TheMessageShapesPhonology

SSTsatelliteworkshop,December10-11,2016KathleenCurrieHall,BethHume,T.FlorianJaeger,AndyWedel

Contextualpredictabilityaffectsrecogni:onandproduc:on

Phone:cproduc:on[forreview,seeJaeger&Buz,inpress]

•  Contextuallymorepredictablewords,syllables,andsegmentstendtoberealizedwith

–  higherspeechrate[AyleP&Turk,2004;Belletal.,2008;Gahletal.,2012;Kuperman&Bresnan,2012;Pluymaekersetal.,2005;Post&Jaeger,2010;Seyfarth,2014;Yao,2011]

–  lessdispersedvowels[AyleP&Turk,2006]

–  lessstronglyar:culatedsegments(centerofgravity)[vanSon&Pols,2003;vanSon&vanSanten,2005]

[3]

Spokenwordrecogni:on[forreview,seeKuperberg&Jaeger,2016]

•  Contextuallymorepredictablewordstendto

–  elicitreducedneuralsurprisalresponses[e.g.,N400,Franketal.,2014;Willlemsetal.,2015;seealsoDeLongetal.,2005;vanBerkumetal.,2005;Dikker&Pylkaennen,2013]

–  berecognizedfaster[tobespecificit’ssurprisalthatseemstobelinearinprocessing_mes,Frank&Bod,2011;Smith&Levy,2013]

–  berecognizedmoreaccuratelyinnoise[Kalikow,Stevens,EllioP,1977]

–  berecognizedmoreaccuratelywhenphone_callyreduced[Ernestus&Baayen,2007]

[8]

Phonologicalvariability[forreview,seeHalletal.,submiPed]

•  Contextuallymorepredictablewords,syllables,andsegmentstendtoberealizedwith–  higherlikelihoodofphonologicalreduc:on[Belletal.,2003;

Raymondetal.,2006]ordele_on[Gahl&Garnsey,2004]

–  lowerlikelihoodofphonologicalinser:on[Tily&Kuperman,2009]

–  wheninser_onoccurs,ittendstobeacontextuallypredictablesegment[e.g.,Humeetal.2013;Mafngleyetal.2015,2016]

[9]

Contextualpredictabilityreflectedinphonologized

paGerns

Theaverageeffectofcontext[Cohen-Priva,2008,2012;Manin,2006;Piantadosietal.,2011;Seyfarth,2014]

•  Ifspokenwordrecogni_onissensi_vetowhatiscontextuallyexpected,contextualexpecta:onsshoulddetermine(overhistorical:me)thephonologicallengthofwords(i.e.theamountofboPom-upsignal)

[11]

Predictabilityandphonologicallength[Manin,2006;Piantadosietal.,2011]

•  Maninuseshumanjudgmentsfromacloze-liketasktoes_mateinforma_on(orunpredictability)

[13]

[Figure1and2fromManin,2006]

AveragecontextbeGerexplana:onthanfrequency

[14][Figure2fromPiantadosietal.,2011-PNAS]

Forphonologicalvariability

•  (Es'matesof)averagepredictability

–  captureeffectsbeyondcontext-by-contextpredictability[Seyfarth,2014]

–  evencaptureeffectswherecontext-by-contextpredictabilityseemstomakethewrongpredic:ons[Cohen-Priva,2008,2012]

[15]

Why?

[17]

MEANING

Inferringphonologicalunitsfromthephone:csignal

Inferringthemessagefromphonologicalunits

Phonologysubservesthetransferofmeaning(seman:c,pragma:c,social,emo:onal,…)

Bayesianinference

Σip(Mi|ctxt)p(S|Mi,ctxt)p(M|S,ctxt) p(M|ctxt)

p(S|M,ctxt)=

Posteriorprobabilityofmessagegiventhesignalandthecontext

Probabilityofthesignalgiventhemessageincontext,rela:vizedtoallpossiblemessages

Probabilityofthemessagegiventhecontext

M=messageS=signalctxt=context

*

[Flemming,2010;Hall,Hume,Jaeger&Wedel,submiPed;Kleinschmidt&Jaeger,2015;Nielson&Wilson,2008]

Bayesianinference

Σip(Mi|ctxt)p(S|Mi,ctxt)p(M|S,ctxt) p(M|ctxt)

p(S|M,ctxt)

Messagepredictability:Howmuchdoesthecontexthelpusknowwhatisgoingtobesaid?

