The effects of age and music training on foreign speech imitation

Abstract

To probe the accent problem of late language learners in learning foreign languages, this study focuses on two potential factors - age and music training. Previous studies suggested that children were superior to adults in imitating foreign speech sounds and singers had advantages in foreign speech imitation as well. Although a variety of research supports this assumption, there is a scarcity of studies contrasting these two factors and exploring their similarities and differences. Therefore, this study tries to bridge this research gap and investigates the patterns of Spanish imitation among children, adults, and musicians from behavioral and neurobiological perspectives. 63 participants were involved in this study. By analyzing their pronunciation accuracy (e.g., F1, F2, VOT) and brain activation patterns (e.g., BOLD signals) during the process of speech imitation, this study has discovered some similarities between musicians and children in speech imitation. The results are summarized below: Behaviorally, (1). the average Spanish imitation performance (e.g., F1F2 and VOT) of musicians and children was much closer to that of native Spanish speakers than adults; (2). however, three groups of participants did not show differences in their pronunciation accuracy between three times of imitation; Neurobiologically, (3). both musicians and children displayed greater brain activations than adults in brain areas related to speech motor control, auditory, and somatosensory monitoring; (4). besides, musicians and children presented similar brain activation patterns which were different from adults at three times of imitation in some cerebral regions; (5). other than common imitation effects, musicians and children showed their unique brain activation patterns during speech imitation respectively. These results suggest an overlap between the effects of age and music training on foreign speech imitation and provide both theoretical and practical implications to the field of foreign speech production.