Bean C, Folkins J W, Cooper W E
Department of Psychology, University of Iowa.
J Speech Hear Res. 1989 Dec;32(4):707-12. doi: 10.1044/jshr.3204.707.
It may be inferred from reaction time studies that the location of emphasis on nouns and noun phrases facilitates their comprehension (understanding and memory). However, we know of no previous demonstration of improved passage comprehension in normal listeners associated with emphasis placement. The present experiment examined effects of emphasis on comprehension of 12 passages that were read aloud and tape recorded. Emphasis placement was varied by splicing sentences containing emphasized or nonemphasized noun phrases into passages without altering the wording of the passages. These passages, contrasting in emphasis, were presented to 60 listeners. Comprehension was measured with multiple-choice, recognition questions that required subjects to link ideas across sentences. Comprehension was accurate significantly more often when correct response alternatives had been emphasized (71%), than when incorrect alternatives had been emphasized (56%), or no emphasis occurred in passages (57%). Findings reflect enhanced comprehension of emphasized items in terms of their meaning links to other concepts presented in passages. Results support the pragmatic assumption that the role of emphasis is to delineate constituents important in discourse meaning.
从反应时间研究中可以推断，对名词和名词短语的强调位置有助于它们的理解（理解和记忆）。然而，我们之前并未发现有任何证据表明，正常听众在听文章时，强调位置的不同会对文章理解产生影响。本实验研究了强调对12篇大声朗读并录音的文章理解的影响。通过将包含强调或非强调名词短语的句子拼接进文章中，而不改变文章的措辞，来改变强调位置。这些强调方式不同的文章被呈现给60名听众。通过多项选择题和识别问题来衡量理解程度，这些问题要求受试者将不同句子中的观点联系起来。当正确答案选项被强调时，理解的准确率显著更高（71%），而当错误选项被强调时，准确率为（56%），文章中没有强调时，准确率为（57%）。研究结果表明，通过将强调的内容与文章中呈现的其他概念建立意义联系，对强调内容的理解得到了增强。结果支持了这样一种语用假设，即强调的作用是勾勒出在语篇意义中重要的成分。
