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Cognitive implications of labels for voices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2009

Roger Brown
Roger Brown
Affiliation:
(University of Edinburgh)
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Summary

An experiment is reported which investigates the acceptability for English speakers of various syntactic constructions in conjunction with labels for voices (Laver, 1974). A regularity is observed in the co-occurrence possibilities; subjects differentiate between labels for temporal aspects of speech (tempo, continuity and rhythmicality) and for non-temporal (pitch, loudness and quality) in terms of the constructions which may accompany them. No purely syntactic motivation is found for this regularity and it is suggested instead that it is indicative of a basic phonetic difference between cognitively governed temporal parameters in speech and physiologically determined non-temporal parameters. This view is supported by examples from other languages.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the International Phonetic Association , Volume 10 , Issue 1-2 , June 1980 , pp. 28 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Journal of the International Phonetic Association 1980

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