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The role of word structure in segmental serial ordering
1Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.
Cognition
|March 1, 1992
Summary
Phonological encoding errors in American English increase when consonants share syllable positions, particularly word onsets or before stressed vowels. This suggests positional similarity significantly impacts speech production.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Phonetics
- Psycholinguistics
Background:
- Speech production involves complex phonological encoding processes.
- Understanding segmental interaction errors is key to modeling speech.
- Positional constraints within syllables are hypothesized to influence these errors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To test if syllable position similarity adequately describes constraints on segmental interaction errors in American English.
- To investigate the role of word onset and pre-stress vowel positions in phonological encoding.
Main Methods:
- Five error elicitation experiments were conducted.
- Tongue-twisters based on confusable consonant pairs were used.
- Interaction errors were systematically recorded and analyzed.
Main Results:
- Interaction errors increased when target consonants shared the same position within the syllable.
- Errors were more frequent when consonants occupied the word onset.
- Errors also increased before a stressed vowel.
Conclusions:
- Syllable position similarity is a significant factor in segmental interaction errors.
- Word onset and pre-vowel positions are actively involved in phonological encoding.
- These findings contribute to understanding the mechanisms of speech production and errors.