Language, Music and Rhythm
Cyrille Magne
Psychology Department
Program in Literacy Studies
Layout
•
•
•
•
•
•
Background
Purpose
Music Training & Speech Rhythm Awareness
Music Aptitude and 2nd Language Learning
Music Aptitude and Speech Rhythm Sensitivity
Implications and Current Research
Background
• Language vs Music
Background
• Language vs Music
Language
Music
Phoneme
Note
Word
Chord
Sentence
Period
Discourse
Composition
Intonation
Melody
Stress Pattern
Rhythm/Meter
Background
• Language vs Music
Language
Music
Phoneme
Note
Word
Chord
Sentence
Period
Discourse
Composition
Intonation
Melody
Stress Pattern
Rhythm/Meter
Background
• Language vs Music
Language
Music
Phoneme
Note
Word
Chord
Sentence
Period
Discourse
Composition
Intonation
Melody
Stress Pattern
Rhythm/Meter
Background
• Language vs Music
Language
Music
Phoneme
Note
Word
Chord
Sentence
Period
Discourse
Composition
Intonation
Melody
Stress Pattern
Rhythm/Meter
Background
• Language vs Music
Language
Music
Phoneme
Note
Word
Chord
Sentence
Period
Discourse
Composition
Intonation
Melody
Stress Pattern
Rhythm/Meter
Background
• Language vs Music
Language
Music
Phoneme
Note
Word
Chord
Sentence
Period
Discourse
Composition
Intonation
Melody
Stress Pattern
Rhythm/Meter
Background
• Language vs Music
Language
Music
Phoneme
Note
Word
Chord
Sentence
Period
Discourse
Composition
Intonation
Melody
Stress Pattern
Rhythm/Meter
Background
• Language vs Music
Language
Music
Phoneme
Note
Word
Chord
Sentence
Period
Discourse
Composition
Intonation
Melody
Stress Pattern
Rhythm/Meter
Background
• Music, Language and the Brain
(Brown, Martinez, Parsons, 2006)
Background
• Music, Language and the Brain
Speech
Vocalize
LH
RH
(Schön, Gordon, Campagne, Magne, Astésano, Anton, Besson, 2010)
Song
Background
• Musical Training & Language Processing
– Transfer of learning?
• Enhanced speech perception in adults (Schön, Magne,
Besson, 2004) and children (Magne, Schön, Besson,
2006)
• Finnish children and adults with high music aptitudes
showed more accurate reproductions of English
phonemes (Milovanov et al., 2008; 2010)
• Enhanced development of syntactic processing in
children (Jentschke & Koelsch, 2009)
Purpose
• What about Speech Rhythm?
Language
Music
Phoneme
Note
Word
Chord
Sentence
Period
Discourse
Composition
Intonation
Melody
Stress Pattern
Rhythm/Meter
Purpose
• What about Speech Rhythm?
– English as a stress-timed language
– Emphasis given to syllables in a word
• Increased duration, intensity and pitch
• Reduced unstressed syllables
Dollar
Today
Purpose
• What about Speech Rhythm?
– English as a stress-timed language
– Emphasis given to syllables in a word
• Increased duration, intensity and pitch
• Reduced unstressed syllables
Dollar
Trochaic
Today
Purpose
• What about Speech Rhythm?
– English as a stress-timed language
– Emphasis given to syllables in a word
• Increased duration, intensity and pitch
• Reduced unstressed syllables
Dollar
Trochaic
Today
Iambic
Purpose
• What about Speech Rhythm?
– Importance of rhythm in infant-directed speech
and for language acquisition
• 9-month-old American infants showed preference for
listening to trochaic words (Jusczyk et al., 1993)
• French newborns discriminate between languages from
different rhythmic classes (Nazzi et al., 1998)
(Tincoff et al., 2005)
Purpose
• What about Speech Rhythm?
