但他们的大脑并不知道要为哪种语言做准备。这一观察结果表明，语音信号中存在一些基本成分，有助于构建语言系统，同时也存在利用这些成分的基本神经处理机制，这些成分和机制在各种语言中都是共通的。同样，在所有语言中都能发现语言习得障碍，其中最常见的是发育性语言障碍（患病率约为7%），即口语理解和表达不典型，以及发育性阅读障碍（患病率约为7%），即书面语言习得不典型。听觉神经科学的最新进展，以及从调幅（AM，强度或能量变化）角度对语音信号进行建模的进展，增进了我们对语言习得和这些发育障碍的理解。事实证明，语音节奏模式对于感觉和神经语言处理都至关重要。许多文化中常见的育儿节奏模式、父母给婴儿唱摇篮曲的做法，以及无处不在的儿语（面向婴儿的言语），都增强了有助于构建语言大脑的基本调幅成分。
