Q Step Summer Research Projects 2016
Project leader /
Dr Catherine Davies
Supervisor
Email
[email protected]
Project reference
ARTS1-LP-CD
Project Title
Speaker identity in metaphor processing
Location of Placement
Linguistics & Phonetics, University of Leeds
Brief overview of project (including whether it involves quantitative or qualitative research)
How does speaker style affect language processing? Do we make different predictions about
what a speaker is going to talk about, and about how they’ll do it, depending on their age,
gender, knowledge, or speaking style?
This project builds on psycholinguistic research showing that speaker identity influences
language processing (Creel, Aslin & Tanenhaus, 2008; Kamide, 2012; Metzing & Brennan, 2003;
Yildirim, Degen, Tanenhaus & Jaeger, 2016). It focuses on metaphor as an example of potential
lexical ambiguity, e.g. ‘a nut’ might mean quite different things if intended literally or
metaphorically. It uses eye tracking to monitor how hearers make predictions as they listen to
different speakers, and generates quantitative data to measure these comprehension processes.
Links to external organisation/s (if relevant)
N/A.
Nature of tasks to be pursued by the placement holder (and quantitative/qualitative research
skills to be developed)
We are looking for an intern with a background in Linguistics or Psychology to assist with the
following tasks (all training will be given):
 Preparing quantitative eye tracking data using Excel and R (the data will have already
been collected)
 Running statistical analyses on this data in SPSS and R
Depending on the progress of the project by the time the internship starts, the intern may also
be asked to assist with the following tasks:
 Recruiting, scheduling, and testing experimental participants using the EyeLink
1000Plus eye tracker, adhering to scientific and ethical protocols
 Backing up the data collected each day
 Maintaining our adult and child language development labs
 Quantitative data processing on related projects in language acquisition and
processing
The project will provide experience in quantitative research methods, hands-on practice with
Q Step Summer Research Projects 2016
specialist equipment and software, and theoretical grounding in the processing of linguistic
pragmatics.
Nature of contact with / support for placement holder from staff member
The placement holder will be supervised both in person and remotely by the project leader for
the duration of the placement.