More Adventures with Dialects: Convergence and Ambiguity Resolution by Partners in Conversation Brennan, Huffman, Hannigan, et al.

Assumptions about dialects Dialects encode geographic, demographic, educational socioeconomic info Dialects converge during interaction

Questions about dialects What IS a dialect? Do dialects really converge in conversation? How do listeners cope w/ variability in the speech signal, including that from dialects? Are all kinds of variability handled by the same processing mechanisms? Are representations of the sounds of a language stored as abstract prototypes or as different instances/variants? Is there parity between comprehension and production when it comes to dialectal variation?

Dialects aren’t all-or-nothing!

Adapting to a partner’s dialect Do speakers converge with a partner’s dialect? (Brennan & Huffman, in prep.) Long Island (LI) vs. General American (GA) dialect Design: Session 1 with LI addressee Session 2 with GA addressee

Sample dialect words to elicit: Consonants  r-droptoaster, saucer, paperclip Vowels - Monophthongs  “bad” plaid, cab, labcoat, bathtub  “bat” hat, bat, cat, cap  “ale” scale, tail, mailbox  “ah”dot, pot, knot, cot Vowels - Diphthongs  awchocolate, faucet, saw

Task: “Go fish” card game Subject: “I need a toaster.” Confed: “Here you go, a toaster.” or “Sorry, no toaster, go fish.” “OK, I need a lab coat.”

Dialect comparisons LI speech example: More examples of LI subjects in the context of confederates’ speech “cab”: LI subj., then GA confed. “saucer”: LI subj., then GA confed. “saucer”: LI conf., then LI subject (play) (repeat)

Results so far: Speakers do significantly less r-dropping to GA addressees than to LI addressees Very small change in monophthongs:  F1 goes up slightly, F2 goes down slightly  We need to look at differences for individual words (e.g., PLAID, CAB, LABCOAT, BATHTUB) Dipthongs: Stay tuned!

Implications Dialects are clusters of tendencies. Articulatory adaptations associated with dialect don’t occur as a unit. Some features of a dialect are more flexible than others. Adaptation may depend on awareness of a feature!

Adapting to a speaker’s dialect Do speakers converge with their partners’ dialects? (Brennan & Huffman, in prep.) Do listeners perceive homophones differently, depending on the dialect of the speaker? And does the listener’s own dialect matter? (with Stephanie Hannigan & Marie Huffman)

The parity issue, vis-à-vis dialects The comprehension (input) and production (output) issues are different. Dialectal variation is particularly hard to deal with on the input side.

When a dialect is unfamiliar, the source of the variation is ambiguous Tourist: Excuse me, is it pronounced ‘Hawaii’ or ‘Havaii’? Benny Hill: Havaii Tourist: Thank you! Benny Hill: You’re velcome! (Kraljic, Brennan, & Samuel, under review)

Welcome to Long Island! (In a deli, ordering a sliced turkey sandwich:) (example courtesy of Meghan Sumner)

Welcome to Long Island! (In a deli, ordering a sliced turkey sandwich:) Would you like white meat or dog meat? (example courtesy of Meghan Sumner)

Adapting to a speaker’s dialect Type AType BType C codcawedcord podpawedpoured tottaughttorte stockstalkstork sodsawedsoared tocktalktorque cockcaulkcork cotcaughtcourt

Adapting to a speaker’s dialect GA homophones Type AType BType C codcawedcord podpawedpoured tottaughttorte stockstalkstork sodsawedsoared tocktalktorque cockcaulkcork cotcaughtcourt

Adapting to a speaker’s dialect LI homophones Type AType BType C codcawedcord podpawedpoured tottaughttorte stockstalkstork sodsawedsoared tocktalktorque cockcaulkcork cotcaughtcourt

Adapting to a speaker’s dialect Subjects’ own dialects are tested  Questionnaire  Read a story aloud Exposed to either LI or GA dialect (story) Perform a word selection task Critical trials had either an LI or a GA homophone competitor

Does perceived ambiguity depend on who the speaker is? Type AType BType C codcawedcord podpawedpoured tottaughttorte stockstalkstork sodsawedsoared tocktalktorque cockcaulkcork cotcaughtcourt

Does perceived ambiguity depend on who the speaker is? “Click cawed” stair cod+ cawed ice

Does perceived ambiguity depend on who the speaker is? “Click cawed” stair cod+ cawed ice (GA dialect)

Does perceived ambiguity depend on who the speaker is? “Click cawed” stair cod+ cawed ice (LI dialect)

Does perceived ambiguity depend on who the speaker is? “Click caught” told court+ caught ski

Does perceived ambiguity depend on who the speaker is? “Click caught” told court+ caught ski (LI dialect)

Does perceived ambiguity depend on who the speaker is? “Click caught” told court+ caught ski (GA dialect)

An utterance’s ambiguity depends on the perceived dialect… If it’s all about priming, then who the speaker is shouldn’t matter! Type AType BType C codcawedcord podpawedpoured tottaughttorte stockstalkstork sodsawedsoared tocktalktorque cockcaulkcork cotcaughtcourt