0000000000938194
AUTHOR
Tommi Jantunen
Clausal coordination in Finnish Sign Language
This paper deals with the coordination of clauses in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). Building on conversational data, the paper first shows that linking in conjunctive coordination in FinSL is primarily asyndetic, whereas in adversative and disjunctive coordination FinSL prefers syndetic linking. Secondly, the paper investigates the nonmanual prosody of coordination: nonmanual activity is shown both to mark the juncture of the coordinand clauses and to draw their contours. Finally, the paper addresses certain forms of clausal coordination in FinSL that are sign language-specific. It is suggested that the sign language-specific properties of coordination are caused both by the fact that signe…
The more you move, the more action you construct : a motion capture study on head and upper-torso movements in constructed action in Finnish Sign Language narratives
Abstract This paper investigates, with the help of motion capture data processed on corpus principles, the characteristics of head and upper-torso movements in constructed action and regular narration (i.e., signing without constructed action) in FinSL. Specifically, the paper evaluates the validity of two arguments concerning constructed action: that constructed action forms a continuum with regular narration, and that constructed action divides into three subtypes (i.e., overt, reduced, and subtle). The results presented in the paper support the first argument but not directly the second one. Because of the ambiguous position of reduced constructed action in between subtle and overt const…
Finnish Sign Language
This chapter discusses ellipsis in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). First, in order to provide a necessary background for the discussion, an overview is given of both the basic grammar of FinSL (Section 2) and the larger role ellipsis plays in FinSL (Section 3). After this (Sections 4–6), several elliptical phenomena discussed in this book (nominal ellipses, conjunction reduction, VP-ellipsis, sluicing, gapping, stripping, and fragment answers) are introduced and described for FinSL, together with other elision phenomena (e.g. argument ellipsis, also known as pro drop). Not all the phenomena can be discussed in equal depth, nor can all the phenomena presented in the book be addressed, because…
Signs and transitions: Do they differ phonetically and does it matter?
The point of departure of this article is the cluster of three pre-theoretical presuppositions (P) governing modern research on sign languages: (1) that a stream of signing consists of signs (S) and transitions (T), (2) that only Ss are linguistically relevant units, and (3) that there is a qualitative (e.g., phonetic) difference between Ss and Ts. Of these, the article focuses on the relatively untested P3, which is used to back up P1 and P2, and investigates the velocity and acceleration properties of Ss and Ts on the basis of continuous motion-capture data from Finnish Sign Language. The main finding of the study is that the speed of Ss is slower (and varies less) than that of Ts but tha…
Head movements in Finnish Sign Language on the basis of Motion Capture data
This paper reports a study of the forms and functions of head movements produced in the dimension of depth in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). Specifically, the paper describes and analyzes the phonetic forms and prosodic, grammatical, communicative, and textual functions of nods, head thrusts, nodding, and head pulls occurring in FinSL data consisting of a continuous dialogue recorded with motion capture technology. The analysis yields a novel classification of the kinematic characteristics and functional properties of the four types of head movement. However, it also reveals that there is no perfect correspondence between form and function in the head movements investigated.
Mikä viittomassa on vikana, miten se korjataan ja mitä tästä kaikesta seuraa viittomakielentutkimukselle?