M=messageS=signalctxt=context

SignalSpecificity:Howspecificisthissignalfortheintendedmessage,opposedtoallothers?

*=

[20]

Whynotalwaysmaximizeintelligibility?

[FigurefromHall,Hume,Jaeger&Wedel,submiPed]

:me,metabolic,cogni:ve

Moment-by-momentchangestosignalspecificity…

Ar:culatoryplanning/Choosingaphone:ccode

Speechonset

pill

bill

CanIhavethe…pill?

Voiceonset_me(VOT)

[23]

0.00

0.02

0.04

0 50 100 150VOT (ms)

Prob

abilit

y of

VO

TVoicelessVOTsarelonger

b p

hyper-ar:cula:onofvoicelessness

p

[24]

[fromBuz,2016-thesis;basedonVOTdistribu_onsfromBaese-Berk&Goldrick,2009]

…inresponsetocontextual

requirements(‘in-contextparadigma:cpressure’)

Contextsw/vs.w/ominimalpaircompe:tor

pillheart raqpill

pillbill raqpill

[26]

[Buz,Tanenhaus,&Jaeger,2016-JML;adaptedfromBaese-Berk&Goldrick,2009-LCP]

80

120

160

Absen

t

Presen

t

Voiced competitor

VOT

(ms)

Compe:torsleadtohyper-ar:cula:on

*

pillheart raq pillbill raq

Hyper-ar:cula:onincreasesVOTsfrom~85msecsbyabout3-4msecs

[27]

[basedonBuz,Tanenhaus,&Jaeger,2016-JML;seealsoBaese-Berk&Goldrick,2009;Goldricketal.,2013;Kirov&Wilson,2012;Seyfarthetal.,2016]

Isthisreallyaboutcommunica:on?

Ar:culatoryplanning/Choosingaphone:ccode

Learning-basedpreviouscommunica:vesuccess

Perceivedcommunica:vesuccess

–  Understood

–  Misunderstood pill bill raft

pill bill raft

[29]

Nofeedback

Noerrors Errors

1

21

41

61

81

Tria

l

Partner'sresponse

Not seenTargetCompetitor

Trial typeFillerItem

Perceivedcommunica:vesuccess

[30]

Nofeedback

Noerrors Errors

80

120

160

Absen

t

Presen

t

Absen

t

Presen

t

Absen

t

Presen

t

Voiced competitor

VOT

(ms)

Hyper-ar:cula:onismodulatedbyperceivedcommunica:vesuccess

* * *

ns*

[basedonBuzetal2016][31]

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

AbsentPresent

1 3 5Errors seen

Norm

alize

d VO

T (V

OT

/ rim

e)

Error No errors Other errors Voicing errors

Voiced competitor Absent Present

Witheachmiscommunica:on…

[32][Buz,Tanenhaus,&Jaeger,inprep;Buz,2016-thesis]

Doesthisfacilitatecomprehension?

Ar:culatoryplanning/Choosingaphone:ccode

Communica:vesuccessofar:cula:on

Learning-basedpreviouscommunica:vesuccess

VOTLi

kelih

ood

Estimate of averagecomprehender's prior knowledge

Absent Present

VOT

Observed voicelessproductions

VOT

P(vo

icel

ess

| VO

T)

Classification functionAbsent Present

Prop

ortio

n co

rrect

Accuracy

Es:ma:ngeffectsoncomprehensionacrossallproduc:on

Predictedout-of-contextrateofsuccessfulrecogni:on

[35]

Insteadof1erroroutof20wordsà1erroroutof100words!

[basedonBuz&Jaeger,inprep;seealsoSeyfarth,Buz,&Jaeger,2016-JASA-EL]

Averagingacrosscontexts

Ar:culatoryplanning/Choosingaphone:ccode

Communica:vesuccessofar:cula:on

Learning-basedpreviouscommunica:vesuccess

Changesinphone:crepresenta:onsoflexemes

0.75

0.80

0.85

0.90

0.95

1.00

Does N

ot

Exist

Exists

Voicing minimal pair

Idea

l obs

erve

rpr

opor

tion

corre

ct

Wedel & Sharp (2014)

0.75

0.80

0.85

0.90

0.95

1.00

Does N

ot

Exist

Exists

Voicing minimal pair

Idea

l obs

erve

rpr

opor

tion

corre

ct

Goldrick et al. (2013)

