Perceiving Dialects: A Magnitude Estimation Study

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Perceiving Dialects A Magnitude Estimation Study

• L.A. Stowe
• J. Hoeksema
• R. Hartsuiker
• M Devos
• Collaboration University of Groningen ond
  University of Gent

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Introduction

• In what ways do language variants differ?
• Under conditions of contact how are these
  differences processed?
• But first

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Introduction

• Perception
• Grammaticality judgments (frequently by
  individuals)
• Production
• Elicitation
• Corpus frequency
• Does perception mirror production?

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Two variants of Dutch

• Northern (Netherlands Standard Dutch)
• Southern (Belgian Standard Dutch)
• Syntactic differences
• Generally more a difference of frequency than of
  grammaticality

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Overview

• Embedded verb cluister interruption
• No agreement marker in definite neuter
• Verbal particle early in embedded clause
• Missing infinitive marker

• North South
• Rare Less rare
• Rare Frequent
• Frequent Less freq
• Rare Less rare

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Subjects

• Northern
• 56 students
• University of Groningen
• Native Dutch speakers
• Northern provinces
• Little southern exposure

• Southern
• 56 students
• University of Gent
• Native Dutch speakers
• Little northern exposure

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Overview

• Embedded verb cluster interruption

• North South
• Rare Less rare

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Verbal Cluster Interruption

• PP/NP Inflected V Nonfinite Verb
• Inflected V PP/NP Nonfinite Verb
• more common in the Southern variant, although
  still rare
• Interrupted order relatively archaic
• More common in idiomatic expressions

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Materials

• Dat waren kwesties die de heren uit het oog
  hadden verloren
• Dat waren kwesties die de heren hadden uit het
  oog verloren
• Lit Those were questions that the gentlemen had
  out the eye lost (lost track of)
• Matched sentence sets

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Procedure

• Magnitude estimation
• To be able to generalize across speaker group
• For finer distinctions than grammaticality
  judgments
• Item sets distributed across lists so matched
  without repetition

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Analysis

• Judgment converted to Z-scores
• For greater comparability across groups
• Average judgment per condition calculated for
  each subject and each item
• Subject and item AnOVas
• Language Variant, Cluster Interruption (Idiom)

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Southern vs. Northern
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Discussion

• Increased production frequency within language
  variant increases acceptability
• But infrequent forms are still relatively less
  acceptable
• Role of idiomaticity?

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Non-idiomatic Sentences

• Dat waren brieven die de dames in hun tas hadden
  gestopt.
• ?Dat waren brieven die de dames hadden in hun
  tas gestopt.
• Lit Those were letters that the ladies had in
  their bags placed.

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Northern Results
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Southern Results
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Discussion

• confirms role for idiomaticity in perception as
  well as production
• Present in both dialects
• although larger effect in the Southern variant

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Overview

• Embedded verb cluster interruption
• No agreement marker in definite neuter

• North South
• Rare Less rare
• Rare Frequent

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Noun Agreement Northern

• Het oude huis
• Een oud huis

• de oude man
• Een oude man

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Southern Variant(for some lexical combinations)

• de oude man
• Een oude man

• Het oud huis
• Een oud huis

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Noun Agreement

• Er werden tijdens het belangrijke gesprek een
  paar afspraken gemaakt.
• ?Er werden tijdens het belangrijk gesprek een
  paar afspraken gemaakt.
• Lit There were during the important conversation
  a couple-of agreements made.

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Potential Issue

• If we see little difference
• is this just because it is easy to miss the
  visual instantiation of agreement in a sentence?

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Agreement Controls

• Er werden tijdens de lange vergadering een paar
  punten besproken.
• Er werden tijdens de lang vergadering een paar
  punten besproken.
• Lit There were during the long meeting a
  couple-of points discussed.

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Southern Results
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Northern Results
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Discussion

• Perception clearly mirrors production
• Inflectionless inflected version for the
  Southern variant

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Overview

• Embedded verb cluster interruption
• No agreement marker in definite neuter

• North South
• Rare Less rare
• Rare Frequent

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Discussion

• Rarity vs. grammaticality?
• More acceptable than verb cluster interruption
  even for Northern variant
• Just as rare and possibly more ungrammatical
• Salience?
• Embedded in complex sentence
• Limits generalization across types of
  construction

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Overview

• Embedded verb cluster interruption
• No agreement marker in definite neuter
• Verbal particle early in embedded clause

• North South
• Rare Less rare
• Rare Frequent
• Frequent Less freq

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Verbal Particle Position

• Inflected V Particle-Nonfinite Verb
• Particle Inflected V Nonfinite Verb
• less common in the Southern variant
• 1/10

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Particle Placement

• De chef vroeg hoe het team de werkzaamheden zou
  indelen.
• ?De chef vroeg hoe het team de werkzaamheden in
  zou delen.
• Lit The manager asked how the team the tasks
  would apportion.

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Effects of Length

• De chef vroeg hoe het team de erkzaamheden zou
  willen indelen
• ?De chef vroeg hoe het team de werkzaamheden in
  zou willen delen
• Lit The manager asked how the team the tasks
  would want to apportion.

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Northern Results
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Southern Results
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Discussion

• Perception mirrors production
• Additional interaction with length of verb
  cluster
• Difficult to identify in corpora due to frequency
  differences for the constructions

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Discussion

• But big difference in production frequency does
  not lead to extreme differences in acceptability
• 1/10 still fairly frequent for frequently
  occurring construction

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Overview

• Embedded verb cluster interruption
• No agreement marker in definite neuter
• Verbal particle early in embedded clause
• Missing infinitive marker

• North South
• Rare Less rare
• Rare Frequent
• Frequent Less freq
• Rare Less rare
• Frequent

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Lexical Selection Infinitive

• V to-VP
• V VP

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Lexical Selection Infinitive

• Het publiek begon (te) praten.
• Lit The audience began (to) talk
• De baby probeerde (te) lopen.
• Lit The baby tried (to) walk.

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Control Conditions

• De ongenode gast durfde (te) zitten.
• Lit The uninvited guest dared (to) sit.
• Het was moeilijk om (te) reizen
• Lit It was difficult (to) travel.

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Results
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Discussion

• No evidence for production pattern 8in
  comprehension
• Why not?
• Lexical vatiation based on verb?
• Register (written vs. spoken)?
• Normative influences?
• Confirmation of production easier to interpret
  than failure to confirm

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Overview

• Embedded verb cluister interruption
• No agreement marker in definite neuter
• Verbal particle early in embedded clause
• Missing infinitive marker

• North South
• Rare Less rare
• Rare Frequent
• Frequent Less freq
• Rare Less rare
• Frequent

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Summary

• In general perception mirrors production
• Frequency certainly plays a role for
  perception
• Grammaticality less so, or at least masked by
  salience

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Directions for further research

• More direct on-line measures
• How do people deal with contact between variants?
• Effects of perceiving the other variant
• Role of experience with other variant

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The End
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Om
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Durven
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