Artikkelin aiheena on viittoman käsite, tarkemmin yksi ongelmakohta sen valtavirtamääritelmässä, se, miten tämä ongelma pitää ratkaista, ja se, mitä ratkaisusta todennäköisesti seuraa. Modernissa viittomakielen tutkimuksessa viittoma on operationaalistettu suhteellisen lyhyeksi käden liikejaksoksi, jota viittomavirrassa ympäröivät lingvistisesti merkityksettöminä pidetyt käden siirtymäjaksot. Tässä artikkelissa kuitenkin argumentoidaan, että tämä kaikkea nykypäiväistä viittomakielentutkimusta luonnehtiva esiteoreettinen oletus on virheellinen ja perustuu empiiristen faktojen väärintulkinnalle ja yliabstrahoinnille. Lähtökohtaisesti foneettisen evidenssin perusteella esitetään viittoman käsi…
Ellipsis in Finnish Sign Language
This paper deals with syntactic ellipsis in clauses in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). The point of departure for the paper is the observation, confirmed by several studies, that clauses in FinSL are often syntactically incomplete. Building on this, the paper first describes how all core-internal clausal material may be elided in FinSL: core arguments in clauses with a verbal nucleus, core-internal NPs in clauses with a nominal nucleus, and even nuclei themselves. The paper then discusses several grammatical contexts which especially favor ellipsis in FinSL. These are question–answer pairs, two-clause coordinated structures, topic–comment structures, blend structures, and structures containi…
The alignment of head nods with syntactic units in Finnish Sign Language and Swedish Sign Language
In this paper we examine the relationship between specific head movement events – head nods, often treated as prosodic boundary markers – and syntactic units in Finnish (FinSL) and Swedish Sign Language (SSL). In the study we investigated the alignment of head nods with syntactic units on the basis of a total of 20 (10+10) FinSL and SSL narratives. The results of the study show that in both languages head nods appeared similarly on syntactic boundaries and that the tendency was to align nods sentence-finally. However, not all head nods behaved this way: for example, a relatively large number of head nods were also found to occur sentence-initially or elsewhere in the sentence. Furthermore, …
Detecting Hand-Head Occlusions in Sign Language Video
A large body of current linguistic research on sign language is based on analyzing large corpora of video recordings. This requires either manual or automatic annotation of the videos. In this paper we introduce methods for automatically detecting and classifying hand-head occlusions in sign language videos. Linguistically, hand-head occlusions are an important and interesting subject of study as the head is a structural place of articulation in many signs. Our method combines easily calculable local video properties with more global hand tracking. The experiments carried out with videos of the Suvi on-line dictionary of Finnish Sign Language show that the sensitivity of the proposed local …
Use of Sign Language Videos in EEG and MEG Studies : Experiences from a Multidisciplinary Project Combining Linguistics and Cognitive Neuroscience
In this paper, we describe our experiences of bringing together methodologies of two disciplines – sign language (SL) linguistics and cognitive neuroscience – in the multidisciplinary ShowTell research project (Academy of Finland 2021–2025). More specifically, we discuss the challenges we encountered when creating and using video materials for the study of SL processing in the brain. Rather than using still images, the study of SL comprehension is better performed by using videos, thus providing more naturalistic stimuli as observed in face-to-face interaction. On the other hand, in neuroimaging (electroencephalography [EEG]/magnetoencephalography [MEG]), it is vital to track the timing of …
SLMotion - An extensible sign language oriented video analysis tool
We present a software toolkit called SLMotion which provides a framework for automatic and semiautomatic analysis, feature extraction and annotation of individual sign language videos, and which can easily be adapted to batch processing of entire sign language corpora. The program follows a modular design, and exposes a Numpy-compatible Python application programming interface that makes it easy and convenient to extend its functionality through scripting. The program includes support for exporting the annotations in ELAN format. The program is released as free software, and is available for GNU/Linux and MacOS platforms. peerReviewed
The equative sentence in Finnish Sign Language
