Language Use and Understanding BCS 261 LIN 241 PSY 261 CLASS 12: SNEDEKER ET AL.: PROSODY

Coming up Midterm review questions will be ed by tomorrow Midterm review questions will be ed by tomorrow

Referential Context for Experiment 1

Instrument Demonstration

Modifier Demonstration

Instrument Context Experiment 2, Speaker Only

Modifier Context Experiment 2, Speaker Only

Ambiguous Context Experiment 2, All Listeners

Nicole Dobrowolski’s presentation

Audience Design Do speakers design their utterances for their addressees? Do speakers design their utterances for their addressees? One example of this would be if speakers were to try to make their utterances as easy to understand as possible, for example by avoiding ambiguity. One example of this would be if speakers were to try to make their utterances as easy to understand as possible, for example by avoiding ambiguity.

Do speakers use prosody to disambiguate? Possibility one: No, prosody comes from the syntax. Possibility one: No, prosody comes from the syntax. Tap [] the frog with the flower. Tap [] the frog with the flower. Tap the frog [] with the flower. Tap the frog [] with the flower. Evidence: some studies have found that speakers produce the same range of prosodic patterns whether the context disambiguates the utterance or not. (Warren et al., 2000; Kraljic & Brennan, 2003) Evidence: some studies have found that speakers produce the same range of prosodic patterns whether the context disambiguates the utterance or not. (Warren et al., 2000; Kraljic & Brennan, 2003)

Do speakers use prosody to disambiguate? Possibility #2: Yes, they use prosodic cues as a mechanism to facilitate the comprehension of difficult ambiguities Possibility #2: Yes, they use prosodic cues as a mechanism to facilitate the comprehension of difficult ambiguities Evidence: Snedeker et al. show that speakers produce these cues more when the referential context doesn’t help disambiguate. Evidence: Snedeker et al. show that speakers produce these cues more when the referential context doesn’t help disambiguate.

Referential Context and ambiguity Tap the frog with the flower. Tap the frog with the flower. Tap the frog that has the flower. Tap the frog that has the flower. Tap the frog by using the flower. Tap the frog by using the flower. Modifier reading -- “with the flower” modifies “the frog” (I.e., tells you something about it Modifier reading -- “with the flower” modifies “the frog” (I.e., tells you something about it Instrument reading -- “with the flower” tells you what instrument to use to do the action. Instrument reading -- “with the flower” tells you what instrument to use to do the action.

Referential context When would a speaker most likely say “the frog with the flower” (with the modifier reading)? When would a speaker most likely say “the frog with the flower” (with the modifier reading)?

Lexical Bias Some verbs are more likely to occur with an instrument PP than others. Some verbs are more likely to occur with an instrument PP than others. Also affects syntactic ambiguity resolution Also affects syntactic ambiguity resolution Tap the frog with the stick. Tap the frog with the stick. Choose the frog with the flower. Choose the frog with the flower. Find the frog with the stick. Find the frog with the stick.

Reading for next time: Branigan et al. Big question: what is the production system like? Big question: what is the production system like? How do we retrieve words? (Dell) How do we retrieve words? (Dell) How do speakers make prosodic choices? (Snedeker et al.) How do speakers make prosodic choices? (Snedeker et al.) How do speakers make choices about the grammatical form of the utterance? (Branigan et al.) How do speakers make choices about the grammatical form of the utterance? (Branigan et al.)

Choices in grammatical form He gave you an apple. He gave you an apple. He gave an apple to you. He gave an apple to you. You were given an apple by him. You were given an apple by him. An apple was given to you by him. An apple was given to you by him. To you he gave an apple. To you he gave an apple. Priming effect: speakers tend to use forms that they have recently used. Priming effect: speakers tend to use forms that they have recently used. Question: Does priming also occur BETWEEN speakers? (not just within the same speaker) Question: Does priming also occur BETWEEN speakers? (not just within the same speaker)