No description available.

Esta dissertação visa analisar o uso no português brasileiro, doravante PB, da pista prosódica de duração de sílabas na produção e percepção de sentenças ambíguas do tipo SN1-V-SN2-Atributo, tais como A mãe encontrou a filha suada. Tais sentenças apresentam contextos em que pode haver reestruturação de frases fonológicas a depender da interpretação escolhida. Um dos trabalhos que guiaram esta pesquisa foi o de MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006), no qual os autores também observaram sentenças com ambiguidade devido à presença de um atributo que pode se referir ao sujeito ou ao objeto da oração. Fonologicamente, tais leituras podem ser explicadas pelo fato de o atributo poder ou não se juntar a seu núcleo na construção do domínio da frase fonológica, em que, se há fronteira, um alongamento é esperado (NESPOR & VOGEL, 1996). ANGELO & SANTOS (2012, 2015) concluíram que os falantes não realizaram alongamento significativo, porém, observaram uma tendência a produzir sentenças de aposição não local mais longas. O que se propõe, então, é que o alongamento é um fenômeno existente na língua, mas é opcional. Se isto é verdade, sempre que ele for feito, a sentença deve ser interpretada como não local. Caso contrário, haveria uma variação nas respostas perceptuais ou preferência por aposição local (Princípio da Aposição Local verificado por MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006) no PB com base no Princípio de Late Closure apontado por FRAZIER (1979)). Dois testes foram realizados: No de produção, além dos 30 falantes de Angelo & Santos, mais 20 foram escolhidos e outros 10 recuperados para que lessem ambas as versões de cada uma das 9 sentenças em meio a histórias que guiavam a um ou outro significado, totalizando 720 dados. No de percepção, foram selecionadas as 3 versões mais longas (de aposição não local) e as 3 mais curtas (de aposição local) do teste de produção para cada sentença, em um teste onde 30 ouvintes selecionaram através de imagens qual a interpretação obtida, totalizando 1620 dados. Primeiramente, os resultados apontaram para diferenças significativas observando o tipo de estrutura (os falantes alongaram e acertaram as não locais). Por tipo de sentença, a diferença foi significativa na maioria delas, confirmando a predição de que, ainda que o alongamento seja opcional na produção, uma vez realizado, ele serve como condutor para uma interpretação não local. Para as sentenças locais, o Princípio de Aposição Local verificado no PB por MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006) também foi observado em nosso experimento. Por fim, os resultados apontam para 2 tipos de estruturas que podem interferir no processo de alongamento: Sentenças em que o atributo é formado por adjetivos deverbais (geração de uma fronteira CP) e sentenças que permitem construções de small clause (bloqueio da reestruturação). / The aim of this thesis is to analyze the use of syllable duration in Brazilian Portuguese (henceforth BP) as a prosodic cue in the perception and production of syntactically ambiguous sentences with a NP1-V-NP2-attribute structure (lit. The mother has found her daughter sweating). This type of sentence is produced in contexts where phonological phrases may be restructured, depending on how the sentences are interpreted. A reference for the present research was the study by MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006), who also found sentences which ambiguity was due to the presence of an attribute that may refer to either the subject or the object of the clause. Phonologically, interpretations of the above-mentioned structure can be explained by the fact that attributes may or may not join the head in the construction of the phonological phrase domain, because lengthening is expected when there is a boundary (NESPOR & VOGEL, 1996). ANGELO & SANTOS (2015) found that the speakers in their study did not make significant lengthening; however, they tended to produce high attachment in longer sentences. It is suggested, therefore, that although lengthening exists in BP as a phenomenon, it is optional. If this is actually true, sentences should be interpreted as having high attachment whenever lengthening is produced. Otherwise, it is assumed that there is variation in perceptual responses or preference for low attachment (Low Attachment Principle, found in PB by MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006), based on the Late Closure Principle proposed by Frazier (1979)). Data were collected with two tests. In the sentence-reading production test, 30 speakers from the study by ANGELO & SANTOS (2015)) and 20 new speakers read one version of each sentence, while 10 out of the former 30 read two versions, thus the corpus was made of a total of 720 sentences. The perception test used the three longest versions (with high attachment) and the three shortest versions (with low attachment) of each sentence. The informants who took the test chose the image that best represented the meaning that they assigned to each sentence. A total of 1620 data were produced. Overall results showed significant differences for type of structure (the informants lengthened and identified high attachments correctly). For sentence type, there were significant differences in most sentences, thus confirming the hypothesis that lengthening is optional in production and, once it has been performed, it can lead a sentence to be interpreted as having high attachment. For sentences with low attachment, the Low Attachment Principle suggested by MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006) also occurred in our experiment. The findings signal two types of structures that may interfere with the lengthening process: sentences whose attribute is formed by deverbal adjectives (generation of a CP phrasal boundary) and sentences that allow small clause constructions (restructuring is blocked).

