Speech and Communicative Timing Across Languages and Linguistic Contexts

会话伙伴之间的讲话时间是非常复杂的;尽管如此，一种给定语言的母语者在说话和匡威时有很强的适当时间感。例如，通过Skype或Zoom进行对话时的“延迟”可能会大大扰乱对话流程，即使在连接过程中实际上没有丢失任何单词。这个项目研究了说话者如何知道在谈话中何时计划他们的话语，以及不同语言和文化的交际时机如何变化。这项研究还考察了人们是如何在说话的同时计算手和头的沿着姿势的。该项目的潜在影响包括改善人机交互的自然性，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，不同语言的说话者之间的对话时间模式存在系统性差异。本项目旨在通过调查不同语言和社会语言学背景的人群之间的间隔时间模式，为这些发现开发一个解释模型。使用音频和视频记录，演讲时间将在个人层面上进行检查，包括演讲者如何将他们的演讲与节拍器对齐，以及他们如何为自己的共同演讲手势计时。该项目还将调查说话者之间的对话时间，探索对话伙伴之间的语音和手势地标的相对时间。项目的研究结果将是感兴趣的语言学家和语音科学家，因为他们将告知一个跨语言和跨文化的语音和共同语音手势定时模型。研究语言和相关能力（如音乐和节奏感）在人类发展的更广泛背景下的作用的科学家也会对研究结果感兴趣。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值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.