It is argued in this paper that equative sentences in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL) conform to the general schema of (NP) NP+(PI+)NP, parenthesis marking optionality of elements. With respect to this schema, it is further argued, (a) that the function of the first NP in equative sentences is always topic; (b) that topics are marked syntactically, prosodically, and morphologically in FinSL; (c) that the preferred organisation of equative sentences in general is topic-comment; (d) that there are two structurally distinct topic-comment structures in FinSL, one having the topic at the beginning of the clause and the other having the topic in the left-detached clause-external position; (e) that …
Tavu ja lause - tutkimuksia kahden sekventiaalisen perusyksikön olemuksesta suomalaisessa viittomakielessä. Väitöksenalkajaisesitelmä Jyväskylän yliopistossa 30. elokuuta 2008
Väitöksenalkajaisesitelmä Jyväskylän yliopistossa 30.8. 2008 nonPeerReviewed
Transitivity prominence within and across modalities
The idea of transitivity as a scalar phenomenon is well known (e.g., Hopper & Thompson 1980; Tsunoda 1985; Haspelmath 2015). However, as with most areas of linguistic study, it has been almost exclusively studied with a focus on spoken languages. A rare exception to this is Kimmelman (2016), who investigates transitivity in Russian Sign Language (RSL) on the basis of corpus data. Kimmelman attempts to establish a transitivity prominence hierarchy of RSL verbs, and compares this ranking to the verb meanings found in the ValPal database (Hartmann, Haspelmath & Bradley 2013). He arrives at the conclusion that using the frequency of overt objects in corpus data is a successful measure o…
The Dawn of the Human-Machine Era: A forecast of new and emerging language technologies
New language technologies are coming, thanks to the huge and competing private investment fuelling rapid progress; we can either understand and foresee their effects, or be taken by surprise and spend our time trying to catch up. This report scketches out some transformative new technologies that are likely to fundamentally change our use of language. Some of these may feel unrealistically futuristic or far-fetched, but a central purpose of this report - and the wider LITHME network - is to illustrate that these are mostly just the logical development and maturation of technologies currently in prototype. But will everyone benefit from all these shiny new gadgets? Throughout this report we …
The Corpus of Finnish Sign Language
This paper presents the Corpus of Finnish Sign Language(Corpus FinSL), a structured and annotated collection of Finnish Sign Language (FinSL) videos published in May 2019 in FIN-CLARIN's Language Bank of Finland. The corpus is divided into two subcorpora, one of which comprises elicited narratives and the other conversations. All of the FinSL material has been annotated using ELAN and the lexical database Finnish Signbank. Basic annotation includes ID-glosses and translations into Finnish. The anonymized metadata of Corpus FinSL has been organized in accordance with the IMDI standard. Altogether, Corpus FinSL contains nearly 15 hours of video material from 21 FinSL users. Corpus FinSL has a…
Viittomakielet : kielentutkimuksen mustajoutsen
Valtavirran kielentutkimuksessa elää kielikäsityksiä, jotka vaikuttavat teoreettisina taustaoletuksina myös viittomakielistä esitettyihin kuvauksiin. Ne ohjaavat huomaamattamme ymmärrystä siitä, mitä kielen tulee olla ja miten viittomakieltä käyttäviin yhteiskunnassa suhtaudutaan. nonPeerReviewed
Rinnastuksen prosodiaa suomalaisessa viittomakielessä
Artikkelissa käsitellään ei-manuaalisen prosodian ja syntaksin yhteispeliä suomalaisen viittomakielen lauserinnastusrakenteissa. Tietokonenäköpohjaisesti käsitellyn videoaineiston ja äidinkielisten viittojien tekemien kieliopillisuusarvioiden perusteella argumentoidaan, että tunnusmerkittömässä disjunktiivisessa ('tai') ja kontrastiivisessa ('mutta') lauserinnastuksessa on varsin selkeät prosodiset erityispiirteet, kun taas additiivisessa ('ja') lauserinnastuksessa prosodia on vaikeammin yksilöitävissä. Konjunktiottomasti ja täten tunnusmerkkisesti ilmenevän disjunktiivisen ja kontrastiivisen rinnastuksen perusteella artikkeli tarjoaa lisäevidenssiä väitteelle, jonka mukaan manuaalisten mer…
Kieli on muutakin kuin puhetta : ei-äänellinen merkityksenvälitys ja viittomakielet osana kieli-ilmiötä
Tämän artikkelin peruskysymys on: Mitä on kieli? Kysymystä ei jokapäiväisessä kielentutkimuksessa välttämättä ajatella, saati mahdollista vastausta problematisoida, sillä usein on helpompaa vain ottaa jokin valmis kielimääritelmä ja elää sen mukaan. Mutta kysymys ja sen aktiivinen pohdinta on tärkeää meille kaikille, jotka työskentelemme kielentutkimuksen alalla. Viime kädessä jopa ammattiylpeytemme vaatii, että osaamme vastata kysymykseen kielen olemuksesta jollakin suhteellisen yhtenäisellä ja ennen kaikkea todellisuutta vastaavalla tavalla. peerReviewed
How long is the sign?
