Final S in English: The role of acoustic detail in morphological processing and learning

英语尾音 S：声学细节在形态处理和学习中的作用

• 批准号: 407124222
• 负责人: Dr. Dinah Baer-Henney
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Units
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2017-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/407124222?language=en
• 关键词: Final; English; role; acoustic; detail

In the first funding period, parallel evidence from three corpus studies has shown that different types of word-final S in English (i.e. non-morphemic S vs. suffixal S vs. cliticised has/is) differ in their acoustic realization. These findings present an important challenge for theories of morphology-phonology interaction and for models of speech production as it is currently unclear how differences in morphological status are able to influence phonetic implementation. However, the surprising findings on this systematic variability S duration are in need of replication, and they raise further interesting questions concerning comprehension and learning. The project will first test the robustness of the effects with a production study using Wug stimuli in carefully controlled phonological and syntactic environments. We then turn to the question of whether the observed differences between different types of S are perceivable and are used in comprehension. This question will be tackled in further experiments using an ABX discrimination task, and two listener judgment tasks (using reaction times and mouse-tracking, respectively). The final research question concerns learning: Can acoustic differences be used by listeners to establish new representations? The answer to this question is also relevant for a fundamental problem in the study of language variation and change, that is, whether gradient acoustic detail can be used to morphologize a contrast, and whether (or how) phonetics and morphology are able to see each other in language development and sound change. To answer that question we will carry out a learning experiment with an artificial language in which we manipulate durational cues for suffixes.

在第一个资助期内，来自三个语料库研究的平行证据表明，英语中不同类型的词尾S（即非语素S与后缀S与cliticised has/is）在声学实现上有所不同。这些研究结果提出了一个重要的挑战，形态学-语音相互作用的理论和语音产生的模型，因为目前还不清楚形态状态的差异是如何能够影响语音的实施。然而，令人惊讶的发现，这种系统的变异性S持续时间需要复制，他们提出了进一步有趣的问题，有关的理解和学习。该项目将首先测试的鲁棒性的影响与生产的研究，使用Wug刺激在仔细控制的语音和句法环境。然后，我们转向这样一个问题：观察到的不同类型的S之间的差异是否是可感知的，并用于理解。这个问题将在进一步的实验中使用ABX辨别任务和两个听者判断任务（分别使用反应时间和鼠标跟踪）来解决。最后一个研究问题涉及学习：听觉差异可以被听者用来建立新的表征吗？这个问题的答案也与语言变异和变化研究中的一个基本问题有关，即梯度声学细节是否可以用于对比的形态化，以及语音学和形态学是否（或如何）能够在语言发展和语音变化中看到对方。为了回答这个问题，我们将用人工语言进行一个学习实验，在这个实验中，我们操纵后缀的持续时间线索。