Understanding Perceptual Compensation in Sound Change

了解声音变化中的感知补偿

• 批准号: 0949754
• 负责人: Alan Yu
• 金额: $ 21.47万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-06-01 至 2014-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0949754&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Understanding; Perceptual; Compensation; Sound; Change

Linguists have long hypothesized that sound change--changes in a language over time that alter pronunciation--occurs when a listener misinterprets a speaker and incorporates the misperception into his/her own grammar. However, little is known about the mechanism through which such adjustments occur and mounting evidence is in fact suggesting that listeners are adept at compensating for variation in speech perception and production. From this, it should follow that sound change would occur minimally, contrary to fact. This research investigates the circumstances under which perceptual compensation (PC) fails to correct for variation in speech and how such failures lead to sound change. The research team will develop a formal representation of PC (and by extension sound change) to corroborate the experimental findings using Bayesian inference, a statistical tool commonly employed in cognitive science research. This model predicts that the effects of PC may be minimized or even overcome when certain parameters in the model are adjusted; that is, the relative magnitude of compensation is mediated by the properties of a language and the speaker's prior experience with it. To test this theory of PC and its connection to sound change, the research team will conduct a number of laboratory experiments testing the limit and variability of PC effects. The experimental paradigm involves testing listeners' compensatory responses by varying (1) the frequency of the sounds involved, (2) the context in which the speech signal occurs, and (3) the nature of the speech signal itself.The results of this research will broaden the empirical database on which theories of phonology, sound change, and speech production and perception are grounded and will advance novel venues for theoretical investigations. This research will fill a gap in work on sound change and in linguistics in general by providing detailed and in-depth experimental and theoretical investigations on speakers' evaluative responses to various linguistic inputs from a cross-linguistic perspective. A better understanding of sound change will offer a unique window into the nature of language change, language acquisition, and human communication and may provide insight into first/second language acquisition, language-teaching, and the development of speech technology.

语言学家长期以来一直假设，声音变化-随着时间的推移改变发音的语言变化-发生在听者误解说话者并将误解纳入他/她自己的语法时。然而，很少有人知道通过这种调整发生的机制和越来越多的证据表明，听众是善于补偿言语感知和生产的变化。从这一点来看，与事实相反，声音的变化应该是最小的。 本研究调查的情况下，知觉补偿（PC）未能纠正语音的变化，以及这种故障如何导致声音的变化。研究团队将开发PC的正式表示（以及扩展声音变化），以使用贝叶斯推理（一种常用于认知科学研究的统计工具）来证实实验结果。该模型预测，当模型中的某些参数被调整时，PC的影响可以被最小化甚至被克服;也就是说，补偿的相对大小是由语言的特性和说话者以前的经验来调节的。为了测试这种PC理论及其与声音变化的联系，研究小组将进行一些实验室实验，测试PC效应的极限和可变性。实验范式包括通过改变（1）所涉及的声音的频率，（2）语音信号发生的上下文，（3）语音信号本身的性质来测试听者的补偿反应。这项研究的结果将拓宽音位学，声音变化，和言语产生和感知的基础，并将推进理论研究的新场所。本研究将从跨语言的角度对说话人对各种语言输入的评价反应进行详细而深入的实验和理论研究，填补语音变化研究和语言学研究的空白。更好地理解语音变化将为了解语言变化、语言习得和人类交流的本质提供一个独特的窗口，并可能为第一/第二语言习得、语言教学和语音技术的发展提供见解。