AbstractThis paper deals with the relative empirical length of signs in sign languages and provides evidence for the view that they are actually longer units than has hitherto been recognized. The evidence is presented from two perspectives: those of sign articulation and sign recognition. Concerning sign articulation, it is suggested that signs are longer units than is currently assumed because most of the structural features of signs are in fact already present before the currently accepted beginnings of signs and they continue after signs' generally accepted endings. Concerning sign recognition, the longer view of the sign is proposed on the grounds that the recognition point of signs is…
Viittomakielet hybridisysteemeinä - hämärärajaisuus ja epäkonventionaalisuus osana viittomakielten rakennetta
Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan hämärärajaisuutta ja epäkonventionaalisuutta osana joitakin kaikista viittomakielistä löydettyjä yksiköitä ja rakenteita ja niiden käyttöä. Täsmällisemmin artikkelin fokuksessa ovat tietyt muodoltaan ja merkitykseltään tilanteisesti muuntuvat viittomat (erityisesti niin kutsutut osittain leksikaaliset viittomat) sekä eräänlainen vaihteleva-asteinen näytteleminen (niin kutsuttu konstruoitu toiminta), jota viittojat käyttävät tuottamiensa syntaktisten rakenteiden osana ja niiden sijaan. Käytännössä artikkeli esittelee näkemyksen, jonka mukaan molemmissa tarkastelun kohteena olevissa ilmiöissä on kyse samasta asiasta eli kielen diskreettien ja konventionaaliste…
Head Pose Estimation for Sign Language Video
We address the problem of estimating three head pose angles in sign language video using the Pointing04 data set as training data. The proposed model employs facial landmark points and Support Vector Regression learned from the training set to identify yaw and pitch angles independently. A simple geometric approach is used for the roll angle. As a novel development, we propose to use the detected skin tone areas within the face bounding box as additional features for head pose estimation. The accuracy level of the estimators we obtain compares favorably with published results on the same data, but the smaller number of pose angles in our setup may explain some of the observed advantage.
S-pot - A benchmark in spotting signs within continuous signing
In this paper we present S-pot, a benchmark setting for evaluating the performance of automatic spotting of signs in continuous sign language videos. The benchmark includes 5539 video files of Finnish Sign Language, ground truth sign spotting results, a tool for assessing the spottings against the ground truth, and a repository for storing information on the results. In addition we will make our sign detection system and results made with it publicly available as a baseline for comparison and further developments. peerReviewed
Fixed and NOT free : Revisiting the order of the main clausal constituents in Finnish Sign Language from a corpus perspective
This squib investigates the order of the main clausal constituents in verbal-centered clauses in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). With the help of the frequencies calculated from narratives included in the recently compiled FinSL corpus, the study suggests that the order of the main constituents in FinSL clauses is more fixed than has been claimed in a previous study. With intransitive and transitive clauses with a Type 1 or Type 2 verbal predicate, the study shows that their internal structures strongly favor the orders SV and AVP, respectively, although both S/A and P core arguments are often left lexically unexpressed. Concerning Type 3 verbal predicates, the study shows that they most typ…
Estimating head pose and state of facial elements for sign language video
In this work we present methods for automatic estimation of non-manual gestures in sign language videos. More specifically, we study the estimation of three head pose angles (yaw, pitch, roll) and the state of facial elements (eyebrow position, eye openness, and mouth state). This kind of estimation facilitates automatic annotation of sign language videos and promotes more prolific production of annotated sign language corpora. The proposed estimation methods are incorporated in our publicly available SLMotion software package for sign language video processing and analysis. Our method implements a model-based approach: for head pose we employ facial landmarks and skins masks as features, a…
Suomen viittomakielten korpusta rakentamassa
