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

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Presentation on theme: "More Adventures with Dialects: Convergence and Ambiguity Resolution by Partners in Conversation Brennan, Huffman, Hannigan, et al."— Presentation transcript:

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

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

4 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?

5 Dialects aren’t all-or-nothing!

6 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

7 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

8 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.”

9 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)

10 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!

11 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!

12 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)

13 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.

14 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)

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

16 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)

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

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

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

20 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

28 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


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