@article{HuttenlauchBeerHanneKlothetal.2021, author = {Huttenlauch, Clara and Beer, Carola de and Hanne-Kloth, Sandra and Wartenburger, Isabell}, title = {Production of prosodic cues in coordinate name sequences addressing varying interlocutors}, series = {Laboratory phonology}, volume = {12}, journal = {Laboratory phonology}, number = {1}, publisher = {Ubiquity Press}, address = {London}, issn = {1868-6346}, doi = {10.5334/labphon.221}, pages = {31}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Prosodic boundaries can be used to disambiguate the syntactic structure of coordinated name sequences (coordinates). To answer the question whether disambiguating prosody is produced in a situationally dependent or independent manner and to contribute to our understanding of the nature of the prosody-syntax link, we systematically explored variability in the prosody of boundary productions of coordinates evoked by different contextual settings in a referential communication task. Our analysis focused on prosodic boundaries produced to distinguish sequences with different syntactic structures (i.e., with or without internal grouping of the constituents). In German, these prosodic boundaries are indicated by three major prosodic cues: f0-range, final lengthening, and pause. In line with the Proximity/Anti-Proximity principle of the syntax-prosody model by Kentner and Fery (2013), speakers clearly use all three cues for constituent grouping and prosodically mark groups within and at their right boundary, indicating that prosodic phrasing is not a local phenomenon. Intra-individually, we found a rather stable prosodic pattern across contexts. However, inter-individually speakers differed from each other with respect to the prosodic cue combinations that they (consistently) used to mark the boundaries. Overall, our data speak in favour of a close link between syntax and prosody and for situational independence of disambiguating prosody.}, language = {en} } @article{HiltonWartenburgerElsner2021, author = {Hilton, Matthew and Wartenburger, Isabell and Elsner, Birgit}, title = {Kinematic boundary cues modulate 12-month-old infants' segmentation of action sequences}, series = {Neuropsychologia : an international journal in behavioural and cognitive neuroscience}, volume = {159}, journal = {Neuropsychologia : an international journal in behavioural and cognitive neuroscience}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0028-3932}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107916}, pages = {9}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Human infants can segment action sequences into their constituent actions already during the first year of life. However, work to date has almost exclusively examined the role of infants' conceptual knowledge of actions and their outcomes in driving this segmentation. The present study examined electrophysiological correlates of infants' processing of lower-level perceptual cues that signal a boundary between two actions of an action sequence. Specifically, we tested the effect of kinematic boundary cues (pre-boundary lengthening and pause) on 12-month-old infants' (N = 27) processing of a sequence of three arbitrary actions, performed by an animated figure. Using the Event-Related Potential (ERP) approach, evidence of a positivity following the onset of the boundary cues was found, in line with previous work that has found an ERP positivity (Closure Positive Shift, CPS) related to boundary processing in auditory stimuli and action sequences in adults. Moreover, an ERP negativity (Negative Central, Nc) indicated that infants' encoding of the post-boundary action was modulated by the presence or absence of prior boundary cues. We therefore conclude that 12-month-old infants are sensitive to lower-level perceptual kinematic boundary cues, which can support segmentation of a continuous stream of movement into individual action units.}, language = {en} } @article{BoschDeCesareDemskeetal.2021, author = {Bosch, Sina and De Cesare, Ilaria and Demske, Ulrike and Felser, Claudia}, title = {New empirical approaches to grammatical variation and change}, series = {Languages : open access journal}, volume = {6}, journal = {Languages : open access journal}, number = {3}, publisher = {MDPI}, address = {Basel}, issn = {2226-471X}, doi = {10.3390/languages6030113}, pages = {3}, year = {2021}, language = {en} } @article{BrownFanselowHalletal.2021, author = {Brown, J. M. M. and Fanselow, Gisbert and Hall, Rebecca and Kliegl, Reinhold}, title = {Middle ratings rise regardless of grammatical construction}, series = {PLOS ONE / Public Library of Science}, volume = {16}, journal = {PLOS ONE / Public Library of Science}, number = {5}, publisher = {PLOS}, address = {San Fransisco}, issn = {1932-6203}, doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0251280}, pages = {26}, year = {2021}, abstract = {People perceive sentences more favourably after hearing or reading them many times. A prominent approach in linguistic theory argues that these types of exposure effects (satiation effects) show direct evidence of a generative approach to linguistic knowledge: only some sentences improve under repeated exposure, and which sentences do improve can be predicted by a model of linguistic competence that yields natural syntactic classes. However, replications of the original findings have been inconsistent, and it remains unclear whether satiation effects can be reliably induced in an experimental setting at all. Here we report four findings regarding satiation effects in wh-questions across German and English. First, the effects pertain to zone of well-formedness rather than syntactic class: all intermediate ratings, including calibrated fillers, increase at the beginning of the experimental session regardless of syntactic construction. Second, though there is satiation, ratings asymptote below maximum acceptability. Third, these effects are consistent across judgments of superiority effects in English and German. Fourth, wh-questions appear to show similar profiles in English and German, despite these languages being traditionally considered to differ strongly in whether they show effects on movement: violations of the superiority condition can be modulated to a similar degree in both languages by manipulating subject-object initiality and animacy congruency of the wh-phrase. We improve on classic satiation methods by distinguishing between two crucial tests, namely whether exposure selectively targets certain grammatical constructions or whether there is a general repeated exposure effect. We conclude that exposure effects can be reliably induced in rating experiments but exposure does not appear to selectively target certain grammatical constructions. Instead, they appear to be a phenomenon of intermediate gradient judgments.}, language = {en} }