Article published In:
TargetVol. 32:3 (2020) ► pp.482–506
The effect of cognitive load on temporal and disfluency patterns of speech
Evidence from consecutive interpreting and sight translation
This paper investigates how variation in the complexity of speech tasks is reflected in the temporal
characteristics and disfluency patterns of speech. We examined temporal characteristics (speech rate, global articulation rate,
ratio of pauses, frequency of pauses, and mean duration of pauses) and disfluency markers (overall frequency of disfluencies;
frequency of filled pauses, filler words, whole-word repetitions, part-word repetitions, broken words, prolonged sounds, and
revisions; frequency of disfluency clusters) in four speech production tasks (consecutive interpreting, sight translation,
spontaneous speech and extemporaneous speech) with twelve speakers.
Our hypothesis, according to which the examined parameters will differ across the four tasks, was partly confirmed
by the data; even though not all speech tasks differed significantly in all the examined parameters, our investigation revealed
that there were significant differences between some tasks in four parameters, and between others in nine out of the fourteen
parameters examined. Our data also suggest that in terms of the temporal characteristics and disfluency markers examined, the four
tasks can be represented on a continuum based on the cognitive load associated with each task. At one end of the continuum and
generating the least cognitive load is spontaneous speech, and at the other, generating the most cognitive load, is sight
translation.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Cognitive aspects of interpreting
- 1.2Cognitive load in four different speech tasks: Consecutive interpreting, sight translation, spontaneous speech and extemporaneous speech
- 1.3Temporal characteristics and disfluencies: Signs of problems in the speech planning and production processes
- 2.Materials and method
- 2.1Participants
- 2.2Materials and data-collection procedure
- 2.3Analysis of the data
- 3.Results
- 3.1Temporal characteristics
- 3.2Disfluencies
- 3.3Summary: A comparison of the four speech production tasks in terms of the parameters investigated
- 4.Discussion
- 5.Conclusion
-
References
References
Boersma, Paul, and David Weenink
2008 Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (
Version 5.0.1). Accessed June 26, 2020.
[URL]
Bóna, Judit
2014 “
Temporal Characteristics of Speech: The Effect of Age and Speech Style.”
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 136 (2): EL116–EL121.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bóna, Judit, and Mária Bakti
2014 “
A beszédtervezés és- kivitelezés temporális sajátosságai szinkrontolmácsok beszédprodukcióiban [Temporal characteristics of speech planning and execution in the speech production of simultaneous interpreters].”
Fordítástudomány 41 (1): 16–28.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chen, Sijia
2017 “
The Construct of Cognitive Load in Interpreting and its Measurement.”
Perspectives 25 (4): 640–657.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Duchin, Sandra W., and Edward D. Mysak
1987 “
Disfluency and Rate Characteristics of Young Adult, Middle-aged, and Older Males.”
Journal of Communication Disorders 20 (3): 245–257.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Englund Dimitrova, Brigitta, and Elisabet Tiselius
Fletcher, Janet
2010 “
The Prosody of Speech: Timing and Rhythm.” In
The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences, edited by
William J. Hardcastle,
John Laver, and
Fiona E. Gibbon, 521–602. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gile, Daniel
2015 “
The Contributions of Cognitive Psychology and Psycholinguistics to Conference Interpreting: A Critical Analysis.” In
Psycholinguistic and Cognitive Inquiries into Translation and Interpreting, edited by
Aline Ferreira and
John W. Schwieter, 41–64. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Goldman-Eisler, Frieda
1968 Psycholinguistics: Experiments in Spontaneous Speech. London: Academic Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gósy, Mária
2005 Pszicholingvisztika [
Psycholinguistics]. Budapest: Osiris.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gósy, Mária
2007 “
Disfluencies and Self-monitoring.”
Govor 24 (2): 91–110.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gósy, Mária
2012 “
Sorozatmegakadások mintázata a spontán beszédben [Complex disfluencies in spontaneous speech].”
Beszédkutatás 201: 107–131.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Grosjean, François, and Alain Deschamps
1975 “
Analyse contrastive des variables temporelles de l’anglais et du français: vitesse de parole et variables composantes, phénomènes d’hésitation [Contrastive analysis of temporal variables of English and French: Speech rate and component variables, hesitation phenomena].”
Phonetica 311: 144–184.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gyarmathy, Dorottya
2015 “
Diszharmóniás jelenségek, megakadások a beszédben [Disharmonies and disfluencies in speech].” In
Diszharmóniás jelenségek a beszédben [
Disharmony phenomena in speech], edited by
Mária Gósy, 9–49. Budapest: MTA Nyelvtudományi Intézet.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hubbard, Carol P., and Ehud Yairi
1988 “
Clustering of Disfluencies in the Speech of Stuttering and Nonstuttering Preschool Children.”
Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 31 (2): 228–33.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hurtado Albir, Amparo, and Fabio Alves
2009 “
Translation as Cognitive Activity.” In
The Routledge Companion to Translation Studies, edited by
Jeremy Munday, 54–73. Oxon: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jacewicz, Ewa, Robert Allen Fox, and Lai Wei
2010 “
Between-speaker and Within-speaker Variation in the Speech Tempo of American English.”
The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 128 (2): 839–850.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jones, Roderick
1998 Conference Interpreting Explained. Manchester: St. Jerome.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kahneman, Daniel
1973 Attention and Effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
LaSalle, Lisa R., and Edward G. Conture
1995 “
Disfluency Clusters of Children who Stutter: Relation of Stutterings to Self-repairs.”
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 38 (5): 965–977.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Levelt, Willem J. M.
1989 Speaking: From Intention to Articulation. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lickley, Robin J.
2015 “
Fluency and Disfluency.” In
The Handbook of Speech Production, edited by
Melissa A. Redford, 445–474. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mead, Peter
2000 “
Control of Pauses by Trainee Interpreters in their A and B Languages.”
The Interpreter’s Newsletter, 101: 89–102.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Plauché, Madelaine C., and Elizabeth E. Shriberg
1999 “
Data-driven Subclassification of Disfluent Repetitions based on Prosodic Features.” In
Proceedings of the 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Vol. 21, 1513–1516.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pöchhacker, Franz
2004 Introducing Interpreting Studies. London: Routledge.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pöchhacker, Franz
2013 Professor Franz Pöchhacker interviewed at Critical Link 7. Accessed October 5, 2015.
[URL]
Ramig, Lorraine A.
1983 “
Effects of Physiological Aging on Speaking and Reading Rates.”
Journal of Communication Disorders 16 (3): 217–226.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Roberts, Patricia M., Ann Meltzer, and Joanne Wilding
2009 “
Disfluencies in Non-stuttering Adults Across Sample Lengths and Topics.”
Journal of Communication Disorders 42 (6): 414–427.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Seeber, Kilian G.
2015 “
Cognitive Load.” In
The Routledge Encyclopedia of Interpreting Studies, edited by
Franz Pöchhacker, 60–61. Oxon: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Shreve, Gregory, Isabel Lacruz, and Erik Angelone
Tiselius, Elisabet
2018 “
Exploring Cognitive Aspects of Competence in Sign Language Interpreting of Dialogues: First Impressions.”
Hermes – Journal of Language and Communication in Business, 571: 49–61.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wickens, Christopher D.
1984 “
Processing Resources in Attention, Dual Task Performance, and Workload Assessment.” In
Varieties of Attention, edited by
Raja Parasuraman and
David Roy Davies, 63–102. Orlando: Academic Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Ma, Xingcheng, Dechao Li & Yu-Yin Hsu
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 april 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.