Objective
In connected speech, spoken words may vary considerably from their forms in isolation. Much of the variation is regular. There have been heated debates on whether and how speakers store regular variants in their long-term memory, and how they process them in speech production and comprehension. Most psycholinguistic work, however, focuses on how listeners cope with segmental variation. I propose instead to examine how speakers store and process regular pitch variation. My empirical focus is on Chinese dialects, where pitch changes (tones) are used to distinguish word meanings in isolation, but tonal realization of words in phrases is determined by domain formation and pitch changes within the domain, together known as tone sandhi. Crucially, both how a tonal domain is formed and how sandhi variants are realized within the domain are influenced by a complex mixture of pragmatic, syntactic, and phonological factors. The pitch variation in these dialects thus manifests at all levels of linguistic organization. I hypothesize that the way pitch variation is stored in the mental lexicon and processed during speech production varies according to the types of tone sandhi changes and the constituent structures of sandhi domains. I take an interdisciplinary approach to test this hypothesis. Cross-dialect speech corpora will be compiled to obtain a comprehensive understanding of how pitch variation is conditioned in linguistic contexts. Acoustic and perceptual experiments will be conducted to understand the categorical vs. gradient nature of pitch variation. Both voice onset latencies and speakers’ eye movements during speech will be monitored to tap into the representation as well as the processing of pitch variation. Results of this project will contribute to debates on representation and processing of regular linguistic variation in general, therefore furthering our understanding of human cognition.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
ERC-2007-StG
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Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Host institution
2311 EZ Leiden
Netherlands
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.