Viittomakielikorpusten rakentaminen on lisääntynyt merkittävästi 2000-luvulla: ensimmäiset korpusprojektit käynnistyivät 2000-luvun alussa Australiassa ja Hollannissa, minkä myötä laajoja, koneluettavia aineistokokoelmia on ryhdytty rakentamaan useissa Euroopan maissa 2010-luvulla. Tässä artikkelissa tarkastellaan Suomen viittomakielten, suomalaisen ja suomenruotsalaisen viittomakielen, korpuksen syntyä. Artikkeli esittelee korpuksen rakennusvaiheita eli aineiston keräämistä, käsittelyä, annotointia, pitkäaikaissäilytystä sekä julkaisua tietosuojakysymyksineen. Lisäksi artikkelissa kuvaillaan, miten korpusaineistoa on käytetty ja voidaan hyödyntää viittomakielten tutkimuksessa sekä opetukse…
Synchronizing eye tracking and optical motion capture : How to bring them together
Both eye tracking and motion capture technologies are nowadays frequently used in human sciences, although both technologies are usually used separately. However, measuring both eye and body movements simultaneously would offer great potential for investigating cross- modal interaction in human (e.g. music and language-related) behavior. Here we combined an Ergoneers Dikablis head mounted eye tracker with a Qualisys Oqus optical motion cap- ture system. In order to synchronize the recordings of both devices, we developed a gener- alizable solution that does not rely on any (cost-intensive) ready-made / company-provided synchronization solution. At the beginning of each recording, the partic…
Tavu ja lause : tutkimuksia kahden sekventiaalisen perusyksikön olemuksesta suomalaisessa viittomakielessä
Tommi Jantunen tarkastelee tutkimuksessaan kahden kielitieteen peruskäsitteen, tavun ja lauseen, olemusta suomalaisessa viittomakielessä. Jantunen selvittää äänne- ja lauseopillisia perusasioita vähän tutkitun vähemmistökielen kieliopista. Etenkään lauseoppia ei ole suomalaisen viittomakielen tutkimuksessa kartoitettu. Työn aihepiiri lienee omiaan saattamaan monet turhautuneisuuden tilaan. Kielioppi on monelle kouluajoilta tuttu kirosana, ja esimerkiksi tavusta keskustelu viitotun kielen yhteydessä voi ehkä vaikuttaa alkavan houretilan oireelta. Pohjimmiltaan tutkimuksessani on kuitenkin kyse hyvin yksinkertaisista asioista: Miten mitata viittomien pituutta ja miten viittomat järjestyvät su…
Annotated Video Corpus of FinSL with Kinect and Computer-Vision Data
This paper presents an annotated video corpus of Finnish Sign Language (FinSL) to which has been appended Kinect and computer-vision data. The video material consists of signed retellings of the stories Snowman and Frog, where are you?, elicited from 12 native FinSL signers in a dialogue setting. The recordings were carried out with 6 cameras directed toward the signers from different angles, and 6 signers were also recorded with one Kinect motion and depth sensing input device. All the material has been annotated in ELAN for signs, translations, grammar and prosody. To further facilitate research into FinSL prosody, computer-vision data describing the head movements and the aperture change…
Is There Any Hope for Developing Automated Translation Technology for Sign Languages?
This article discusses the prerequisites for the machine translation of sign languages. The topic is complex, including questions relating to technology, interaction design, linguistics and culture. At the moment, despite the affordances provided by the technology, automated translation between signed and spoken languages – or between sign languages – is not possible. The very need of such translation and its associated technology can also be questioned. Yet, we believe that contributing to the improvement of sign language detection, processing and even sign language translation to spoken languages in the future is a matter that should not be abandoned. However, we argue that this work shou…
Suomalaisen viittomakielen täydennyskoulutusta kehittämässä
Jyväskylän yliopiston viittomakielen keskus toteutti vuosina 2018–2020 OKM-rahoitteisen Suomalaisen viittomakielen opetuksen kehittämishankkeen. Hankkeessa suunniteltiin ja toteutettiin täydennyskoulutusta viittomakielen opettajille ja valmistettiin avointa oppimateriaalia. Hanketta tuki muu viittomakielen keskuksessa tehty työ kuten suomalaisen viittomakielen korpuksen julkaisu, oppiaineen opetussuunnitelmatyö ja muut hankkeet. nonPeerReviewed
Taking non-manuality into account in collecting and analyzing Finnish Sign Language video data
This paper describes our attention to research into non-manuals when collecting a large body of video data in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). We will first of all give an overview of the data-collecting process and of the choices that we made in order for the data to be usable in research into non-manual activity (e.g. camera arrangement, video compression, and Kinect technology). Secondly, the paper will outline our plans for the analysis of the non-manual features of this data. We discuss the technological methods we plan to use in our investigation of non-manual features (i.e. computer-vision based methods) and give examples of the type of results that this kind of approach can provide us…
What is “showing” in language?
