Manuscripted

When more is more: Redundant modifiers can facilitate visual search

Manuscript authors: Gwendolyn Rehrig, Reese A. Cullimore, John M. Henderson, & Fernanda Ferreira

Abstract

According to the Gricean Maxim of Quantity, speakers provide the amount of information listeners require to correctly interpret an utterance, and no more (Grice in Logic and conversation, 1975). However, speakers do tend to violate the Maxim of Quantity often, especially when the redundant information improves reference precision (Degen et al. in Psychol Rev 127(4):591–621, 2020). Redundant (non-contrastive) information may facilitate real-world search if it narrows the spatial scope under consideration, or improves target template specificity. The current study investigated whether non-contrastive modifiers that improve reference precision facilitate visual search in real-world scenes. In two visual search experiments, we compared search performance when perceptually relevant, but non-contrastive modifiers were included in the search instruction. Participants (NExp.1=48, NExp.2=48) searched for a unique target object following a search instruction that contained either no modifier, a location modifier (Experiment 1: on the top left, Experiment 2: on the shelf), or a color modifier (the black lamp). In Experiment 1 only, the target was located faster when the verbal instruction included either modifier, and there was an overall benefit of color modifiers in a combined analysis for scenes and conditions common to both experiments. The results suggest that violations of the Maxim of Quantity can facilitate search when the violations include task-relevant information that either augments the target template or constrains the search space, and when at least one modifier provides a highly reliable cue. Consistent with Degen et al. (2020), we conclude that listeners benefit from non-contrastive information that improves reference precision, and engage in rational reference comprehension.

Manuscript link: cognitiveresearchjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s41235-021-00275-4

           

Citation: Rehrig, G., Cullimore, R.A., Henderson, J.M. & Ferreira, F. (2021). When more is more: redundant modifiers can facilitate visual search. Cogn. Research 6, 10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-021-00275-4

Brutoglossia: Democracy, authenticity, and the enregisterment of connoisseurship in 'craft beer talk'

Manuscript author: Lex Konnelly

Read aloud by Mx. Vagrant Gautam.

Abstract

Building on Silverstein's (2003, 2016) oinoglossia (wine talk), this paper argues for a closely related genre: brutoglossia, (craft) beer talk. Drawing on a corpus of craft beer and brewery descriptions from Toronto, Canada, I argue that the appropriation of wine terminology and tasting practices (re)configures beer brewers and drinkers as ‘elite’ and ‘classy.’ The ‘specialist’ lexical and morphosyntactic components of wine discourse provide the higher order of indexicality through which the emergent technical beer terminology is to be interpreted. Together, the descriptions can be read as fields of indexicalities, mapping linguistic and semiotic variables associated with a particular social object: beer.

Manuscript link: https://tinyurl.com/brutoglossia

           

Citation: Konnelly, L. (2020). Brutoglossia: Democracy, authenticity, and the enregisterment of connoisseurship in 'craft beer talk'. Language & Communication, 75, 69-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2020.09.001

Social media: The author can be found on Twitter at @lexicondk. Read by @DippedRusk on Twitter.

Unsettling Languages, Unruly Bodyminds: Imaging a Crip Linguistics.

Manuscript authors: Jon Henner, Octavian Robinson

Read aloud by Mx. Vagrant Gautam.

Abstract

People use languages in different ways. Some people use language to help find other people like them. Many people use language in specific ways because of how their body and mind work. Sometimes a person’s environment and material conditions forces them to use language in a certain way. However, when someone languages outside of what people think is normal, others can think that they are bad with language or are not as smart or are broken. We are trying to point out that no one is actually ‘bad with language.’ Our goal with this paper is to help people understand that no language is bad. It is okay to want to change your own language use if it will make you feel better. But no one should make you feel bad about your language. We need a bigger and more flexible understanding of what language is and what it communicates about a bodymind’s capacity.

Manuscript link: https://criticalstudycommunicationdisability.org/index.php/jcscd/article/view/4

           

Citation: Henner, J., & Robinson, O. (2023). Unsettling Languages, Unruly Bodyminds: A Crip Linguistics Manifesto. Journal of Critical Study of Communication and Disability, 1(1), 7–37. https://doi.org/10.48516/jcscd_2023vol1iss1.4

Social media: The authors can be found on Twitter at @jmhenner and @DeafHistorian. Read by @DippedRusk on Twitter.

Singular they and the syntactic representation of gender in English.

Manuscript author: Bronwyn M. Bjorkman

Read aloud by the author.

Abstract

Singular they enjoys a curious notoriety in popular discussions of English grammar. Despite this, and though its use with quantificational, non-specific, and genuinely epicene antecedents dates back at least to the 1400s (Balhorn 2004), it has been little discussed in formal linguistics. This squib suggests an analysis of this longstanding use of they, while also describing a more recent change in they’s distribution, whereby many speakers now accept it with singular, definite, and specific antecedents of known binary gender. I argue that the distribution of they, in both conservative and innovative varieties, has implications for our understanding of the syntactic representation of gender in English, the structure of bound variable pronouns, and the regulation of coreference.

Published manuscript: https://www.glossa-journal.org/article/id/4942/

           

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.374

Citation: Bjorkman, B., (2017) “Singular they and the syntactic representation of gender in English”, Glossa: a journal of general linguistics 2(1), p.80. doi: https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.374

Author's website: http://bronwynbjorkman.net/

When scenes speak louder than words: Verbal encoding does not mediate the relationship between scene meaning and visual attention.

Manuscript authors: Gwendolyn Rehrig, Taylor R. Hayes, John M. Henderson, and Fernanda Ferreira

Read aloud by the first author.

Published manuscript: https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13421-020-01050-4

           

DOI: doi:10.3758/s13421-020-01050-4

Preprint: https://psyarxiv.com/3h7au

Supplemental material: https://osf.io/8mbyv/

Citation: Rehrig, G., Hayes, T. R., Henderson, J. M., & Ferreira, F. (2020). When scenes speak louder than words: Verbal encoding does not mediate the relationship between scene meaning and visual attention. Memory & Cognition, 48(7), 1181-1195.

A brief introduction to Manuscripted.

Transcript:

Welcome to Manuscripted, the podcast that... isn't really a podcast, in that it's not intended as entertainment, per se. Each episode is the spoken version of a peer-reviewed manuscript. The intention is to preserve as much of the manuscript as possible while presenting the material in a listenable format. Listenable does not mean entertaining: in keeping with the premise, each episode will be comprised entirely of read speech, and the content being read is technical in nature. It is not intended for a general audience. Indeed, the precise language that makes experimental work especially clear and replicable is often quite dry. So, listenable here specifically means that the work is being presented in auditory form with only minor changes. For example, in-text citations and statistics are omitted as these are tedious to rattle off in speech, and descriptions of the most important parts of each figure are included. The purpose of this disclaimer is not to dissuade anyone from listening, but only to make sure anyone who does decide to listen understands what they're getting into. You will find links to the published manuscript, as well as any publicly available supporting documents, if applicable, in the show notes for each episode. Thanks for listening and learning!