This project investigates the interplay of prosodic prominence, discourse prominence, and interactional prominence as structuring principles in dyadic conversation. We investigate the behaviour of autistic as well as non-autistic and native as well as non-native speakers. On the basis of different conversational contexts, we examine these and other sources of speaker variability as well as dyad-specific patterns in the use and interpretation of multimodal cues (e.g., intonation, hand and head gestures, backchannels, and eye gaze).

See list of publications

Student Assistants

Nadezda Pelageina | npelage1(at)uni-koeln.de

Matteo Schmelzer | matteo.schmelzer(at)uni-koeln.de

Philippa Tuszik

Publications

To appear

2025

• Çokal, Derya, Jason Bishop, Jacopo Torregrossa, Clare Patterson, Martine Grice, Simon Wehrle, Maria Lialiou, Sophie Repp, Heiko Seeliger, Sonja Eisenbeiss, Klaus von Heusinger, Kai Vogeley, Petra B Schumacher. 2025. Individual differences in discourse management. Frontiers in Communication 10.
• Jeon, Hae-Sung, Constantijn Kaland & Martine Grice. 2025. Question intonation in conversational speech: Chungcheong and Gyeongsang varieties of Korean. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 158(1). 684-696.  pdf
• Sbranna, Simona, Simon Wehrle & Martine Grice. 2024. A multi-dimensional analysis of backchannels in L1 German, L1 Italian and L2 German. Language, Interaction, and Acquisition 14(2). 243–277. 

2024

• Mereu, Daniela, Francesco Cangemi & Martine Grice. 2024. Backchannels are not always very short utterances. The case of Italian Multi-Unit Backchannels. Journal of Pragmatics 228. 1–16.
• Savino, Michelina, Simon Wehrle & Martine Grice. 2024. The prosody of Italian newsreading: a diachronic analysis. In Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2024. Leiden.
• Sbranna, Simona, Michelina Savino, Florence Baills & Martine Grice. 2024. Vocal feedback and eye gaze patterns in Italian task-based dyadic conversations. In Proceedings AISV Annual Conference. Turin.
• Spaniol, Malin, Simon Wehrle, Alicia Janz, Kai Vogeley & Martine Grice. 2024. The Influence of Conversational Context on Lexical and Prosodic Aspects of Backchannels and Gaze Behaviour. In Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2024. Leiden.

2023

• Cangemi, Francesco, Martine Grice, Hae-Sung Jeon & Jane Setter. 2023. Contrast or context, that is the question. In Radek Skarnitzl & Jan Volín (eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 1360–1364. Prague, Czech Republic: Guarant International.
• Coretta, Stefano, Joseph V. Casillas, Simon Roessig, Michael Franke, [...], Timo B. Roettger. (with Francesco Cangemi, Martine Grice, Constantijn Kaland, Maria Lialiou, Malin Spaniol & Simon Wehrle). 2023. Multidimensional Signals and Analytic Flexibility: Estimating Degrees of Freedom in Human-Speech Analyses. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science 6(3). 1–29. pdf | A01, A02, A03, A04
• Cangemi, Francesco, Martine Grice, Alicia Janz, Valeria Lucarini, Malin Spaniol & Kai Vogeley. 2023. Content-free speech activity records: interviews with people with schizophrenia. Lang Resources & Evaluation.
• Grice, Martine, Simon Wehrle, Martina Krüger, Malin Spaniol, Francesco Cangemi & Kai Vogeley. 2023. Linguistic prosody in autism spectrum disorder—An overview. Language and Linguistics Compass 17(5). e12498.
• Sbranna, Simona, Simon Wehrle & Martine Grice. 2023. The use of Backchannels and other Very Short Utterances by Italian Learners of German. In Proceedings of XVIII AISV Conference “The position of the speaker in interaction: attitudes, intentions, and emotions in verbal communication.” Naples, Italy. [Franco Ferrero Award for best article]
• Spaniol, Malin, Alicia Janz, Simon Wehrle, Kai Vogeley & Martine Grice. 2023. Multimodal signalling: the interplay of oral and visual feedback in conversation. In Radek Skarnitzl & Jan Volín (eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 4110–4114. Prague, Czech Republic: Guarant International.
• Wehrle, Simon. 2023. Conversation and Intonation in autism: A multi-dimensional analysis. Berlin: Language Science Press.
• Wehrle, Simon, Francesco Cangemi, Alicia Janz, Kai Vogeley & Martine Grice. 2023. Turn-timing in conversations between autistic adults: typical short-gap transitions are preferred, but not achieved instantly. PLoS ONE 18(4). e0284029.
• Wehrle, Simon, Martine Grice & Kai Vogeley. 2023. Filled Pauses Produced by Autistic Adults Differ in Prosodic Realisation, but not Rate or Lexical Type. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
• Wehrle, Simon & Christopher Sappok. 2023. Evaluating prosodic aspects of oral reading proficiency in schoolchildren: effects of gender, genre and grade. In Radek Skarnitzl & Jan Volín (eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 1275–1279. Prague, Czech Republic: Guarant International.
• Wehrle, Simon, Kai Vogeley & Martine Grice. 2023. Backchannels in conversations between autistic adults are less frequent and less diverse prosodically and lexically. Language and Cognition 1–26.
• Wehrle, Simon, Kai Vogeley & Martine Grice. 2023. Characteristics and distribution of silent pauses in conversations between autistic and non-autistic dyads. In Radek Skarnitzl & Jan Volín (eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, 3462–3466. Prague, Czech Republic: Guarant International.

