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Interpreting Pitch Accents in Online Comprehension: H* vs. L+H*
Author(s) -
Watson Duane G.,
Tanenhaus Michael K.,
Gunlogson Christine A.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
cognitive science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.498
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1551-6709
pISSN - 0364-0213
DOI - 10.1080/03640210802138755
Subject(s) - pitch accent , utterance , contrast (vision) , comprehension , linguistics , psychology , stress (linguistics) , eye tracking , cognitive psychology , communication , computer science , philosophy , artificial intelligence , prosody
Although the presence or absence of a pitch accent clearly can play an important role in signaling the discourse and information structure of an utterance, whether the form of an accent determines the type of information it conveys is more controversial. We used an eye‐tracking paradigm to investigate whether H*, which has been argued to signal new information, evokes different eye fixations than L+H*, which has been argued to signal the presence of contrast. Our results demonstrate that although listeners interpret these accents differently, their interpretive domains overlap. L+H* creates a strong bias toward contrast referents whereas H* is compatible with both new and contrast referents.