– Importance of rhythm for language
comprehension in adults
• Detection of new information in conversational context
(Magne et al., 2005)
• Listeners’ attention may be differentially allocated to
stressed syllables (Pitt & Samuel, 1990)
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Electroencephalography (EEG)
Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)
EEG
Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)
EEG
Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)
EEG
EEG
Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)
EEG
EEG
Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)
EEG
EEG
ERP
P 300
Event-Related Potentials (ERPs)
EEG
EEG
Music Training & Speech Rhythm Awareness
• French described as having a final accent
– Lengthening of this last syllable
x
x
x
x
Can-
di-
dat
(Magne et al., 2007; Marie, Magne, Besson, 2011)
(candidate)
Music Training & Speech Rhythm Awareness
• French described as having a final accent
– Lengthening of this last syllable
x
x
x
x
x
Can-
di-
dat
(Magne et al., 2007; Marie, Magne, Besson, 2011)
(candidate)
Music Training & Speech Rhythm Awareness
• Stimuli
Semantically
congruous
Semantically
incongruous
Natural Rhythm
Incongruous Rhythm
Le concours a regroupé mille candidats
Le concours a regroupé mille candidats
The competition hosted a thousand
candidates
The competition hosted a thousand
candidates
Le concours a regroupé mille bigoudis
Le concours a regroupé mille bigoudis
The competition hosted a thousand
hair curlers
The competition hosted a thousand
hair curlers
(Magne et al., 2007; Marie, Magne, Besson, 2011)
Music Training & Speech Rhythm Awareness
• Methods
– 30 adult native speakers of French
• 16 with less than 1 year of musical training
• 14 with average of 17 years of musical training
– EEG recording
• 32 electrodes placed in the scalp
(Magne et al., 2007; Marie, Magne, Besson, 2011)
Music Training & Speech Rhythm Awareness
• Behavioral Data
Non-Musicians vs Musicians – Error Rates (%)
25
20
15
Non-Musicians
10
5
*
*
0
Meter+ +
Rhythm
Meter- Rhythm
(Magne et al., 2007; Marie, Magne, Besson, 2011)
Musicians
Music Training & Speech Rhythm Awareness
• ERP data
Non-Musicians
Cz
Musicians
N400
Cz
N400
-5 µV
-5 µV
1500 ms
Cz
1500 ms
Pz
P800
Pz
Pz
P2
Rhythmically Congruous
Rhythmically Incongruous
(Magne et al., 2007; Marie, Magne, Besson, 2011)
P800
Music Training & Speech Rhythm Awareness
• Conclusion
– Rhythmically incongruous words recruits
additional brain processes in musicians
• Musicians perceive rhythmic violations in speech better
than non-musicians
• Rhythmically incongruous words detected faster by
musicians’ brain
(Magne et al., 2007; Marie, Magne, Besson, 2011)
Music Aptitude and 2nd Language Learning
• Purpose
– Electrophysiological responses to speech rhythm
incongruities in second language of a different
rhythmic class.
– Relationship between level of music aptitude and
degree of speech rhythm sensitivity in second
language?
(Emerson & Magne, 2010)
Music Aptitude and 2nd Language Learning
• Methods
– 12 Native English speakers
• Learning French as a second language (mean=4.6 years)
– Music aptitude assessed using AMMA
• Tests rhythmic and tonal discrimination abilities
[S] [R] [T]
(Emerson & Magne, 2010)
Music Aptitude and 2nd Language Learning
• ERP Data
Rhythmic Incongruity Effect
F3
Fz
F4
Low Music Aptitude
High Music Aptitude
C3
Cz
C4
F3 Fz F4
C3
Cz
C4
P3 Pz P4
P3
Pz
P4
-5 mV
ms
400
(Emerson & Magne, 2010)
800
Music Aptitude and 2nd Language Learning
• Conclusion
– Individuals with high music aptitudes more
sensitive to the rhythmic structure of learned
foreign languages
– HMA individuals better at acquiring native-like
accents?
(Emerson & Magne, 2010)
Music Aptitude & Metrical Expectancy
• Purpose
– Does Rhythm create expectations in continuous
speech stream?
– Link between level of music aptitude and
sensitivity to speech rhythm regularities?
