Using Mimicry to Learn about Mental Representations
This challenges foundational assumptions in intonational phonology, potentially shifting how mental representations of speech are modeled.
The paper investigated whether discrete phonological representations are useful for describing intonation contours, using mimicry experiments to show that human behavior is better represented by attractor models that retain fine detail, with no evidence supporting discrete representations in speech production.
Phonology typically describes speech in terms of discrete signs like features. The field of intonational phonology uses discrete accents to describe intonation and prosody. But, are such representations useful? The results of mimicry experiments indicate that discrete signs are not a useful representation of the shape of intonation contours. Human behaviour seems to be better represented by a attractors where memory retains substantial fine detail about an utterance. There is no evidence that discrete abstract representations that might be formed that have an effect on the speech that is subsequently produced. This paper also discusses conditions under which a discrete phonology can arise from an attractor model and why - for intonation - attractors can be inferred without the implying a discrete phonology.