0.75

0.80

0.85

0.90

0.95

1.00

Absen

t

Presen

t

Voicing minimal pair

Idea

l obs

erve

rpr

opor

tion

corre

ct

Seyfarth et al. (2016)

/p/--/b/contrastConversa:onalspeech

/s/--/z/contrastLabspeech

/p/--/b/contrastLabspeech

[37]

[Buz&Jaeger,inprep;Buz,2016-thesis]

Alsofoundforvowels[samepaper]

Prop

or:o

nofsu

ccessfulre

cogni:on

Overhistorical:me

Ar:culatoryplanning/Choosingaphone:ccode

Communica:vesuccessofar:cula:on

Learning-basedpreviouscommunica:vesuccess

Changesinphone:crepresenta:onsoflexemes

Changesinphonologicalsystem

8languages56mergers

524non-mergers

39

18phoneme-pairsystems:Eachcontainsatleastonemerger,andascomparisons,allotherphonemepairsinthesamemajorclass(vowelorconsonant)thatareonephonologicalfeatureapart.

[Wedeletal.,2013a,b]

Maintenanceofaphonemecontrastpredictedbynumberofminimalpairs.

40

[Wedel,Kaplan&Jackson,2013-Language&Speech]

[41]

khæʔ

cat

Whatisthemessage?

Bayesianinferenceoverwhat?

Σip(Mi|ctxt)p(S|Mi,ctxt)p(M|S,ctxt) p(M|ctxt)

p(S|M,ctxt)= *

Whatwouldwepredictifabiasexistedtowardaccuratetransmission

ofphonemecategories?•  Phonemesinweaklocalcontextsshouldbeenhanced

•  Thoseinstronglocalcontextsshouldbereduced.•  BUTweseetheopposite.

–  ‘thestronggetstronger,theweakgetweaker’•  ManypaPernsareinsteadconsistentwith:

1.  Protec_ngcontrastintheexis_nglexicon2.  Incrementalprocessingoflexicalitemsin

comprehension

Examples:AmericanEnglish/t/

45

/t/

[th] [t] [ɾ] [ʔ]

TheinterlockingpaPernsofallophonicvaria_onexemplifyMPOpredic_onsgivenword-as-message.

[th]canonicallyappearsintheonsetofstressedsyllables

aPack[əˈthæk]

46

Aspira'onishighlypercep'bleattheonsetofastressedvowel.

Enhancementisassociatedwithposi_onsinwhichcuescontributemoretolexicalcontrast.

khæʔ

cat

But[th]alsoappearsinwordonset,evenifunstressed.tomato[thəˈmeɪɾoʊ]

47

Cuesnearthebeginningofthewordaremoreinforma've.

Enhancementisassociatedwithposi_onsinwhichcuescontributemoretolexicalcontrast.

khæʔ

catmessage=meaning-bearingunitè

Wordfinal/t/isoqengloPalized.cat[kæʔ̚]

48

Cuesfarfromthebeginningsofwordsareonaveragelessinforma've,and/t/isespecially

soinEnglish.(seeUrielCohenPriva’stalk)

Reduc_onisassociatedwithcontextsinwhichcuescontributelesstolexicalcontrast.

khæʔ

catmessage=meaning-bearingunitè

Postvocalic/t/isflappedintheonsettounstressedsyllables,mergingwith/d/.

water[wɑɾɚ]

49

Inthiscontext,the/t~d/contrastdis'nguishesfewminimalpairs

inEnglish.

Reduc_onisassociatedwithcontextsinwhichcuescontributelesstolexicalcontrast.

khæʔ

catmessage=meaning-bearingunitè

tenbucks tembucks

Nasalplaceassimila:onacrosswords[Turnbull,Seyfarth,Hume,&Jaeger,inprep]

–  Moreassimila:onwhenwordwithtargetisinferablefromcontext,p(ten|bucks)

–  Lessassimila:onwhenwordwithtargetmakeswordwithtriggerinferable,p(bucks|ten)

Assimila:onoftargettotrigger

[51]

Inferabilityofwordcontainingtarget

Informa:vityofwordcontainingtargetaboutwordcontainingtrigger

Conclusions

•  PhonologicalpaPernsprovideconvergingevidencethatthemessageismeaning-bearingunits,notsub-lexicalcategories(e.g.phonemes)–  PaPernsofcontrastinthelexiconpredictmergerprobabili_es

–  Enhancementiscommoninposi_onsmostinforma_veforlexicalprocessing

–  Reduc_oniscommoninposi_onsleastinforma_veforlexicalprocessing

–  Assimila_onacrossboundariesmorecommonwhentargetismorepredictable

[52]

khæʔ

cat

Psycholinguis:csarm-in-armwithPhonology

Ques:onsseekinganswers

Ques:ons

•  Thereisposi_veevidencethatmeaning-bearingunitsshapephonologicalpaPerns.

