Perceptual Adaptation to Unfamiliar Dialects in an Eye-Tracking Task
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Date
2024-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
In studies of lexical access, popular models such as the Cohort model and TRACE model cover generalized aspects of language processing (Marslen-Wilson, 1987; McClelland & Elman, 1986). However, more recent studies show that a more continuous and flexible model is necessary to capture the moment-by-moment processes. Evidence shows that listeners with more variable dialectal experience alter their lexical processing strategies to be more flexible than those with mono-dialectal experience (Clopper & Walker, 2017). The current study used a visual world eye-tracking task to measure online lexical processing of native English speakers with varying backgrounds of geographic mobility. The study measured long term exposure through a demographic questionnaire and controlled short term exposure with a short story priming portion of the experiment told in either a Southern American English or novel dialect. The main task of the experiment was created using words that would become ambiguous in these dialects. Results showed increased adaptation for participants with higher varying dialect exposure in the unfamiliar dialect condition relative to participants with lower dialect exposure. These results provide support for the flexibility of lexical processing and further research into the role regional dialects play in individual language processing.
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regional dialect, lexical access, eye-tracking, linguistics