Supervised by

There are many people who have helped and supported me in this process. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisers Mike Tanenhaus and Dick Aslin for many, many things including but not limited to ideas, encouragement, patience, hours of meetings, access to any resources I needed, and useful feedback on writing and presentations. I would also like to thank them, the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, the Center for Language Sciences and the relevant funding agencies for providing financial support and a rich collaborative environment in which to do this work. I would like to thank the members of my committee: Joyce McDonough who has been a secondary adviser throughout my time in Rochester, I want to thank for reassuring me that I can call myself a linguist and for always saying “this is important stuff ” even when the data was not what I wanted and for giving me many comments on previous drafts of this manuscript; and Robbie Jacobs who has been a collaborator on several of the studies described here, for always telling me “this is a good paper ” even when it got rejected. I would also like to thank people that I have worked with at Rochester who have been instrumental in my work and training. Primarily Bob McMurray who was a mentor an