•  Doesthismeanthatthelower-levelcategoriesaren’trelevant,orsimplythatwehaven’tyetfoundtherightroleforthem?[seealsoUrielCohen-Priva’stalk?]–  E.g.,Wedeletal.2013,showingthatitmayplayasubsidiaryroleinpredic_ngmergers)

–  NB:whatisinforma_vitymeasuredwithregardsto?Condi_onedonwhat?

Ques:ons

•  WehavefocusedhereonlexicalitemsasMBUs.•  Whatistheroleofmeaningathigherlevels?Howdoes

communica_ng,e.g.,socialorpragma_cmeaningendupshapingphonologicalsystems?

•  Whendolinguis_csystemsshow“horizontal”changes,i.e.,adjustmentstothelexiconand/orchoicesaboutdiscourseorsyntac_cframes,insteadofchangingthephonologicalsignal?[e.g.,Graff,2012,showingunder-representa_onoffeaturally-similarminimalpairsinthelexicon;Graff&Jaeger,2009showingthatstrengthofunder-representa_onofOCP-viola_ngwordsdependingoniden_tyconstraintsinlexicon;Gildea&Jaeger,submiPedshowingwordordersoflanguagesclosetominimizeper-segmentsurprisal]

Amessage-orientedapproachtophonology[Hall,Hume,Jaeger&Wedel,submiPed]

[57]

Ques:ons

•  Ifenhancementisaboutuniquelyiden_fyingMBUs,thenwhatcountsasa“compe_tor”MBU?

•  DostandardmeasuresofneighborhooddensitymaPer?Takingintoaccountcontext?

sub

sup sung

sin

sen sane

suck soon

scene

some

sewn

such

shun

one none

fun bun

ton

run

done

pun

“…under the…” sign

gun sun

[cf.Gahletal.2012;Buz&Jaeger2016;Heller&Goldrick,2014;EricMeinhart’stalk]

Ques:ons

•  IfMBUsarethelocusofpredic_on,thenwhatdoes‘enhancement’actuallymean?

•  ’Hyperar_cula_on’isoqenassociatedwithgreaterdura_on/extentofar_culatorygestures

•  Butamessage-orientedphonologicalapproachpredictsthatenhancementisaboutuniquelyiden_fyingMBUs,notdispersingphone_corphonologicalcategoriesperse[Wedel2012,Buzetal.,2016-JML]

[60]

bat

badge

Existenceofaminimalpaircompe:torpredictsVOThyperar:cula:on

[fromWedel,Nelson&Sharp,submiPed]

Phonologyprovidescorrobora:ngevidence:Centralizingvowelchainshimsexist

NewZealandFrontVowelshiq

æ

ɛ

ɪ

InteriorvowelscentralizeinEnglishundercompe::on

fromperipheralvowels

center

Interior vowels

ɪ

ɛ

under competition from the periphery

Peripheral vowels i

e

æ

under competition from the interior

−0.10

−0.05

0.00

0.05

0.10

FALSE TRUE

Minimal pair competitor existence

Dis

pers

ion

(sca

led)

Peripheral vowelsInterior vowels

[62][basedonWedeletal.,submiPed]

Signalreduc:onandredundancy[e.g.,Bresnanetal.,2015;Brown&Dell,1987;Frank&Jaeger,2008;Galloetal.,2008;

Jaeger,2010;Kravtchenko,2015;Kurumada&Jaeger,2015;Levy&Jaeger,2007;Norcliffe&Jaeger,2015;Resnik,1996;Tily&Piantadosi,2009]

[FigurefromJaeger&Buz,inpress-HandbookofPsycholinguis_cs]

Funding:

UniversityofCanterburytoBHNRSApre-doctoEstebanBuzNSFIIS-1150028CAREER:Communica'veEfficiencyandAdap'venessintheIdealSpeaker(2012-2017)toTFJ

Thank you!