Esta dissertação visa analisar o uso no português brasileiro, doravante PB, da pista prosódica de duração de sílabas na produção e percepção de sentenças ambíguas do tipo SN1-V-SN2-Atributo, tais como A mãe encontrou a filha suada. Tais sentenças apresentam contextos em que pode haver reestruturação de frases fonológicas a depender da interpretação escolhida. Um dos trabalhos que guiaram esta pesquisa foi o de MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006), no qual os autores também observaram sentenças com ambiguidade devido à presença de um atributo que pode se referir ao sujeito ou ao objeto da oração. Fonologicamente, tais leituras podem ser explicadas pelo fato de o atributo poder ou não se juntar a seu núcleo na construção do domínio da frase fonológica, em que, se há fronteira, um alongamento é esperado (NESPOR & VOGEL, 1996). ANGELO & SANTOS (2012, 2015) concluíram que os falantes não realizaram alongamento significativo, porém, observaram uma tendência a produzir sentenças de aposição não local mais longas. O que se propõe, então, é que o alongamento é um fenômeno existente na língua, mas é opcional. Se isto é verdade, sempre que ele for feito, a sentença deve ser interpretada como não local. Caso contrário, haveria uma variação nas respostas perceptuais ou preferência por aposição local (Princípio da Aposição Local verificado por MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006) no PB com base no Princípio de Late Closure apontado por FRAZIER (1979)). Dois testes foram realizados: No de produção, além dos 30 falantes de Angelo & Santos, mais 20 foram escolhidos e outros 10 recuperados para que lessem ambas as versões de cada uma das 9 sentenças em meio a histórias que guiavam a um ou outro significado, totalizando 720 dados. No de percepção, foram selecionadas as 3 versões mais longas (de aposição não local) e as 3 mais curtas (de aposição local) do teste de produção para cada sentença, em um teste onde 30 ouvintes selecionaram através de imagens qual a interpretação obtida, totalizando 1620 dados. Primeiramente, os resultados apontaram para diferenças significativas observando o tipo de estrutura (os falantes alongaram e acertaram as não locais). Por tipo de sentença, a diferença foi significativa na maioria delas, confirmando a predição de que, ainda que o alongamento seja opcional na produção, uma vez realizado, ele serve como condutor para uma interpretação não local. Para as sentenças locais, o Princípio de Aposição Local verificado no PB por MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006) também foi observado em nosso experimento. Por fim, os resultados apontam para 2 tipos de estruturas que podem interferir no processo de alongamento: Sentenças em que o atributo é formado por adjetivos deverbais (geração de uma fronteira CP) e sentenças que permitem construções de small clause (bloqueio da reestruturação). / The aim of this thesis is to analyze the use of syllable duration in Brazilian Portuguese (henceforth BP) as a prosodic cue in the perception and production of syntactically ambiguous sentences with a NP1-V-NP2-attribute structure (lit. The mother has found her daughter sweating). This type of sentence is produced in contexts where phonological phrases may be restructured, depending on how the sentences are interpreted. A reference for the present research was the study by MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006), who also found sentences which ambiguity was due to the presence of an attribute that may refer to either the subject or the object of the clause. Phonologically, interpretations of the above-mentioned structure can be explained by the fact that attributes may or may not join the head in the construction of the phonological phrase domain, because lengthening is expected when there is a boundary (NESPOR & VOGEL, 1996). ANGELO & SANTOS (2015) found that the speakers in their study did not make significant lengthening; however, they tended to produce high attachment in longer sentences. It is suggested, therefore, that although lengthening exists in BP as a phenomenon, it is optional. If this is actually true, sentences should be interpreted as having high attachment whenever lengthening is produced. Otherwise, it is assumed that there is variation in perceptual responses or preference for low attachment (Low Attachment Principle, found in PB by MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006), based on the Late Closure Principle proposed by Frazier (1979)). Data were collected with two tests. In the sentence-reading production test, 30 speakers from the study by ANGELO & SANTOS (2015)) and 20 new speakers read one version of each sentence, while 10 out of the former 30 read two versions, thus the corpus was made of a total of 720 sentences. The perception test used the three longest versions (with high attachment) and the three shortest versions (with low attachment) of each sentence. The informants who took the test chose the image that best represented the meaning that they assigned to each sentence. A total of 1620 data were produced. Overall results showed significant differences for type of structure (the informants lengthened and identified high attachments correctly). For sentence type, there were significant differences in most sentences, thus confirming the hypothesis that lengthening is optional in production and, once it has been performed, it can lead a sentence to be interpreted as having high attachment. For sentences with low attachment, the Low Attachment Principle suggested by MAGALHÃES & MAIA (2006) also occurred in our experiment. The findings signal two types of structures that may interfere with the lengthening process: sentences whose attribute is formed by deverbal adjectives (generation of a CP phrasal boundary) and sentences that allow small clause constructions (restructuring is blocked).

