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Computer Science @ Rochester
Friday, May 13, 2011
12:45 PM
CSB 703
Judith Degen
University of Rochester
Speakers sacrifice some (of the) precision in conveyed meaning to accommodate robust communication
The process of encoding an intended meaning into a linguistic utterance is well-known to be affected by production pressures. For example, there is mounting evidence that speakers prefer to distribute information uniformly across the linguistic signal, which maximizes information transmission (Uniform Information Density, UID) and ensures robust communication. Support for UID comes from apparently meaning-equivalent alternating forms: speakers prefer the form with more linguistic signal when the encoded meaning is contextually unexpected (e.g. different word pronunciations, object drop, auxiliary- contraction, optional that-mentioning). However, it is an open question whether and to what extent precision in encoding the intended message trades off with the preference to distribute information uniformly when two linguistic forms are similar, but arguably not meaning-equivalent.

We addressed this question in a corpus study investigating the choice between simple vs. partitive "some". These forms, while generally assumed to differ in meaning, arguably also overlap in meaning. We found that the preference to uniformly distribute information over the linguistic signal affects the choice between these forms even after controlling for meaning differences. This suggests that, rather than production pressures applying only after restriction of permissible forms by the semantics, the pressure to robustly communicate a core meaning applies in parallel with the goal to find the most precise form to encode an intended meaning.