The Role of Acoustic Prominence in Language Production and Comprehension

描述(由申请者提供)：这项建议调查了声学突显在语言产生和理解中的作用，这是韵律的一个方面。传统上，研究人员将声学突显描述为说话者发出信息给予的信号的一种手段：新信息被强调，而给定信息不被强调。在这一建议中，提出声学突显是1)单词对对话的重要性和2)单词的可预测性的函数。初步实验的结果表明，说话者产生的重要、不可预测的单词具有更高的突显性，信息性和可预测性对说话者选择的突显类型起着作用。然而，重要的问题仍然存在。实验1-6调查说话人产生的声学突显程度是否与其在指称交际任务中的重要性成正比，以及听者是否对使用眼球跟踪视觉世界范式的声学突显的细微差别敏感。实验7-8探索了可预测性对声学显著的影响是由计划过程还是由促进听者理解的过程驱动的。实验9和实验10考察了可预测性和信息性如何交互作用来影响音调口音的选择。公共卫生相关性成功沟通的一个重要部分是产生和理解具有适当韵律的语言(例如重音、音调、节奏和停顿)。具有影响韵律产生和理解的语言缺陷的个体很可能存在沟通困难，而且人们对韵律如何促进在线语言处理中的沟通知之甚少。声学突显是韵律的一个方面，本研究旨在探讨声学突显在语言产生和理解中的作用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal investigates the role acoustic prominence, which is one aspect of prosody, plays in language production and comprehension. Traditionally, researchers have characterized acoustic prominence as a means by which a speaker signals the givenness of information: new information is accented and given information is not. In this proposal it is proposed that acoustic prominence is a function of 1) the importance of a word to a conversation and 2) the predictability of the word. Results from preliminary experiments suggest that speakers produce important, less predictable words with more prominence, and that informativeness and predictability play a role in the type of prominence that is chosen by speakers. However, important questions remain. Experiments 1-6 investigate whether the degree of acoustic prominence produced by a speaker is proportional to its importance in a referential communication task and whether listeners are sensitive to fine- grained differences in acoustic prominence using an eye-tracking visual world paradigm. Experiments 7-8 explore whether effects of predictability on acoustic prominence are driven by processes in planning or by processes that facilitate listener comprehension. Experiments 9 and 10 investigate how predictability and informativeness interact to influence pitch accent choice. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE An important part of successful communication is producing and understanding language with appropriate prosody (e.g. stress, pitch, rhythm, and pausing). Individuals with language deficits that affect the production and comprehension of prosody are likely to have difficulty communicating, and little is known about how prosody facilitates communication in on-line language processing. This proposal investigates the role acoustic prominence, which is one aspect of prosody, plays in language production and comprehension.