The role of intonation in early word recognition and learning

Thorson, Jill; Morgan, James L.

doi:10.21437/speechprosody.2014-222

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…It would appear that the pitch accents accounted for the majority of the F0 variance related to focus; the pitch accenting factors were always present in the optimal F0 models. While the use of pitch accents in focus marking was not a question of the current analysis, the trends of use accord with expectations based on previous studies of accenting (Bolinger, 1972; Ito et al, 2004; Ito & Speer, 2006; Turnbull et al, 2014): in the NP focus condition, 199 (69.3%) of the phrases were realized with a high–high sequence; in the adjective focus condition, 113 (39.5%) of the phrases were realized with a rising–unaccented sequence, and 87 (30.4%) with a high–high sequence; and in the noun focus condition, 152 (55.5%) phrases were realized with a high–high sequence, and 52 (19.0%) with a high–rising sequence. From the point of view of contemporary theories of information structure, one aspect of these results is striking: non-focused material is not expected to bear a pitch accent, but here, many non-focused nouns (and some adjectives) are accented.…”

Section: Experiments 1—christmas Tree Decorationsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…When the following noun bore a rising accent, a significantly lower F0 was observed on the adjective ( M = 165 Hz, SD = 54.0 Hz), compared to when the following noun was high ( M = 171 Hz, SD = 56.0 Hz) or unaccented ( M = 175 Hz, SD = 54.9 Hz). This effect is consistent with the notion that prosodic prominence, implemented via F0, is inherently relative: a word is only prominent insofar as it is distinct from other words (Kohler, 2008; Turnbull, Royer, Ito, & Speer, 2014). In addition, this effect speaks to the notion that phonetic implementation of pitch accents is not mere interpolation between acoustic targets.…”

Section: Experiments 1—christmas Tree Decorationsupporting

confidence: 87%

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The Role of Predictability in Intonational Variability

Turnbull

2016

Lang Speech

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Predictability is known to affect many properties of speech production. In particular, it has been observed that highly predictable elements (words, syllables) are produced with less phonetic prominence (shorter duration, less peripheral vowels) than less predictable elements. This tendency has been proposed to be a general property of language. This paper examines whether predictability is correlated with fundamental frequency (F0) production, through analysis of experimental corpora of American English. Predictability was variously defined as discourse mention, utterance probability, and semantic focus. The results revealed consistent effects of utterance probability and semantic focus on F0, in the expected direction: less predictable words were produced with a higher F0 than more predictable words. However, no effect of discourse mention was observed. These results provide further empirical support for the generalization that phonetic prominence is inversely related to linguistic predictability. In addition, the divergent results for different predictability measures suggests that the parameterization of predictability within a particular experimental design can have significant impact on the interpretation of results, and that it cannot be assumed that two measures necessarily reflect the same cognitive reality.

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Section: Experiments 1—christmas Tree Decorationsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Experiments 1—christmas Tree Decorationsupporting

confidence: 87%

The Role of Predictability in Intonational Variability

Turnbull

2016

Lang Speech

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“…The ongoing study compares such ‘laboratory speech’ to spontaneous speech produced by a naïve speaker in a similar decoration task (Ito & Speer ). Despite measurable differences in the implementation of pitch accents between the trained and spontaneous speakers (Turnbull et al ), results with the spontaneous speech replicate past findings, demonstrating that the effect of a prominent accent is not an artifact of laboratory speech.…”

Section: Case Studiessupporting

confidence: 75%

Linguistics in a Science Museum: Integrating Research, Teaching, and Outreach at the Language Sciences Research Lab

Wagner

Speer

Moore

et al. 2015

Language and Linguist. Compass

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We describe the mission and practices of the Language Sciences Research Lab, a fully functional research lab embedded within a science museum. Within this environment, we integrate cutting-edge research, formal instruction, informal learning, and outreach to the public so that our work in each domain interacts with and enriches the others. We are guided by core concepts from the field of informal science education, and we strive to inspire excitement and expand both scholarly and public knowledge about the language sciences.

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“…Importantly, prosodic focus may facilitate word learning by helping listeners map perceptually salient words onto referents that are contextually new or contrastive in the discourse. In English, these prosodically focused words, through specific pitch range movements and expansion, can affect the listener's attention patterns to relevant referents [15]. At the same time, listeners also perceive prosodically focused words for their contextual importance in the discourse structure; listeners not only process what is accented, as an acoustic cue, but also draw significance in meaning from what is not accented.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prosody-to-Focus Mapping and Alternative Processing in Word Learning

Ip¹,

Carvalho²,

Trueswell³

2022

Speech Prosody 2022

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The present experiment examined two issues concerning the role of prosody in word learning. First, we explored whether learners use prosodic focus to map words produced with contrastive stress onto contextually new visual referents. Second, we asked whether prosodic focus facilitates better memory for focused words and their contextual alternatives. In an eyetracking task, 48 monolingual English-speaking adults (18-40 yrs-old) were familiarized with videos of different people doing different actions. At test, participants saw two side-by-side videos, one showing a novel person performing a familiar action, and the other a familiar person performing a novel action. Participants then heard an utterance with prosodic focus on the noun or the verb (e.g., "Now JOHNNY is blicking!" vs. "Now Johnny is BLICKING!"). As predicted, participants paired the prosodically focused word with the contextually novel referent; participants who heard name-focused sentences looked longer at the novel person, while those who heard verbfocused sentences looked longer to the novel action. However, verb-focused sentences during word learning led to better recall of people's names than name-focused sentences. Further, eyegaze turns to alternative events during word learning led to better recall, indicating that eye movements during word learning support and reflect alternative processing.

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The role of intonation in early word recognition and learning

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

The Role of Predictability in Intonational Variability

The Role of Predictability in Intonational Variability

Linguistics in a Science Museum: Integrating Research, Teaching, and Outreach at the Language Sciences Research Lab

Prosody-to-Focus Mapping and Alternative Processing in Word Learning

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