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Related Experiment Video

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Foreign Accent and Forensic Speaker Identification in Voice Lineups: The Influence of Acoustic Features Based on Prosody

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Published on: September 27, 2024

Does word length affect speech onset latencies when producing single words?

Markus F Damian¹, Jeffrey S Bowers, Hans Stadthagen-Gonzalez

¹Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, England. m.damian@bristol.ac.uk

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition

|June 23, 2010

Summary

This study on spoken word production found no evidence for word length affecting speech initiation speed. Findings suggest entire words are encoded before speaking, with only the first syllable buffered for articulation.

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Area of Science:

Psycholinguistics
Cognitive Science
Speech Production Research

Background:

Spoken production models often predict faster initiation for shorter utterances.
The existence of word-length effects in single-word production remains a debated topic in psycholinguistics.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether word length influences the speed of single word production.
To examine the phonological encoding and articulatory buffering stages in speech production.

Main Methods:

Conducted experiments manipulating word length in picture naming tasks.
Utilized bilingual speakers (Dutch and English) to name objects and words of varying lengths.
Introduced syllable-based distractors to probe articulatory buffer mechanisms.

Main Results:

No significant latency differences were observed in picture naming tasks based on word length.
A word-length effect was found in word naming but not in picture naming across languages.
Syllable distractors sped up responses without revealing a word-length effect.

Conclusions:

Phonological encoding of an entire word occurs before response initiation.
Only the initial syllable of a word is placed into the articulatory buffer for speech production.
Word length does not appear to impact the initiation speed of spoken words in picture naming.