2022

• Cangemi, Francesco. 2022. Schizophrenia at the crossroads of thought, language and communication. In Proceedings of the Technical Committee on Thought and Language (Yamagata University, November 2022), 1–5. Tokyo, Japan: The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers.
• Dusi, L., Valeria Lucarini, Francesco Cangemi, Jacopo Lucchese, Francesca Giustozzi, Francesca Magnani, Carlo Marchesi, Kai Vogeley, Martine Grice & Matteo Tonna. 2022. Language and turn-taking in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. European Psychiatry 65(1). 763–764.
• Garassino, Davide, Dalila Dipino & Francesco Cangemi. 2022. Per un approccio multidimensionale allo studio dell’intonazione: le domande in Genovese. In Stephan Schmid, Camilla Bernardasci, Dalila Dipino, Davide Garassino, Stefano Negrinelli & Elisa Pellegrino (eds.), Speaker Individuality in Phonetics and Speech Sciences: Speech Technology and Forensic Applications, 219–242. Milano: Officinaventuno.
• Sbranna, Simona, Eduardo Möking, Simon Wehrle & Martine Grice. 2022. Backchannelling across Languages: Rate, Lexical Choice and Intonation in L1 Italian, L1 German and L2 German. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Speech Prosody 2022, 734–738. Lisbon, Portugal.
• Wehrle, Simon, Francesco Cangemi, Kai Vogeley & Martine Grice. 2022. New evidence for melodic speech in Autism Spectrum Disorder. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Speech Prosody 2022, 37-41. Lisbon, Portugal.

2021

• Grice, Martine & Frank Kügler (eds.). 2021. Prosodic prominence – a cross-linguistic perspective. Special Issue of Language and Speech 64(2).
• Grice, Martine & Frank Kügler. 2021. Prosodic prominence – a cross-linguistic perspective. Language and Speech 64(2), 253–260.
• Lucarini, Valeria, Francesco Cangemi, Benyamin Daniel, Jacopo Lucchese, Francesca Paraboschi, Chiara Cattani, Carlo Marchesi, Martine Grice, Kai Vogeley & Matteo Tonna. 2021. Conversational metrics, psychopathological dimensions and self-disturbances in patients with schizophrenia. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience.
• Winter, Bodo & Martine Grice. 2021. Independence and generalizability in linguistics. Linguistics 59(5). 1251–1277.
• Zimmermann, Juliane T., Sara Meuser, Stefan Hinterwimmer & Kai Vogeley. 2021. Preserved Perspective Taking in Free Indirect Discourse in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Frontiers in Psychology 12: 2710.

2020

• Baumann, Stefan & Francesco Cangemi (eds.). 2020. Integrating phonetics and phonology in the study of linguistic prominence. Special Issue Journal of Phonetics.
• Cangemi, Francesco & Stefan Baumann. 2020. Integrating phonetics and phonology in the study of linguistic prominence [introduction to the Special Issue of the same name, eds. Baumann & Cangemi]. Journal of Phonetics 81, 100993.
• Cangemi, Francesco, Jessica Fründt, Harriet Hanekamp & Martine Grice. 2020. A semi-automatic workflow for orthographic transcription and syllabic segmentation. In Duccio Piccardi, Fabio Ardolino & Silvia Calamai (eds.), Gli archivi sonori al crocevia tra scienze fonetiche, informatica umanistica e patrimonio digitale / Audio archives at the crossroads of speech sciences, digital humanities and digital heritage. Milano: Italian Association for Speech Science (AISV).
• Grice, Martine, James Sneed German & Paul Warren. 2020. Intonation systems across varieties of English. In Carlos Gussenhoven & Aoju Chen (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Language Prosody, 285-302. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Lucarini, Valeria, Martine Grice, Francesco Cangemi, Juliane T. Zimmermann, Carlo Marchesi, Kai Vogeley & Matteo Tonna. 2020. Speech prosody as a bridge between psychopathology and linguistics: The case of the schizophrenia spectrum. Frontiers in Psychiatry, Section Social Cognition 11:531863. pdf
• Wehrle, Simon, Francesco Cangemi, Harriet Hanekamp, Kai Vogeley & Martine Grice. 2020. Assessing the Intonation Style of Speakers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Speech Prosody 2020 (online conference), 809-813. Tokyo, Japan.
• Zimmermann, Juliane T., Simon Wehrle, Francesco Cangemi, Martine Grice & Kai Vogeley. 2020. Listeners and lookers: Using pitch height and gaze duration for inferring mental states. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Speech Prosody 2020 (online conference). Tokyo, Japan. pdf

