Showing papers in "Language and Speech in 1985"
TL;DR: This paper is an extensive acoustic analysis of V-to-C and C- to-V coarticulatory effects in Catalan CV sequences for 18 consonants and 8 vowels and suggests that Catalan phonemes differ as to the degree of resistance to coARTiculation.
Abstract: This paper is an extensive acoustic analysis of V-to-C and C-to-V coarticulatory effects in Catalan CV sequences for 18 consonants and 8 vowels. Data indicate that Catalan phonemes differ as to the degree of resistance to coarticulation and suggest strongly that differences in coarticulatory resistance follow from differences in degree of articulatory constraint. A theory of coarticulation is proposed that accounts for coarticulatory effects in terms of the articulatory constraints involved in the production of gestures for adjacent phonemes, indeperdently of considerations about the linguistic nature of the phonemic units under control. It is argued that such a theory is more likely to explain patterns of coarticulatory activity arising from compatible and conflicting gestures than previous coarticulation models.
111 citations
TL;DR: The result that intelligibility and redundancy are inversely related in some instances (text-type sentences) indicates that information control by a speaker is going on even while reading test sentences.
Abstract: The relationship between context redundancy and key-word intelligibility was examined in sentences having both high and low redundancy. The study partially replicates work by Philip Lieberman (1963...
77 citations
TL;DR: The perception of silent pauses in continuous speech was investigated experimentally in three genres: political speeches, political interviews and casual interviews, and the result is interpreted as being an indicator of the salient role of the prosodic structures.
Abstract: The perception of silent pauses in continuous speech was investigated experimentally in three genres: political speeches, political interviews and casual interviews Normal and inverted speech yiel
53 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, second language learners whose mother tongue (L1) is rhythmically distinct with reference to the target language (L2) move from one system to the other.
Abstract: How do second language learners whose mother tongue (L1) is rhythmically distinct with reference to the target language (L2) move from one system to the other? A descriptive model elaborated to acc...
45 citations
TL;DR: This paper proposed a sociolinguistic model that relates spoken and written language and found that it relates well with the sociological model of the spoken language and the written language in the context of comparative studies.
Abstract: This paper challenges both the theoretical assumptions and the quantitative method underlying comparative studies of spoken and written language and proposes a sociolinguistic model that relates li...
43 citations
TL;DR: Deaf and hearing readers' sensitivity to the morphological structure of English words was tested by using a lexical decision (word/nonword classification) task and indicated that deaf readers, like hearing readers, are sensitive to underlying morphophonological relationships among English words.
Abstract: Prelingually, profoundly deaf individuals, due to their hearing impairment, would not be expected to have the same access to phonological information as hearing individuals. They might therefore have difficulties in using phonological structure to relate different morphological forms of words. Deaf and hearing readers' sensitivity to the morphological structure of English words was tested in the present study by using a lexical decision (word/nonword classification) task. Target words were primed 10 trials earlier by themselves (e.g., think primed by think), by morphologically related words (e.g., think primed by thought), or by orthographically related words (e.g., think primed by thin). Response times of both hearing and deaf college students to target words were facilitated when primed by themselves and also when primed by morphological relatives. Response times of subjects in neither group were facilitated to targets primed by orthographically related but morphologically unrelated words. These results...
43 citations
TL;DR: The examination of individual lexical items over time showed variations which seemed to reflect the active role of children during the learning process and generalization was lawful but restricted to the class of sounds being taught and did not extend across sound categories.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the organization inherent in children's misarticulations of final consonant sounds. Four children with consistent omission of final consonants were taught t...
26 citations
TL;DR: Phrase repetitions were found to be more prevalent among the schizophrenic group, and especially among the TD subgroup, and indices of phrase repetition were positively correlated with dimensions of formal thought disorder.
Abstract: Previous research on language with the Type-Token Ratio (TTR) indicates an increased repetitiousness in schizophrenics, specifically in thought-disordered schizophrenics. The present investigation involves an analysis of oral language samples utilizing a variety of repetition measures. Subjects were 40 schizophrenics, 20 affective disorder controls and 22 normal controls. Phrase repetitions were found to be more prevalent among the schizophrenic group, and especially among the TD subgroup, and indices of phrase repetition were positively correlated with dimensions of formal thought disorder. The frequency patterns of repeated words in schizophrenic language reflect a less common, but not unusual lexicon compared to controls, thereby supporting the view that word repetition in schizophrenic utterance is not a consequence of a restricted vocabulary range. The intervals between phrase repetitions were not different for schizophrenics and controls, indicating that simple perseveration is also not a likely exp...
25 citations
TL;DR: Negative turn in a conversation as mentioned in this paper can be used to express a disagreement with a preceding turn in the conversation and therefore provide new information relative to the immedia, such as the preceding turn.
Abstract: Negatives are generally used to express a disagreement with a preceding turn in a conversation (Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson, 1974) and therefore provide "new" information relative to the immedia...
23 citations
TL;DR: The authors compared the language abilities of first and third grade children through an examination of their narratives and found that the older children used longer T-units and generally more cohesive ties within their narratives.
Abstract: The purpose of the present investigation was to compare the language abilities of first and third grade children through an examination of their narratives. Narratives were analyzed for differences in T-units and the use of two cohesive ties, reference and conjoining. Results indicated that the older children used longer T-units and generally more cohesive ties within their narratives. Implications for assessing expressive language in disordered populations are discussed.
23 citations
TL;DR: Repetition durations were found to be shorter for simple than for complex sentences at all ages, but linguistic complexity affected durational variability only for adults, and a new model is proposed to account for these results.
Abstract: The role of syntactic/semantic structure in the motor programming of speech by 5-year-olds, 8-year olds, and adults was investigated. Subjects repeated sentences, each at maximum rate, on numerous,...
TL;DR: This article examined people's understanding and memory for slang metaphors and found that people processed slang metaphors, like He's on a trip (meaning "He's using drugs"), faster than they did with other words.
Abstract: Three experiments examined people's understanding and memory for slang metaphors. Experiment 1 showed that people processed slang metaphors, like He's on a trip (meaning "He's using drugs"), faster...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the influence of communicative value and non-segmental characteristics on the duration and temporal patterning of infants' vocalizations, and found that the duration of vocalizations is strongly influenced by communicative values and non segmental features, but not independently one factor from the other.
Abstract: Cry and non-cry vocalizations in four infants, videorecorded between 4 and 8 months of age, were analyzed by spectrograph in order to extract their temporal features. The vocalizations were classified with respect to their communicative value on the basis of situational context. Temporal parameters considered were: sequence length, pause duration, and vocalization duration. In order to analyze the influence of communicative value and non-segmental characteristics - voicing, melodic pattern, manner of phonation — five ANOVAs were performed. Results showed that duration of vocalizations is influenced by communicative value and non-segmental features, but in most cases not independently one factor from the other. A hypothesis of a prevalently indirect influence of communicative value on duration and temporal patterning is discussed.
TL;DR: This paper investigated the acquisition of the English voicing contrast as cued by voice onset time in syllable-initial position and preconsonantal vowel duration in final position in the speech of children whose native language is Arabic.
Abstract: Children are typically more proficient than adults in learning the phonetic detail of a second language. The purpose of this study was to investigate the acquisition of the English voicing contrast as cued by voice onset time in syllable-initial position and preconsonantal vowel duration in final position in the speech of children whose native language is Arabic. The children, 24 to 135 months in age, were recorded producing minimal pairs differing in the voicing of consonants. Voice onset time and vowel duration were measured from spectrograms. Children were highly variable in their mastery of the voicing contrast. For this sample, neither age nor experience with English could predict phonetic proficiency.
TL;DR: In this article, a production test was conducted to obtain a systernatic description of durations of comparable vowels in RP British English and Dutch, as well as English spoken by Dutch foreign leamers.
Abstract: It is well known that vowel duration may differ across languages. In foreign language learning these differences may lead to incorrectly produced durations in the target language, since the speaker will be inhibited by his mother tongue. In this paper two experirnents are reported. The fust describes a production test, airned at obtaining a systernatic description of durations of comparable vowels in RP British English and Dutch, as well as English spoken by Dutch foreign leamers. The data show considerable differences in vowel duration between native English, foreign English, and native Dutch. The differences found between native and foreign English were used in a second perception experiment to investigate the relevanee of incorrectly produced vowel durations to the perception of a foreign accent. Results show that native listeners are more sensitive to changes in the speetral composition of the speech signa! than to changes in vowel duration.
TL;DR: The authors insist on the interest of further research especially in the field of possible common regulation of speech and of mental functions and in the use of speech as an objective reflection of mental state giving help in diagnosis, prognosis and therapeutic evaluation.
Abstract: The purpose of this review is to report on the main directions of research in speech analysis as they relate to various psychiatric states. The variables most often analyzed in both speech and psychiatry, and the procedures which have been used by different authors to establish relationships between them are described. Particular attention is devoted to three groups of variables: the psychological states of the speaker, the vocal characteristics of the speaker, and the listener's perception of the speaker's state of mind. The results of observations and experiments are reviewed from the "Founding period" (i.e., the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries) when the great European psychopathologists clinically defined vocal characteristics in mental illness and when later the first correlations between acoustical measurements of speech parameters and psychological and psycho-pathological states were established. The "Modern period" (from 1950 to the present time) is then considered when more sophisticated...
