accent and reference resolution (dahan, tanenhaus & chambers, in press) experiment 1: –tested...
TRANSCRIPT
Accent and reference resolution(Dahan, Tanenhaus & Chambers, in press)
• Experiment 1:– Tested hypothesis that de-accented noun is
interpreted as referring to the most salient entity and accented noun phrase introduces a new entity (standard view)
– Used cohorts:• Any effects of accent can be localized to effects
from the vowel prior to disambiguating information
What is “given”?
• Discourse-given– Inferrable (Prince, 1992), c.f. bridging inferences
• Hearer-given
• Salient/ accessible
Put the candle below the triangle. Now put the candle above the square
Put the candle below the triangle. Now put the candle above the square
Moved object will be most salient
Anaphoric (new competitor) accented target word: Put the candle below the triangle Now put the CANDLE above the squareAnaphoric (new competitor) deaccented target word:
Put the candle below the triangle Now put the candle ABOVE THE SQUARENon-anaphoric (given competitor) accented target word:
Put the candy below the triangle Now put the CANDLE above the squareNon-anaphoric (given competitor) deaccented target word:
Put the candy below the triangle Now put the candle ABOVE THE SQUARE
Proportion of fixations to the target and competitor pictures over the 0-300 and 300-1000 ms time windows, as a function of the discoursecontext (anaphoric or nonanaphoric) and the accent pattern of the target word (accented or de-accented).
0-300 ms 300-1000 mscompetitor target competitor target
anaphoric accented .25 .05 .17 .50anaphoric de-accented .31 .03 .12 .59nonanaphoric accented.06 .25 .06 .58nonanaphoric de-accented .04 .26 .13 .55
When word begins in second instruction subjects are more likely to be fixating on a new picture
Proportion of fixations to the target and competitor pictures over the 0-300 and 300-1000 ms time windows, as a function of the discoursecontext (anaphoric or nonanaphoric) and the accent pattern of the target word (accented or de-accented).
0-300 ms 300-1000 mscompetitor target competitor target
anaphoric accented .25 .05 .17 .50anaphoric de-accented .31 .03 .12 .59nonanaphoric accented.06 .25 .06 .58nonanaphoric de-accented .04 .26 .13 .55
Larger cohort effects to accented anaphoric noun and de-accented non-anaphoric noun
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
Fix
atio
n P
ropo
rtio
n
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Time since target onset (ms)
Fixations in Anaphoric Conditions
D: candle…
A: CANDLE
A
D
Put the candle below the triangle . Now put the CANDLE / candle…
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
Fix
atio
n P
ropo
rtio
n
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Time since target onset (ms)
Fixations in Nonanaphoric Conditions
D: candle…
A: CANDLE
A
D
Put the candy below the triangle . Now put the CANDLE / candle…
Conclusion:
De-accented nouns are preferentially interpreted as anaphoric
Question:
Are accented nouns preferentially interpreted as introducing new entities or as shifting focus to a discourse-old but not focused entity?
Corpus analyses show that accented definite noun phrasesare often (most often, in fact) used to refer to discourse-old entities
In Experiment 1, the non-focused, but mentioned entity wasn’t a moveable object:
Put the candle below the triangle
Experiment 2
Theme: Put the candle below the triangle. Now put the CANDLE above the squareGoal: Put the necklace below the candle Now put the CANDLE above the squareTheme with moveable Goal: Put the candle below the necklace Now put the CANDLE above the square
Predictions:1) Theme should show a big cohort effect (replication)2) Goal should not show a big cohort effect if accent is interpreted as shifting focus to a previously mentioned entity.3) Theme with Moveable Goal should show a big cohort effect only if accent is interpreted as shifting to a new entity
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48
Targets Cohorts
Theme
Goal
Theme-moveable goalTheme:
Put the candle below the triangle. Now put the CANDLE above the squareGoal :
Put the necklace below the candle. Now put the CANDLE above the squareTheme with moveable Goal:
Put the candle below the necklace Now put the CANDLE above the square
X
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48
targetcohortdistractor2distractor3
Theme
Put the candle below the triangle. Now put the CANDLE . . . .
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48
targetcohortdistractor2distractor3
Goal
Put the necklace below the candle. Now put the CANDLE. . .
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48
targetcohortdistractor2distractor3
Theme-moveable Goal
Put the candle below the necklace Now put the CANDLE . . .
Conclusion:
Accented noun phrase is interpreted as shifting focus to non-focused discourse-old entity