Listener-oriented phonetic reduction and theory of mind

Predictable words tend to be phonetically reduced relative to unpredictable words. Under “listener-oriented” accounts of this phenomenon, the talker has tacit knowledge of their interlocutor's mental state. These theories consequently predict that individual variation in theory of mind is related to magnitude of probabilistic phonetic reduction. The current study tests this prediction for three acoustic variables (word duration, vowel duration, and vowel dispersion) in two definitions of predictability (contextual predictability and discourse mention). A relationship between individual variation in theory of mind and phonetic reduction was observed only for semantic predictability, and in the direction opposite to that predicted by listener-oriented theories. Taken together, these results are not consistent with the predictions of a strong interpretation of listener-orientation in speech production.