Language generality in phonological encoding: Moving beyond Indo‐European languages

Abstract

Theories of phonological encoding are centred on the selection and activation of phonological segments, and how these segments are organised in word and syllable structures in online processes of speech planning. The focus on segments, however, is due to an over‐weighting of evidence from Indo‐European languages, because languages outside this family exhibit strikingly different behaviour and require the processing of additional phonological structures. We review evidence from speech error patterns, priming and form encoding studies, and re‐syllabification in several non‐Indo‐European languages, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Arabic, Hindi, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese. We argue that these languages deepen our understanding of the nature of phonological encoding because they require recognising language‐particular differences in: the first selectable (proximate) units of phonological encoding, the phonological units processed as word beginnings, the dynamics of syllable emergence during encoding, and the varied manifestations of re‐syllabification. A satisfactory and general account of phonological encoding must incorporate these rich phenomena.

The Impact and Effectiveness of the Syllablebased Reading Approach on Moroccan Pupils’ Reading Competency

“…This kind of study will enhance our understanding of the SbA effectiveness and drawbacks more accurately. Also, more studies are needed on SbA internal organization and durational and coarticulatory patterns of MSA and Darija (Moroccan Arabic) as conducted on other languages (see [13,[23][24][25]).…”

Comparison between British Literature and American Literature

“…The English language has witnessed a number of syntactic changes within a time frame. The actual origin of the English language has been taken as the Indo-European language group which has been spoken within a vast area of the Europe and Western part of Asia [1]. About 5000 years ago the nomads immigrants who have been roamed the south Easter plain of the Europe has been used to scope the Proto-Indo-European language which is now taken as the parent tongue of now day"s English language.…”

Phonological encoding in Tongan: An experimental investigation

“…If, however, the initial phonological unit selected in Tongan is the phoneme, then facilitation is expected for both conditions. As far as we know, there is currently no chronometric data on Tongan language production available, therefore this article informs theories of language production through insights from rarely studied languages, such as Tongan, providing a broader cross-language perspective (see also Alderete & O'Séaghdha, 2022 who similarly argue to move beyond Indo-European languages).…”

“…The notion that the IPU might be different for various languages has also found support in neurocorrelational electroencephalogram (EEG) studies (e.g., Mandarin: Qu et al, 2020; Wang et al, 2017; Japanese: Cantonese: Wong et al, 2019; Verdonschot et al, 2019) showing task-correlated brain activation only for particular IPUs for these respective languages. See Alderete and O’Séaghdha (2022) for a recent overview and cross-linguistic perspective on phonological encoding.…”