Léo Varnet @leovarnet@qoto.org

In languages with grammatical gender, it has been evidenced that using masculine forms as a generic reference induces a bias favoring masculine-specific representations. It is worth repeating that this statement is a well-established scientific result, not a matter of conjecture or debate (See my previous thread here: https://qoto.org/@leovarnet/110457249392068688) (2/7)

I'm thrilled to annouce that our latest article on #GenderFairLanguage has been published in #Frontiers in #Psychology! You can read it here: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1256779/full?&utm_source=Email_to_authors_&utm_medium=Email&utm_content=T1_11.5e1_author&utm_campaign=Email_publication&field=&journalName=Frontiers_in_Psychology&id=1256779
As one of the coauthors, I'd like to share some key insights from our research as a thread 🔽
#openaccess @psychology @psycholinguistics @linguistics #EcritureInclusive #GenderFair #GenderNeutral @tract_linguistes

Two upcoming workshops in #acoustics and #audition in Paris. Both free of charge (or very cheap) and both in late November:
- Auditory Development Workshop organized by Axelle Calcus and Laurianne Cabrera https://audidev.sciencesconf.org/ (20-21 November)
- Journées Perception Sonore co-organized by #SFA and #IRCAM https://sites.google.com/view/jps-2023/accueil?authuser=0 (21-22 November)
@psycholinguistics #psychoacoustics #psycholinguistics #developmental @psychology

Cherry on the cake, all experiments are fully reproducible and all analyses entirely replicable using our home-made toolbox fastACI https://github.com/aosses-tue/fastACI, and the data is openly available on #Zenodo https://zenodo.org/record/7865424 #OpenScience #OpenData #OpenAccess (6/6)

For the French speakers here, a little demo of the effect. By modifying the prosody of a sentence we can radically change its meaning. http://dbao.leo-varnet.fr/demo-cest-lamie-cest-la-mie/ (5/X)

Oops there seems to be a problem with the link... here'sthe correct one: https://pubs.aip.org/asa/jel/article/3/9/095205/2912705/Prosodic-cues-to-word-boundaries-in-a-segmentation

Sorry, wrong identifier... @AcousticalSocietyofAmerica

...we were able to measure the typical prosody interpreted as "c'est l'ami" vs. the one interpreted as "c'est la mie". This is our main result. In a nutshell, the fundamental frequency and duration of the initial vowel ("a") determine if you will hear the sound as one word ("l'ami") or two ("la mie"). And this works with other pairs of words too! (4/X)

To reveal this acoustic difference (or "segmentation cue"), we simply generated many new utterances with a random prosody and had participants to categorize them as "c'est l'ami" or "c'est la mie". Then, by relating the exact prosody in each trial and the corresponding response of the observer... (3/X)

We used ambiguous speech stimuli in french, like the sentence "c'est l'ami" (this is the friend) which can also be understood as "c'est la mie" (this is the crumb). The two sentences have exactly the same phonetic content. Still, listeners are generally able to distinguish between them, which indicates that there should be some subtle acoustic differences they can rely on. (2/X)

New #OpenAccess article published in JASA-EL @AcousticalSocietyofAmerica! We used a new technique to explore how listeners segment continuous speech sounds into words. A thread and a demo ⬇️

https://pubs-aip-org.insb.bib.cnrs.fr/asa/jel/article/3/9/095205/2912705/Prosodic-cues-to-word-boundaries-in-a-segmentation
@psycholinguistics @psychology @linguistics #psycholinguistics #linguistics

Last week, I was at Forum Acusticum, a European conference in acoustics. Traditionally, the opening session includes an awards ceremony. I was shocked to discover that in the ten previous editions of the conference, no prize has *ever* been awarded to a woman scientist (gender ratio = 0/20!). And this year, the jury didn't do any better. We're still a long way from gender equality in some scientific fields...

#Etamine, #Notilus et #Goelett : un calvaire pour tous les personnels des laboratoires du #CNRS https://sncs.fr/2023/09/14/etamine-notilus-et-goelett-un-calvaire-pour-tous-les-personnels-des-laboratoires-du-cnrs/
A titre d'exemple je reviens d'une mission à Turin. Total : J'ai dû comprendre la procédure de réservation qui avait encore changé (~1 jour complet avec la responsable admin de mon labo), réussir à me créer un compte sur #fcm (2h) puis réserver des billets de train avec tous les membres de mon équipe (4h car le système ne permet pas la réservation directe de correspondances en train en Europe https://qoto.org/@leovarnet/111057173095916190). Malheureusement suite à l'éboulement en Maurienne il a fallu annuler les billets et prendre des billets d'avion en urgence (1 journée complète). Et l'agence FCM a oublié d'acheter un billet retour ce qui m'a valu encore une demie journée de panique pour trouver un autre moyen de rentrer.
Tout ça n'est pas seulement horripilant, c'est aussi du temps où je suis payé par le denier public juste pour gérer des outils dysfonctionnels.