Neuronal Processing of Diacritics – An fMRI Study

يستهدف البحث تقديم خريطة مرجعية تحدد الجزء المرتبط باللغة العربية في مخ الإنسان، حيث يمكن الاستفادة من هذه الخريطة في معالجة بعض المشاكل والصعوبات اللغوية ومريض الديسيكلسيا للنطاقين اللغة العربية

Languages have been shown to have differential neuronal correlates. The reason for such differences has been attributed to various factors including orthography, semantics, and phonology. The purpose of the4is proposal is to conduct a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study using blood oxygen level dependant (BOLD) contrast to assess the neuronal correlates associated with Arabic and English Languages. The Arabic Language has unique particulars compared to English. One of the main particulars is that professional and adult readers are required to read text without short vowelization (diacritical marks) of words and therefore, leaving it up to the reader to associate to correct short vowelization according to the text and grammar. Given this particularity of Arabic, this study will investigate the neuronal correlates associated with Arabic and compare it with the more well established neuronal correlates of English. It is hypothesized that reading Arabic without diacritical marks will require activation of implicit semantic regions of the brain; specifically the left inferior temporal gyrus and the superior temporal gyrus