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Eva Fernández 1,2 Dianne Bradley 2
José Manuel Igoa 3 Celia Teira 3
1 Queens College & 2 Graduate Center, CUNY 3 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
AMLaP 2003 Glasgow, UK 25-27 August 2003
Prosodic Phrasing in the RC Attachment Ambiguity:
Effects of Language, Position, and RC-Length
CUNY
UAM
RC Attachment: Cross-Linguistic Differences
Cuetos & Mitchell (1988)
the son of the colonel who tragically died of a stroke.The doctor met…
al hijo del coronel que trágicamente murió de apoplejía.El doctor conoció…
the son of the colonel
al hijo del coronel
the son of the colonel
al hijo del coronel
who tragically died of a stroke.
que trágicamente murió de apoplejía.
N2 preference in ENGLISH
N1 preference in SPANISH
Hemforth et al. (submitted)
Attachment: English, Spanish, German Off-line questionnaire RC Length (Lng, Shrt) Position (Obj, Subj)
the son of the colonel who tragically died of a stroke.The doctor met…
al hijo del coronel que trágicamente murió de apoplejía.
El doctor conoció…
The doctor met…The son of the colonel
…wrote five books on tropical disease.
El hijo del coronel
El doctor conoció…
…escribió cinco libros sobre enfermedades tropicales.
who died.
que murió.
RC LengthProsody
PositionDiscourse
EnglishSpanish
Language RC LengthHemforth et al. (submitted)
25
50
75
Short RC Long RC
% N
1 A
ttach
ment
English, ObjectSpanish, Object
Implicit Prosody Hypothesis (IPH) Fodor (1998, 2002)
Prosody projected implicitly can influence attachment decisions
• RC length: Separate phrasing of long RCs encourages non-local attachment
• Cross-linguistic differences: Prosodic phrasing principles of Lx and Ly differ somehow
25
50
75
Short RC Long RC Short RC Long RC
% N
1 A
ttach
ment
Language Position RC Length
Hemforth et al. (submitted)English, Object
English, Subject Spanish, Subject
Spanish, Object
Discourse and Position
Pre-verbal subjects are more clearly topics in Spanish than English
• Topics are old information, and are therefore not focused
• Non-focused phrases resist modification
For subject-position materials:
Explains the lessening of N1 attachments in Spanish, cf. English
? Does it explain the reduced RC length effect?
Prosody and Position
Complex NP in Object PositionSeparate phrasing more likely for long RC than short
•Phrasal break at N2][RC (Bradley et al., 2003)•N2][RC break favors N1 attachment (Lovrić, 2003)
Complex NP in Subject Position•N2][RC is again possible, but…•Entire subject likely separately phrased!
N1-of-N2 RC][V •Interplay between N2][RC and RC][V (Carlson et
al., 2001)?
The son of the colonel ][ who … died … ][ wrote …
Acoustic Phonetic Study
Participants, N = 8 per language
• English New York• Spanish Madrid
Materials, N = 8 4 per language(selected from Hemforth et al.’s 32 4)
• Object and subject versions identical in length (Bradley et al., 2003)
• RC verb always clause-final
Materials Examples
The guest impressed X. X impressed the guest.
El invitado impresionó a X. X impresionó al invitado.
X = the brother of the bridegroomwho (often unknowingly) snores
el hermano del novioque (a menudo inconscientemente) roncaba
Procedure
The guest impressed the brother of the bridegroom.Which bridegroom? The bridegroom who snores.
El invitado impresionó al hermano del novio.¿Qué novio? El novio que roncaba.
The guest impressed the brother of the bridegroom who snores.
El invitado impresionó al hermano del novio que roncaba.
Analyses
Duration measures:•Acoustic signature of phrasal breaks•Clause-final lengthening and pausing
N2][RC …• the brother of the bridegroom ][ who …
… RC.]• …who (often unknowingly) snores. ]
… RC][V• …who (often unknowingly) snores ][ wrote…
N2 Durations: N2][RC
Subject
Object
Subject
Object
English
Spanish
Long RC
Short RC
300 ms
141
86
123
73
Position:F1(1,14) = 9.48, p < .01
F2(1,14) = 14.38, p < .002
RC Length:F1(1,14) = 49.90, p < .001F2(1,14) = 39.99, p < .001
Position RC Length:F1(1,14) = 10.69, p < .01F2(1,14) = 8.85, p < .02
RC Verb Durations: RC][V
Subject
Object
Subject
Object
Long RC
Short RC
300 ms
English
Spanish
Interaction, Position Length:
F1(1,14) = 5.38, p < .05F2(1,14) = 4.42, p = .054
2
42
9
52
111
156
Summary
Object… V N1 N2 ][ RC
SubjectN1 N2 ][ RC ][ V …
[email protected]@gc.cuny.edu