In this squib, I discuss the issue of showing meaning in language. I consider showing to form a continuum with telling (traditional language use with lexico-grammatical units and processes) and define showing in its purest form as a way of signaling meaning through depiction. For this purpose, showing makes use of relatively gradient and non-conventional means which are not typically considered to belong to language proper. I situate showing together with telling in ontology in which language is conceived as being simultaneously a physical, cognitive and social activity on a par with other such types of activities. In mainstream linguistics, showing has been marginalized and set aside from …
What comes first: Combining motion capture and eye tracking data to study the order of articulators in constructed action in sign language narratives
We use synchronized 120 fps motion capture and 50 fps eye tracking data from two native signers to investigate the temporal order in which the dominant hand, the head, the chest and the eyes start producing overt constructed action from regular narration in seven short Finnish Sign Language stories. From the material, we derive a sample of ten instances of regular narration to overt constructed action transfers in ELAN which we then further process and analyze in Matlab. The results indicate that the temporal order of articulators shows both contextual and individual variation but that there are also repeated patterns which are similar across all the analyzed sequences and signers. Most not…
Constructed Action, the Clause and the Nature of Syntax in Finnish Sign Language
AbstractThis paper investigates the interplay of constructed action and the clause in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). Constructed action is a form of gestural enactment in which the signers use their hands, face and other parts of the body to represent the actions, thoughts or feelings of someone they are referring to in the discourse. With the help of frequencies calculated from corpus data, this article shows firstly that when FinSL signers are narrating a story, there are differences in how they use constructed action. Then the paper argues that there are differences also in the prototypical structure, linkage type and non-manual activity of clauses, depending on the presence or non-prese…
On the rhythm of head movements in Finnish and Swedish Sign Language sentences
This paper investigates, with the help of computer-vision technology, the similarities and differences in the rhythm of the movements of the head in sentences in Finnish (FinSL) and Swedish Sign Language (SSL). The results show that the movement of the head in the two languages is often very similar: in both languages, the instances when the movement of the head changes direction were distributed similarly with regard to clause-boundaries, and the contours of the roll (tilting-like) motion of the head during the sentences were similar. Concerning differences, direction changes were found to be used more effectively in the marking of clause-boundaries in FinSL, and in SSL the head moved near…
A cross-linguistic comparison of reference across five signed languages
AbstractDo signers of different signed languages establish and maintain reference the same way? Here we compare how signers of five Western deaf signed languages coordinate fully conventionalized forms with more richly improvised semiotics to identify and talk about referents of varying agency. The five languages (based on a convenience sample) are Auslan, Irish Sign Language, Finnish Sign Language, Norwegian Sign Language, and Swedish Sign Language. Using ten retellings ofFrog, Where Are You?from each language, we analyze tokens of referring expressions with respect to: (a) activation status (new vs. maintained vs. re-introduced); (b) semiotic strategy (e.g., pointing sign, fingerspelling,…
Variation in the use of constructed action according to discourse type and age in Finnish Sign Language
This paper presents a study of the use of constructed action (CA) in the stories and conversations of adult Finnish Sign Language (FinSL) signers of different ages. CA is defined here as a type of depiction in which a signer enacts the actions, feelings, thoughts and utterances of discourse referents with different parts of their body. Most studies on CA in sign languages have been done on the basis of signed storytelling, and little is known about how the use of CA varies in different discourse types. The use of CA has also been noted to vary between individual signers, but we do not yet know much about the socio-individual phenomena that may be linked to this variation. In the present stu…
Building the Corpus of Finland-Swedish Sign Language : Acknowledging the Language History and Future Revitalization
This paper presents the first steps in the process of creating a multimedia corpus for the severely endangered Finland-Swedish Sign Language (FinSSL). In the paper, we will first outline the history and current situation of FinSSL and then move on to describe some of the foundational choices which we have made both in the earlier data collection and at the start of the currently ongoing annotation work. Finally, we will bring up challenges related to the corpus data processing and discuss the future uses of the corpus, especially from the point of view of the FinSSL revitalization process. peerReviewed
The Contribution of Event-Related Potentials to the Understanding of Sign Language Processing and Production in the Brain : Experimental Evidence and Future Directions
Functional neuroimaging allows investigation of the timing properties of the brain mechanisms underlying covert language processing. This paper presents a review of the use of the neuroimaging technique called Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) in sign language (SL) research. In the field of neurolinguistics, ERPs have been widely used in the study of spoken language, but their use in SL is still rare. Studying the neurocognitive aspects of SL could lead to a better understanding of the specific processing of SL in the brain. This review outlines the basic theoretical and methodological principles of ERPs. We focus on three groups of ERPs that are particularly relevant to SL processing and pro…