When saying active and passive sentences, speakers produce longer verb stems in passive sentences than actives due to phrase-final lengthening in passives and polysyllabic shortening in actives, and lengthening occurs on the verb stem vowel (Stromswold et al., 2002). Listeners may be able to use this acoustic cue to predict whether a sentence is active or passive prior to the verbal inflection (Stromswold et al., 2002; 2016). In three production experiments, we further investigated which acoustic cues speakers produced consistently, and to what extent polysyllabic shortening and phrase-final lengthening contributed to duration cues to syntax. In Experiment 1 we compared progressive active (was punching) and passive verb stems (was punched), and in Experiments 2 and 3 we added a comparison to perfective active verb stems (has punched). Experiments 1 and 2 showed that the most consistent cue was passive verb stem lengthening, while speakers also showed passive auxiliary lengthening to a lesser degree. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that both phrase-final lengthening and polysyllabic shortening were present, but polysyllabic shortening contributed most consistently to the progressive active-passive verb stem duration difference. Experiment 3 confirmed that the verb stem vowel was the locus of passive verb stem lengthening. This suggests that listeners in Stromswold et al. (2002; 2016) may have used verb stem vowel duration to predict upcoming syntax. In two comprehension experiments, we tested whether native English speakers used verb stem vowel duration as a cue to syntax, and whether L2 English speakers were able to both produce the same acoustic cues to syntax and use them in comprehension. First, we manipulated the duration of the verb stem vowel to “swap” duration across active and passive sentences, inverting the vowel duration cue. In a visual-world paradigm task, listeners looked to the correct image prior to hearing the verbal inflection. The effect of the vowel duration manipulation on processing, however, was slight. This suggests that the earlier, but less consistent acoustic correlates may cue listeners to syntax in combination with the duration of the verb stem vowel, and that the parser is robust enough to ignore a single inconsistent cue. Second, native Mandarin speakers who learned English as a second language completed the same visual-world paradigm task, but listened to only unaltered recordings. Mandarin speakers waited until the second noun phrase to identify the syntax of the sentence correctly. This may indicate an inability to use acoustic and morphosyntactic cues that are not present in the listener’s native language, or may reflect the difference in English proficiency.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Psychology
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Grammar, Comparative and general--Syntax
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_8398
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
1 online resource (xvii, 279 p. : ill.)
Note (type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Gwendolyn Louise Rehrig
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
School of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001600001
Location
PhysicalLocation (authority = marcorg); (displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)