Running Head: AUDIENCE DESIGN AFFECTS ACOUSTIC REDUCTION Audience Design Affects Acoustic Reduction Via Production Facilitation

Audience design affects acoustic reduction / 2 We examine the hypothesis that acoustic variation (e.g., reduced vs. prominent forms) results from audience design. Bard et al. (2000) have argued that acoustic prominence is unaffected by the speaker’s estimate of addressee knowledge, using paradigms that contrast speaker and addressee knowledge. We tested this question in a novel paradigm, focusing on the effects of addressees ’ feedback about their understanding. Speakers gave instructions to addressees about where to place objects (e.g., the teapot goes on red). We manipulated whether the addressee anticipated the object in the instruction by picking it up before the instruction. For anticipating addressees, speakers began speaking more quickly, and pronounced the word the with shorter duration, demonstrating effects of audience design. However, there were no effects on the head noun (e.g, teapot), as measured by duration, amplitude, and perceived intelligibility. We suggest a mechanism in which evidence about addressee understanding facilitates production processes, as opposed to triggering particular acoustic forms. Audience design affects acoustic reduction /