“That Sounds Unlikely”: Syntactic Probabilities Affect Pronunciation

The probability of encountering a particular syntactic configuration, given a particular verb (i.e. “verb bias” or “subcategorization preference”) affects language comprehension (Trueswell, Tanenhaus, & Kello, 1993). A recent study (Gahl & Garnsey 2004) of sentences with temporary direct object / sentential complement ambiguities shows that such probabilities also affect language production, specifically pronunciation. In this paper, we extend that finding to a new sentence type – sentences with initial subordinate clauses with temporary closure ambiguities, such as If the tenants beg [, the landlord will let them stay | the landlord, he will let them stay]. We show systematic differences in the pronunciation of sentences with high vs. low probability structures, given their verbs. We briefly discuss the implications of this finding for research on sentence comprehension and pronunciation variation.