title: The missing link in the embodiment of syntax: prosody.
abstract: Neurolinguistic theories are challenged by the amodal abstract representations assumed by linguists. Embodied linguistics offers a conceptualization of the relationship between linguistic representation, experience, and the brain. Findings correlating brain activation patterns with referential features of words (e.g., body parts), suggest that the mechanism underlying linguistic embodiment is an "action-perception simulation". This mechanism accounts for embodied representation of words, but is harder to adapt to syntactic abstractions. We suggest that prosody is the missing link. Prosody is a sensory-motor phenomenon that can evoke an "action-perception simulation" that underpins the syntax-experience-brain association. Our review discusses different embodiment models and then integrates psycholinguistic and neurocognitive studies into a new approach to linguistic embodiment. We propose a novel implementation of the syntax-experience-brain relationship via the mapping between the temporo-spectral aspects of speech prosody and temporo-spectral patterns of synchronized behavior of neural populations. We discuss the potential implications for psycho- and neuro-linguistic research.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, Haifa University, Israel; Linguistic Cognition Lab, Ruppin Academic Center, Israel. Electronic address: hamutalk@ruppin.ac.il.
authors.forename: Hamutal
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kreiner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Information Processing and Decision Making, Haifa University, Israel.
authors.forename: Zohar
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Eviatar
mesh_terms: D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007804:Language Development; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D011578:Psycholinguistics; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Embodiment; Grounded cognition; Neuronal oscillations; Prosody; Syntax