Three steps forward for predictability. Consideration of methodological robustness, indexical and prosodic factors, and replication in the laboratory
Abstract
There is now abundant evidence that phonetic forms are shaped by probabilistic effects reflecting predictability or informativity. We outline a number of challenges for such work, where theoretical claims are often based on small differences in acoustic measurements, or interpretations of small statistical effect sizes. We outline caveats about the methods and assumptions encountered in many studies of predictability effects, particularly regarding corpus-based approaches. We consider the wide range of factors that influence patterns of variability in phonetic forms, taking a broad perspective on what is meant by “the message” in order to show that predictability effects need to be considered alongside many others, including indexical and prosodic factors. We suggest a number of ways forward to extend our understanding of the form-predictability relationship.
Acknowledgement
We record our thanks to Márton Sóskuthy, two anonymous reviewers and the editors for their helpful suggestions.
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©2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Predictability and phonology: past, present and future
- Predictability and perception for native and non-native listeners
- Mergers in Bardi: contextual probability and predictors of sound change
- Predictability of stop consonant phonetics across talkers: Between-category and within-category dependencies among cues for place and voice
- Assessing predictability effects in connected read speech
- The interdependence of frequency, predictability, and informativity in the segmental domain
- Loci and locality of informational effects on phonetic implementation
- Three steps forward for predictability. Consideration of methodological robustness, indexical and prosodic factors, and replication in the laboratory
- Distributional learning is error-driven: the role of surprise in the acquisition of phonetic categories
- Truncation in message-oriented phonology: a case study using Korean vocative truncation
- Durational contrast in gemination and informativity
- Practice makes perfect: the consequences of lexical proficiency for articulation
- Patterns of probabilistic segment deletion/reduction in English and Japanese
- The role of predictability in shaping phonological patterns
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Predictability and phonology: past, present and future
- Predictability and perception for native and non-native listeners
- Mergers in Bardi: contextual probability and predictors of sound change
- Predictability of stop consonant phonetics across talkers: Between-category and within-category dependencies among cues for place and voice
- Assessing predictability effects in connected read speech
- The interdependence of frequency, predictability, and informativity in the segmental domain
- Loci and locality of informational effects on phonetic implementation
- Three steps forward for predictability. Consideration of methodological robustness, indexical and prosodic factors, and replication in the laboratory
- Distributional learning is error-driven: the role of surprise in the acquisition of phonetic categories
- Truncation in message-oriented phonology: a case study using Korean vocative truncation
- Durational contrast in gemination and informativity
- Practice makes perfect: the consequences of lexical proficiency for articulation
- Patterns of probabilistic segment deletion/reduction in English and Japanese
- The role of predictability in shaping phonological patterns