NEURAL NETWORK SCTRUCTURES IN SPEECH PROCESSES

WHEN PRODUCING/PERCEIVING AN ORAL VERBAL UTTERANCE

 

The important tasks of psychology and psychophysiology are theoretical construction of cognitive models and instrumental research of neural activity when producing/human perception of different speech forms particularly its cultural forms – oral verbal utterances. Stressing this angle of problem, we issue, on the one part, from language and speech systems differentiation, on the other part, from their integrative relationship, that`s why we suggest the process of oral utterances producing as multilevel in this case speech and language levels presenting in oral utterance (compare: pre- and outside linguistic vocalizations recording at every stage of human ontogenesis).

We define the speech system as a complex of communicatively meaningful vocal constructions (sound complexes), which present acoustic substance arranged in a special way in spatio-temporal and intense characteristics. The frequency dynamics of  basic tone,  intensity, volume of sound, duration, tempo and timbre characteristics are related to the vocal phrase characteristics in its abstracting from the phoneme structure (about the tendencies of vocal signal arrangement in anthropogenesis [Malantchuk 2007], compare: [Galunov et al. 1985]).

A speech form (genre) is a basic concept for describing and analyzing speech process. The speech form can be defined, from a vocal utterance design point of view, as complicated prosodic, vocal complex, which is invariant in case of speech realization in relation to typical social interaction situations; this complex has characteristics which determine social interaction contents and are adequately recognized by the participants. Being outside natural linguistic contents this permits each communicator to lead interaction, orientating in partner`s aims, intensional contents of the speech and to correct interaction, according to his own aims.

Vocal series simultaneousness produce integral acoustic screen, which is integrated, on the one part, with an affect (minimally represented in informative genres), but, on the other part, with a pragmatic situation image, which properly present a speech form, in its dynamic characteristics.

Thereby, we overcome a linguo-centric approach to a speech form – speech genre (Compare: [Sedov 1999, et al.] ) and solve speech structures and language structures distinction problem, which was formulated by B.M. Velichkovski as «the perception of global acoustic features describing larger speech segments than single phonemes, syllables and words» [Velichkovski 2006:100].

Everything said make us formulate the principle of oral neural network ensembles dependency, which activate when an oral utterance is built up by neural network elements – the bearers of acoustic speech forms images. Most probably, «oral parts», so as «speech parts» are firstly activated during natural conversation in the process of an oral speech perception, their interaction determines pragmatic utterance meaning, that allows to plan partners’          speech behavior. Definition of the neural network activity view is seen in some directions – refinement of oral speech producing/perceiving process components, dynamic characteristics determination towards fragments of neural network activity in these different processes, checking of gender determination neural activity in speech processes, age-related dynamics determination.

  Modeling of speech processes neural activity correspondingly requires neural correlates to be included in neural network structures – distinguishing their specificity when producing and receiving speech. The most difficult situation for analysis is when partners talk simultaneously and consequently perceive each other`s utterance simultaneously in case of scandals or «attainment» of speech rights.

 

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