24
Cognitive Science of Language Lecture Series talk by Dr. Niebuhr
By Linguistics and Languages Department
Free Lecture for Faculty, Graduate Students, Researchers
Overview
You are invited to the next talk of the Cognitive Science of Language lecture series organized by McMaster’s Department of Linguistics and Languages. The lecture will be delivered online by Dr. Oliver Niebuhr, University of Southern Denmark. Please email lingdept@mcmaster.ca to request a link.
Title: Vocal charisma under the (phonetic) microscope: Definitions, effects, and myths
Abstract: The presentation summarizes the state-of-the-art of prosodic research on speaker charisma, particularly with regard to three points: (1) the relevance of prosody in perceived speaker charisma, (2) the effects of prosodic charisma triggers on ratings and actions of listeners, and (3) popular statements on prosodic charisma from the advisory literature and their relation to scientific evidence. On this basis, the presentation sensitizes to the necessity of phonetics to deal with charismatic effects and their acoustic stimuli, and it outlines perspectives for how phonetics can improve people’s everyday life by helping them to assess and train their prosodic charisma.