SFB 471 - Project D-1

Verena Felder (Dipl. Psych.)

Research

The main focus of the research project is the nature of the phonological representation in the mental lexicon and its role in resolving the problem of access and recognition of (morpho-)phonological variation. We examine the central hypothesis of FUL (Featurally Underspecified Lexicon), viz. that a phonologically abstract representation in the mental lexicon guides the access and recognition process of native speakers. Using psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic techniques we currently focus on the mental representations of place and hight dimensions in vowels in German and Turkish and the representation of tone in Swedish.

Teaching

Seminar on Language Development

Conference contributions

2008:
- Tones in Swedish: Theoretical and experimental approaches to their representation in the mental lexicon; Workshop on Information Structure and Prosody, 21.-22.01.08, Nijmegen
- Unterspezifikation von Vokalhöhe im mentalen Lexikon – Ereigniskorrelierte Potentiale versus Verhaltensdaten, TEAP, 03.-05.03.08, Marburg; Leiterin des Symposiums: Der Teufel sitzt im Detail – Wieviel phonologische Spezifikation braucht das Lexikon
2007:
- Neuroökonomie im mentalen Lexikon: Wie viel phonologische Information speichern wir? Tagung experimentell arbeitender Psychologen (TEAP), 26.- 28.03.2007 Trier, Germany.
2006:
- Mental Representation of Swedish Tone, Workshop: Tone, Mind, Brain, Evolution; 18.-21.10.06 Freudental, Germany

Talks

P350 – A correlate of mental lexicon activity? SFB 471, University of Konstanz, Germany, 18.5.2006.
Tones and their Mental Representation. University of Stockholm, Sweden, 20.9.2006.

Biographical Sketch

since Feb. 2006:
- Phd-Student (wissenschaftliche Angestellte)
  University of Konstanz,
  Sonderforschungsbereich 471 Variation and Evolution in the Lexicon.
Oct. 2000 - Jan. 2006:
- Psychology Studies
  University of Konstanz
  Diploma Thesis: Examining Featural Underspecification of Tongue Height in German Mid Vowels: An EEG Study.
Sep. 2003 - Mar. 2004:
- Practical Training
  Median Kliniken Magdeburg, Neurorehabilitation
  Department of Neuropsychology.