We are happy to announce the next talk in the Phonology Colloquium by Alice Turk (University of Edinburgh)



Title: The Smooth Signal Redundancy Hypothesis and Prosodic Structure.

Date: Wednesday, 14.12.2022

Time: 16-18 ct.

Location: in person on campus IG 4.301 (if necessary, we will stream the talk via Zoom)

If you are registered in Olat you’ll find the Zoom link there. If you want to participate via Zoom, please register via email to Alina Gregori: gregori@lingua.uni-frankfurt.de

The Smooth Signal Redundancy Hypothesis and Prosodic Structure



In this talk, I review the claims of the Smooth Signal Redundancy hypothesis in speech production.  The Smooth Signal Redundancy view hypothesizes that speakers plan the complementarity of language redundancy (recognition likelihood based on lexical, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic factors as well as real world knowledge) and acoustic redundancy (recognition likelihood based on acoustic salience) in order to achieve a smooth signal redundancy profile (even recognition likelihood of all elements in an utterance).  I discuss evidence that speakers control signal redundancy through the manipulation of planned prosodic structure, which includes both prominence and constituent structure. This evidence suggests that the Smooth Signal Redundancy hypothesis provides an explanation for effects of prosodic structure on phonetic form. Available alternative explanations plausibly explain some of the effects, but are not as comprehensive as the explanation offered by the Smooth Signal Redundancy Hypothesis.