Utterances reveal not only semantic information but also information about the speaker’s social category membership, including sexual orientation. In four studies (N = 345), we investigated how the meaning of what is being said changes as a function of the speaker’s voice. In Studies 1a/1b, gay- and straight-sounding voices uttered the same sentences. Listeners indicated the likelihood that the speaker was referring to one among two target objects varying along gender-stereotypical characteristics. Listeners envisaged a more “feminine” object when the sentence was uttered by a gay-sounding speaker, and a more “masculine” object when the speaker sounded heterosexual. In Studies 2a/2b, listeners were asked to disambiguate sentences that involved a stereotypical behavior and were open to different interpretations. Listeners disambiguated the sentences by interpreting the action in relation to sexual-orientation information conveyed by voice. Results show that the speaker’s voice changes the subjective meaning of sentences, aligning it to gender-stereotypical expectations.

中文翻译：

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语音改变意义：在句子解释中同性恋与听起来直截了当的声音的作用

话语不仅揭示语义信息，还揭示关于说话者社会类别成员的信息，包括性取向。在四项研究 (N = 345) 中，我们调查了所说内容的含义如何随着说话者声音的变化而变化。在研究 1a/1b 中，同性恋和直言不讳的声音说出了相同的句子。听众表示说话者可能指的是两个根据性别定型特征而变化的目标对象中的一个。当说话者听起来是同性恋时，听众会想象出一个更“女性化”的对象，而当说话者听起来是异性恋时，会想象出一个更“男性化”的对象。在研究 2a/2b 中，听众被要求消除涉及陈规定型行为并愿意接受不同解释的句子的歧义。听众通过解释与声音传达的性取向信息相关的动作来消除句子的歧义。结果表明，说话者的声音改变了句子的主观含义，使其符合性别陈规定型的期望。