It is well-known that the early assignment of prominence in sequences like THIRteen MEN vs. thirTEEN, (defined as the Rhythm Rule, or post-lexical stress shift), is an optional phenomenon. This dissertation examines some of the factors that encourage the application of stress shift in English and how it is phonetically realised. The aim is to answer two sets of questions related to why and how stress shift occurs in English: 1a) Does prosodic boundary strength influence stress shift? 1b) Does the adjacency of prominences above the level of the segmental string encourage stress shift? 2) How is stress shift realized? a) Is stress shift only a perceptual phenomenon? and b) Which syllables, if any, change acoustically when stress shift is perceived? To answer these questions, four experiments were designed. The first three experiments test whether the strength of the prosodic boundaries before and after the target word (e.g., canteen) influence stress shift. The effect of the strength of the left-edge prosodic boundary was investigated by comparing perceived stress patterns of the target (e.g., canteen) as produced in isolation where it is preceded by an utterance- and a phrase- initial prosodic boundary (the Isolated condition) with its rendition when embedded in a frame sentence (e.g., Say canteen again) where the left prosodic boundary before canteen is weaker (the Embedded condition). Results show a very clear tendency towards late phrasal prominence on the final accentable syllable (e.g., -teen in canteen) in the Embedded condition while in the Isolated condition this pattern appeared in less than half of the targets, showing that the stronger left boundary increased the incidence of stress shift. Two more experiments manipulated the strength of the boundary to the right of the target (#) respectively by changing the syntactic parse of the critical phrase (e.g. canteen cook) in sequences like (1) and by manipulating constituent length as in (2). Results showed that the syntactic manipulation significantly affected the strength of the prosodic boundary between the clashing words which was stronger in (1b) relative to (1a), and affected the incidence of stress shift, which was higher in (1a) relative to (1b). The length manipulation also affected the rate of stress shift, which was significantly higher in the phrase with the shorter word, e.g., soups (2a) relative to phrase with the longer word, e.g., supervisors (2b). (1) Example from the Syntax Experiment a. Who is the canteen (#) cook these days? (Pre-modifier + Noun) b. How do the canteen (#) cook these days? (NP + VP) (2) Example from the Length Experiment a. It should include the canteen (#) soups again. (Shorter constituent) b. It should include the canteen (#) supervisors again. (Longer constituent) Whilst we knew from the literature that the grouping of the clashing words within one Intonational Phrase (IP) encourages stress shift, results from the Syntax and Length experiments indicate that this (i.e., the phrasing of the clashing words within same IP) is not sufficient condition for the occurrence of stress shift, and that fine-grained degrees of boundary strength below the Intonational Phrase can drive changes in prominence pattern. The fact that higher rates of stress shift (and associated significant acoustic changes) were driven by manipulations of constituent length --for sequences with the same syntactic structure-- provides support for the idea that prosodic (rather than syntactic) boundaries directly influence stress shift. The fourth experiment tests the definition of stress clash in English in cases like fourteen candles where the two main lexical prominences are strictly adjacent along the time dimension, in fourteen canoes where the prominences are not adjacent in time, but adjacent at the higher levels of the metrical hierarchy, and in fourteen canteens where the main lexical prominences are not adjacent, and do not clash. This experiment highlighted and resolved an unacknowledged disagreement about what clash status sequences with one weak intervening syllable (e.g., fourTEEN caNOES). The fourTEEN caNOES type were shown to behave like metrically clashing sequences (e.g., fourteen CANdles) in attracting stress shift, and differently from the non-metrically-clashing sequences (e.g., fourteen CANTEENS) in discouraging it. These results provide empirical support for the Standard Metrical Theory (e.g. Selkirk, 1984; Nespor & Vogel, 1989) claim that 1) stress clash matters in triggering stress shift and that 2) stress clash in English is defined at the higher prosodic levels and not restricted to the level of the segmental string as indirectly assumed in a growing body of research (e.g., Vogel, Bunnel & Hoskins, 1995; Tomlinson, Liu & Fox Tree, 2014). Along with the establishment of prosodic boundary strength as one of the predictors influencing stress shift, another important contribution of the thesis is providing empirical evidence that the English Rhythm Rule is not solely a perceptual phenomenon and that it is associated with acoustic correlates. The main correlates of perceived stress shift consistently appearing across experiments is the decrease in the duration of the main lexical prominence of the target (e.g., -teen in canteen) and the increase of fundamental frequency and Sound Pressure Level peaks and on the initial syllable (e.g., canin canteen), when followed by a main clashing phrasal prominence. The acoustic analysis shows that the first accentable syllable also contributes in the perception of stress shift. This latter result does not lend support to the deletion formulation of the Rhythm Rule (Gussenhoven, 1991) which stipulates that the impressions of stress shift are solely associated with changes of prominence in the last accentable syllable of the target (e.g. -teen in canteen). Along with the determination of the acoustic correlates of perceived stress shift in English, the present research 1) indicates that fine-grained gradations of prosodic boundary strength can influence stress shift, 2) shows that while stress clash can increase the incidence of stress shift, stress shift can take place even in environments completely free of stress clash, and 3) provides evidence that stress clash should not be construed simply as the concatenation of two main lexical prominences along the time dimension.