2019

• Cangemi, Francesco, Aviad Albert & Martine Grice. 2019. Modelling intonation: Beyond segments and tonal targets. Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS), 572-576. Melbourne, Australien.
• El Zarka, Dina, Barbara Schuppler & Francesco Cangemi. 2019. Acoustic cues to topic and narrow focus in Egyptian Arabic. Proceedings of Interspeech 2019, 1771-1775. Graz, Austria.
• Jording, Mathis, Arne Hartz, Gary Bente, Martin Schulte-Rüther & Kai Vogeley. 2019. Inferring interactivity from gaze patterns during triadic person-object-agent interactions. Frontiers in Psychology 10:1913.

2018

• Albert, Aviad, Francesco Cangemi & Martine Grice. 2018. Using periodic energy to enrich acoustic representations of pitch in speech: A demonstration. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Speech Prosody, 804-808. pdf
• Asano, Rie, Pia Bornus, Justin T. Craft, Sarah Dolscheid, Sarah E. M. Faber, Viviana Haase, Marvin Heimerich, Radha Kopparti, Marit Lobben, Ayumi M. Osawa, Kendra Oudyk, Patrick C. Trettenbrein, Timo Varelmann, Simon Wehrle, Runa Ya, Martine Grice & Kai Vogeley. 2018. Spring School on Language, Music and Cognition: Organizing Events in Time. Music & Science, 1-17.
• Cangemi, Francesco, Meghan Clayards, Oliver Niebuhr, Barbara Schuppler & Margaret Zellers (eds.). 2018. Rethinking reduction: Interdisciplinary perspectives on conditions, mechanisms, and domains for phonetic variation. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
• Cangemi, Francesco & Oliver Niebuhr. 2018. Rethinking canonical forms. In Francesco Cangemi, Meghan Clayards, Oliver Niebuhr, Barbara Schuppler & Margaret Zellers (eds.), Rethinking reduction: Interdisciplinary perspectives on conditions, mechanisms, and domains for phonetic variation. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton. pdf
• Grice, Martine, Michelina Savino, & Timo B. Roettger. 2018. Word final schwa is driven by intonation – the case of Bari Italian. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA) 143(4). 2474-2486. online first: pdf
• Krüger, Martina, Francesco Cangemi, Kai Vogeley & Martine Grice. 2018. Prosodic Marking of Information Status in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders. In Katarzyna Klessa, Jolanta Bachan, Agnieszka Wagner, Maciej Karpiński, & Daniel Śledziński (eds.), Proceedings of Speech Prosody 2018, 182-186. Poznań, Polen. pdf
• Torreira, Francisco & Martine Grice. 2018. Melodic constructions in Spanish: Metrical structure determines the association properties of intonational tones. Journal of the International Phonetic Association (JIPA) 48(1). 9-32. pdf
• Wehrle, Simon, Francesco Cangemi, Martina Krüger & Martine Grice. 2018. Somewhere over the spectrum: between singsongy and robotic intonation. In Alessandro Vietti, Lorenzo Spreafico, Daniela Mereu, Vincenzo Galatà (eds.), Il parlato nel contesto naturale. Proceedings of 14th Associazione Italiana Scienze della Voce Conference 2018, 179-194. Bolzano, Italien.

2017

• Bruggeman, Anna, Simon Wehrle, Francesco Cangemi, Dina El Zarka & Martine Grice. 2017. Unifying speaker variability with the tonal center of gravity. Proceedings of Phonetik und Phonologie im deutschsprachigen Raum (P&P) 13, Berlin, Deutschland.
• Grice, Martine, Simon Ritter, Henrik Niemann & Timo B. Roettger. 2017. Integrating the discreteness and continuity of intonational categories. Journal of Phonetics 64. 90-107.
• Ha, Kieu-Phuong & Martine Grice. 2017. Tone and intonation in discourse management - How do speakers of Standard Vietnamese initiate a repair? Journal of Pragmatics 107. 60-83. pdf