(Magne, Jordan, Gordon, in preparation)
Music Aptitude & Metrical Expectancy
• Stimuli
Metrical
Expectancy
Expected
Word 1
SW
Office
Word 2
SW
Couple
Word 3
SW
Market
Word 4
SW
Answer
Unexpected
SW
SW
SW
Expected
Office
WS
Response
Couple
WS
Today
Market
WS
Report
WS
Design
WS
Response
WS
Today
WS
Report
Unexpected
(Magne, Jordan, Gordon, in preparation)
WS
Design
SW
Answer
Music Aptitude & Metrical Expectancy
• Methods
– 20 non-musicians
• Advanced Measure of Music Audiation (AMMA)
– Statistical Analysis
• Cluster-based permutation tests (Fieldtrip Toolbox)
• Correlations between size ERP effect and AMMA scores
(Magne, Jordan, Gordon, in preparation)
Music Aptitude & Metrical Expectancy
• ERPs to Trochaic Target Words
High Music Aptitude Group
Low Music Aptitude Group
294 to 468 ms
P < 0.001
-4
362 to 488 ms
P = 0.03
-4
-3 C3
-4
-3 C4
496 to 718 ms
p = 0.006
-4
-3 C3
-3
-2
-2
-2
-2
-1
-1
-1
-1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
0
300
600
900
2
0
300
600
(Magne, Jordan, Gordon, in preparation)
900
2
0
300
600
900
2
C4
0
300
600
900
Music Aptitude & Metrical Expectancy
• ERPs to Iambic Target words
High Music Aptitude Group
344 to 418 ms
P= 0.05
448 to 520 ms
P = 0.04
Low Music Aptitude Group
550 to 654 ms
P = 0.02
No Significant Cluster
-4
-4
-4
-3 C3
-4
-3 C4
-3 C3
-2
-2
-2
-2
-1
-1
-1
-1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
0
300
600
900
2
0
300
600
(Magne, Jordan, Gordon, in preparation)
900
2
-3
0
300
600
900
2
C4
0
300
600
900
Music Aptitude & Metrical Expectancy
• Unexpected Iambic vs AMMA Correlations
Cluster
Rhythm Score
Tonal Score
Total Score
344 to 418 ms
r = -0.58 , p = 0.008
r = -0.58 , p = 0.007
r = -0.60 , p = 0.005
448 to 520 ms
r = -0.60 , p = 0.005
r = -0.55 , p = 0.012
r = -0.52 , p = 0.017
550 to 654 ms
r = -0.50 , p = 0.025
r = -0.54 , p = 0.013
r = -0.46 , p = 0.042
(Magne, Jordan, Gordon, in preparation)
Music Aptitude & Metrical Expectancy
Low Music Aptitude Group
High Music Aptitude Group
(Magne, Jordan, Gordon, in preparation)
Music Aptitude & Metrical Expectancy
“Cortical speech processing unplugged:
a timely subcortico-cortical framework”
(Kotz & Schwartze, 2010)
Music Aptitude & Metrical Expectancy
• Conclusion
– Increased negativity for metrically unexpected
words
• In line with previous studies in French
• The higher an individual’s music aptitude, the
larger the unexpected iambic ERP effect.
• Low frequency of Iambic pattern in English.
• In infants, sensitivity to the predominant trochaic stress
pattern develops first (7.5 vs 10.5 month olds).
Summary So Far…
• Shared neural resources for rhythmic
processing in language and music
• Influence of music training on speech rhythm
processing
• Correlation between music aptitude and
speech rhythm Sensitivity
Implications and Current Research
• Link between rhythm awareness and reading
skills (Magne & Brock, 2012):
1. Speech rhythm reactivated during silent reading
(Fodor 1998, Ashby & Clifton, 2005)
2. Correlation between rhythm sensitivity and
acquisition of good reading skills (Goswami et
al., 2002; Holliman et al., 2012)
Implications and Current Research
• 1. Rhythmic expectancies during silent reading
426 ms
Word 1
Word 2
Word 3
Word 4
Word 5
SW
SW
SW
SW
SW
Body
Level
Study
Woman
Table
WS
WS
WS
WS
SW
Result
Today
Effect
Control
Table
(Magne, Gordon, Midha, 2010; Magne, in progress)
Central
Thank you
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science
Foundation under Grant Number BCS-1261460
"Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation."