LINGUIST List 21.2670 Tue Jun 22 2010 Diss: Lang Acq/Phonology/Psycholing: Hatfield: 'Temporal Expectancy...' Editor for this issue: Evelyn Richter <evelynlinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.    Hunter Hatfield, Temporal Expectancy and the Experience of Statistics in Language Processing Message 1: Temporal Expectancy and the Experience of Statistics in Language Processing Date: 21-Jun-2010 From: Hunter Hatfield <hunterhhawaii.edu> Subject: Temporal Expectancy and the Experience of Statistics in Language Processing E-mail this message to a friend Institution: University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Program: Department of Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2010 Author: Hunter B Hatfield Dissertation Title: Temporal Expectancy and the Experience of Statistics in Language Processing Linguistic Field(s): Language Acquisition                             Phonology                             Psycholinguistics Dissertation Director: William O'Grady Dissertation Abstract: This dissertation assesses the relationship between statistical learning and temporal perception. It starts entertaining a bold hypothesis: that former demonstrations of statistical learning were actually demonstrations that isochronous word onsets could be used to segment words within speech. To assess this, two languages are created. One language employs varying word lengths (2 and 3 syllables) and varying word durations. The second employs varying word lengths and identical word durations. It is expected that learning will be better in the case with identical word durations. Three conclusions are reached through analysis of the resulting data. 1) The data cannot be adequately explained without positing knowledge of the statistical distributions of syllables. This then rejects the hypothesis that isochronous word onset intervals created a confound in previous work. However, the statistical knowledge is most consistent with the notion that the distributional patterns are signaling a prosodic break, not a lexical one. The Information / Duration hypothesis is presented along with this argument. This hypothesis states that an increase in uncertainty will be experienced as an increase in duration. 2) The time course of word segmentation should not be overlooked. Previous claims that one cue is stronger for segmentation than another cue might be better explained by temporal priority. Cues that are encountered first will set expectations more than later cues. 3) Statistical learning should result in greater demonstrations of learning than seen in the experimental results. This is most consistent with the presence of a competing cue. Entrainment to a rhythmic stimulus, the earlier proposed confound, is the most natural competing cue here. Much of the work is interpreted within theories of time perception based upon dynamic oscillators. The main result is that attention is a prime mechanism to control what sorts of items are calculated in statistical learning, and rhythm is one method to control attention. The dissertation also assesses what it is like for a speaker to experience a statistical distribution rather than simply calculate it. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 22-Jun-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.