This book describes and assesses pronunciation talent in its various dimensions, such as production and perception or the segmental and suprasegmental levels of speech. Special focus is put on the psychological and neural correlates of phonetic performance. Behavioral influences such as empathy or motivation are investigated. The resulting classification of proficiency and talent level is used to select subjects for neuroimaging studies in which differences in brain activity between talented and untalented individuals are observed.

Key features

• ndispensible contribution to research in the neurolinguistic analysis of pronunciation talent
• interesting case studies in language learning
• suitable reading for students of linguistics andforeign languages