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Not just frequency, not just modality : Production and perception of English semi-modals

Lorenz, David LU orcid and Tizon-Couto, David (2020) In Studies in Language Companion Series 216. p.79-108
Abstract
We review reduction and contraction in modalizing expressions of the type V-to- Vinf from the perspective of production, perception and mental representation.
A corpus study of spoken American English shows reduction/contraction as
a continuous process which is subject to phonological and communicative constraints. Generally, reduction (articulatory ease) is restricted by a tendency
to retain cues to morphological structure (explicitness). For perception, a word-recognition experiment shows that listeners use probabilities to cope with reduction; reduction also promotes ‘chunking’, i.e. accessing frequent sequences as single units. The combined evidence suggests that ‘chunking’, reduction and contraction are not a... (More)
We review reduction and contraction in modalizing expressions of the type V-to- Vinf from the perspective of production, perception and mental representation.
A corpus study of spoken American English shows reduction/contraction as
a continuous process which is subject to phonological and communicative constraints. Generally, reduction (articulatory ease) is restricted by a tendency
to retain cues to morphological structure (explicitness). For perception, a word-recognition experiment shows that listeners use probabilities to cope with reduction; reduction also promotes ‘chunking’, i.e. accessing frequent sequences as single units. The combined evidence suggests that ‘chunking’, reduction and contraction are not a self-propelled process, even given high frequency or semantic bleaching. Rather, they are subject to intuitive negotiations in speaker- hearer interaction. Methodologically, we make a case for triangulating corpus and experimental data. (Less)
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author
and
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Re-Assessing Modalising Expressions : Categories, co-text, and context - Categories, co-text, and context
series title
Studies in Language Companion Series
editor
Hohaus, Pascal and Schulze, Reiner
volume
216
pages
30 pages
publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
external identifiers
  • scopus:85102960167
ISSN
0165-7763
ISBN
9789027260529
9789027207913
DOI
10.1075/slcs.216.04lor
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
f0485e8a-d519-40b7-8e47-95f68f0ef8d9
date added to LUP
2023-11-06 20:05:08
date last changed
2024-04-05 01:26:18
@inbook{f0485e8a-d519-40b7-8e47-95f68f0ef8d9,
  abstract     = {{We review reduction and contraction in modalizing expressions of the type V-to- Vinf from the perspective of production, perception and mental representation.<br/>A corpus study of spoken American English shows reduction/contraction as<br/>a continuous process which is subject to phonological and communicative constraints. Generally, reduction (articulatory ease) is restricted by a tendency<br/>to retain cues to morphological structure (explicitness). For perception, a word-recognition experiment shows that listeners use probabilities to cope with reduction; reduction also promotes ‘chunking’, i.e. accessing frequent sequences as single units. The combined evidence suggests that ‘chunking’, reduction and contraction are not a self-propelled process, even given high frequency or semantic bleaching. Rather, they are subject to intuitive negotiations in speaker- hearer interaction. Methodologically, we make a case for triangulating corpus and experimental data.}},
  author       = {{Lorenz, David and Tizon-Couto, David}},
  booktitle    = {{Re-Assessing Modalising Expressions : Categories, co-text, and context}},
  editor       = {{Hohaus, Pascal and Schulze, Reiner}},
  isbn         = {{9789027260529}},
  issn         = {{0165-7763}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  pages        = {{79--108}},
  publisher    = {{John Benjamins Publishing Company}},
  series       = {{Studies in Language Companion Series}},
  title        = {{Not just frequency, not just modality : Production and perception of English semi-modals}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/slcs.216.04lor}},
  doi          = {{10.1075/slcs.216.04lor}},
  volume       = {{216}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}