TL;DR: A more general critique of the construct of cognitive rhythms is presented in this article, where it is argued that the term itself is a misnomer, that the relevance of articulation rate has been neglected, that fluent and hesitant phases have been assessed both subjectively and intuitively, and that the speech-production model underlying the concept is simplistic.
Abstract: In response to the Power (1983) - Beattie (1984) controversy, a more general critique of the construct of cognitive rhythms is presented. It is argued that the term itself is a misnomer, that the relevance of articulation rate has been neglected, that fluent and hesitant phases of cognitive rhythms have been assessed both subjectively and intuitively, that the speech-production model underlying the concept is simplistic, and that the empirical evidence is based on an extraordinarily small corpus which has been described inadequately in the research literature.
TL;DR: It is argued, in conclusion, for a sociolinguistics which includes listener effect and listener variability as important elements in any interpretative work or interpretative theory that involves the analysis of utterances taken from everyday verbal exchange.
Abstract: This paper is addressed to analysts of speech in social scenes and asks for a theory of utterance interpretation that incorporates the listener's point of view By comparing the analyses of two pro
TL;DR: Findings suggest that stress contrasts in alaryngeal speech are based on a complex of acoustic cues which are influenced by linguistic structure.
Abstract: An acoustical investigation of syntactic stress in alaryngeal speech was undertaken. Measurements were made of fundamental frequency, relative intensity, vowel duration, and intersyllable duration from noun compounds and noun phrases spoken by four normal speakers, four esophageal speakers, four Blom-Singer tracheoesophageal speakers, four users of the Western Electric 5A electrolarynx, and one user of the Servox electrolarynx. Results indicated that esophageal and tracheoesophageal speakers were able to manipulate the relative magnitudes of fundamental frequency, intensity, and vowel duration in a manner comparable to those of normal speakers. With the exception of one user of the Western Electric 5A electrolarynx, who manipulated both fundamental frequency and duration, electrolarynx users generally manipulated only duration properties. All alaryngeal speakers manipulated intersyllable duration, whereas normal speakers did not. The degree of acoustical contrast for both peak fundamental frequency and vo...
TL;DR: It is concluded that single clauses or propositions are not held in any temporary buffer during processing of a sentence but that more recently presented or important material may become more accessible in memory as presentation of the sentence proceeds.
Abstract: The notion was tested that sentence perception involves holding single clauses or propositions in a temporary buffer. Subjects were visually presented, one word at a time, with two-clause sentences in which each clause expressed a complete proposition. At an unexpected point in the second clause, the sentence was interrupted, a probe word was presented, and subjects were to respond quickly whether the probe word had appeared previously in the sentence. In sentences comprised of coordinate clauses, response times did not differ between probes that had appeared previously in the first clause and those that had appeared in the second clause. This is contrary to earlier work, in which the probe was presented following a complete sentence, that found faster response time for a probe that had appeared in the second clause. It is concluded that single clauses or propositions are not held in any temporary buffer during processing of a sentence but that more recently presented or important material may become more accessible in memory as presentation of the sentence proceeds. Surprising results for sentences containing complement and relative clauses suggest, however, that the sentence processor itself does treat clauses or propositions as distinct entities.
TL;DR: Possible problems with the operational definition of lower-status recipient and the possibility that the absence of solidarity may have been a more influential factor than status when writing to strangers of lower status were considered as explanations for the failure to find the expected results for status.
Abstract: The present study extended the investigation of the effects of status and solidarity on familiarity in spoken language to an analysis of written communication. Each of 48 upper-year undergraduate psychology students was required to write four letters — one to a university professor (higher status), one to a first-year university student (lower status), one to a friend (high solidarity), and one to an equal-status stranger (low solidarity) — requesting that the recipient complete a questionnaire. Letters were coded for degree of familiarity using Stiles' (1978a) Taxonomy of Verbal Response Modes (VRMs), which requires that the syntax and communicative intent of each clause be coded as one of eight modes. As predicted, letters to friends consisted of a greater number of more familiar modes, primarily at the level of communicative intent, than letters to strangers; however, contrary to prediction, writers did not use a greater number of more familiar modes in their letters to lower-status recipients. Possible problems with the operational definition of lower-status recipient and the possibility that the absence of solidarity may have been a more influential factor than status when writing to strangers of lower status were considered as explanations for the failure to find the expected results for status.
TL;DR: A model of syntax is proposed in which marked structures are conceived as the realization of modes of control that regulate the informational flow of the text at points of threatened discontinuity.
Abstract: A model of syntax is proposed in which marked structures are conceived as the realization of modes of control that regulate the informational flow of the text at points of threatened discontinuity. Two of these modes are described which are concerned with relations of logic and focus. Evidence of their presence in the patterning of a corpus of children's writing is taken as a pointer to their relevance to the study of syntactic development.