Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 19, 2026
Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology
Published on: June 29, 2021
[German phoneme contrast hierarchy. A study with preschool children]
1Klinik und Poliklinik für Phoniatrie und Pädaudiologie der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover.
Background:
Phonemes are defined as the smallest possible units of speech with a distinctive function. Major and minor class features are used to describe individual phonemes. Phoneme opposition is based on distinctive feature contrasts. Here we constructed minimal pairs (MP) with different degrees of opposition. Preschool children were asked to repeat these MP after auditory presentation. We then investigated whether the phoneme contrast hierarchy corresponded to the empirically found degree of difficulty.
Methods:
A total of 161 preschool children (96 boys, 65 girls) participated voluntarily. Real word MP (RW-MP) and nonsense word MP (L-MP) were presented from a CD recording via loudspeakers. MP were based on phonemes covering a wide range of phoneme oppositions. The children had to repeat the MP. Confusion errors were compared to the degree of phoneme opposition.
Results:
A weak correlation was found between the theoretical degree of phoneme opposition and the phoneme confusion error matrix. When errors within an item block were added, no significant correlation was found. However, for MP with the least degree of opposition, confusion errors were always highest.
Discussion:
The degree of markedness in MP influenced the correct perception/production of these MP. This influence must be regarded as fairly weak.
