The Role of Segmental Information in Syntactic Processing Through the Syntax–Prosody Interface

Abstract

In two experiments, it was investigated whether potentially contrastive segmental information in the form of an epenthetic glottal stop in Maltese can influence syntactic parsing decisions. The glottal stop in Maltese serves a dual function as a phoneme used for lexical contrast and a non-contrastive phone that may mark a prosodic juncture. In both experiments, participants perceived a larger prosodic boundary before the word u (Engl. “and”) if the u was produced with an epenthetic glottal stop, showing the use of prosodically conditioned segmental information in syntactic parsing. Furthermore, listeners were generally unaware of the existence of the epenthetic glottal stop even though a glottal stop is used as a phoneme represented as a grapheme “q.” They also perceived a larger prosodic juncture when the preceding syllable was lengthened before the word u (“and”). These findings were consistent regardless of whether the glottal stop reinforced a late-closure decision (Experiment 1) or an early-closure decision (Experiment 2). The results indicate that both segmental and suprasegmental information influences syntactic parsing decisions, demonstrating that the syntax–prosody interface is reflected along both the segmental and suprasegmental (duration) dimensions, which are mediated by the phonetics–prosody interface.

Glottal stops do not constrain lexical access as do oral stops

“…It reveals evidence that, at a later stage in processing, listeners do interpret a glottal stop as being associated with an underlying glottal-stop-initial word. This supports the view that the glottal stop is prosodic in nature and is consistent with the general assumption that prosodic analysis comes into effect at a later stage of lexical processing [15,22,23,67,69].…”

“…Based on those phonetic and phonological considerations, it is reasonable to propose that the prosodic characteristics of a glottal stop in production (with a laryngeal specification of glottal adduction) are mirrored in perception, so that the glottal stop is analysed in reference to prosodic structure. In fact, the prosodic account being proposed here runs somewhat counter to our recent discussion about the role of the Maltese glottal stop in speech processing [67]. In [67], we provided evidence that Maltese listeners can use an epenthetic glottal stop as a cue to prosodic structure in a language in which it also serves a segmental function as an underlying phoneme (unlike in English and other languages in which a glottal stop is always prosodic-structurally driven).…”

“…In fact, the prosodic account being proposed here runs somewhat counter to our recent discussion about the role of the Maltese glottal stop in speech processing [67]. In [67], we provided evidence that Maltese listeners can use an epenthetic glottal stop as a cue to prosodic structure in a language in which it also serves a segmental function as an underlying phoneme (unlike in English and other languages in which a glottal stop is always prosodic-structurally driven). So, in [67], the data were interpreted based on an a priori assumption that information about a glottal stop must be processed as being primarily segmental, given that the glottal stop is part of the segmental inventory of that language.…”

“…In [67], we provided evidence that Maltese listeners can use an epenthetic glottal stop as a cue to prosodic structure in a language in which it also serves a segmental function as an underlying phoneme (unlike in English and other languages in which a glottal stop is always prosodic-structurally driven). So, in [67], the data were interpreted based on an a priori assumption that information about a glottal stop must be processed as being primarily segmental, given that the glottal stop is part of the segmental inventory of that language. The prosodic account being proposed here departs from that assumption and explores an alternative possibility under the assumption that a glottal stop is intrinsically prosodic.…”

Vowel-initial glottalization as a prominence cue in speech perception and online processing

“…Mitterer et al (2021a) show that glottal stops differ from other stops (e.g., /t/) in that they do not strongly constrain lexical access, suggesting that listeners' interpretation of glottalization is intimately linked to prosodic features in a way that differs from other stops. Mitterer et al (2021b) further show that glottalization is clearly interpreted as a prosodic feature in that it impacts syntactic parsing decisions in the resolution of attachment ambiguity: The presence of word-initial glottalization leads listeners to posit a preceding prosodic boundary, and thus the presence of a syntactic boundary. These results together thus suggest that vowel-initial glottalization can be treated as prosodic cue in perception by listeners, even when glottalization is contrastive.…”