Speech and Communicative Timing Across Languages and Linguistic Contexts

对话伙伴之间的语音计时是非常复杂的；尽管如此，以某种语言为母语的人在说话和交谈时都有很强的恰当计时意识。例如，在通过Skype或Zoom进行对话时，即使在连接过程中实际上没有丢失任何词语，但“延迟”也会严重干扰对话的顺利进行。这个项目调查了说话者如何知道在对话中何时计划他们的话语，以及不同语言和文化之间的交际时机是如何变化的。这项研究还考察了人们如何将手势和头部的手势与他们的语言一起计时。该项目的潜在影响包括改善人机交互的自然度，提高外语培训的有效性，以及对言语和语言障碍患者的治疗干预。最近的研究表明，不同语言的人之间的对话计时模式有系统地不同。这个项目试图通过调查不同语言和社会语言背景的人群之间的互动时间模式来为这些发现开发一个解释模型。使用音频和视频记录，语音计时将在个人层面上进行检查，包括说话者如何将他们的语音与节拍器对齐，以及他们如何为自己的联合演讲手势计时。该项目还将调查两个说话者之间的对话时机，探索对话伙伴之间的语音和手势里程碑的相对时机。项目发现将引起语言学家和言语科学家的兴趣，因为他们将为言语和联合言语手势计时的跨语言和跨文化模型提供信息。在人类发展的更广泛背景下，研究语言和相关能力(如音乐和节奏牵引)的科学家也将对此感兴趣。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Speech timing between conversation partners is highly complex; nonetheless, native speakers of a given language have a strong sense of proper timing when they speak and converse. For example, a 'delay' during a conversation over Skype or Zoom can disrupt the flow of conversation considerably, even if no words are actually lost during the connection. This project investigates how speakers know when to plan their utterances during conversation, and how communicative timing varies across different languages and cultures. The research also examines how individuals time gestures of the hands and head along with their speech. The project's potential impacts include improving the naturalness of human-machine interactions, boosting the effectiveness in foreign language training, and therapeutic interventions for those with speech and language disorders.Recent research suggests that conversational timing patterns vary systematically across speakers of different languages. This project seeks to develop an explanatory model for such findings by investigating interactional timing patterns among populations of varying linguistic and sociolinguistic backgrounds. Using audio and video recordings, speech timing will be examined at the individual level in terms of how speakers align their speech to a metronome, and how they time their own co-speech gestures. The project will also investigate conversational timing between pairs of speakers, exploring relative timing of speech and gestural landmarks between conversation partners. Project findings will be of interest to linguists and speech scientists as they will inform a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural model of speech and co-speech gestural timing. Findings will also be of interest to scientists studying the role of language and related abilities (such as music and rhythmic entrainment) in the broader context of human development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.