Uncovering phonological regularity in neologisms: Contributions of sonority theory

The sonority sequencing principle suggests that the relative sonority rank among sounds can explain intrasyllabic phoneme ordering patterns in words produced by normal speakers. Some investigators have incorporated sonority into explanations of the phonemic paraphasias and syllable structure deficits often seen in aphasic language. However, little is known about the role of sonority in constructing the bizarre words characteristic of neologistic jargonaphasia. This study examined the syllabic structure of the neologistic (and legitimate) utterances produced by three English-speaking jargonaphasics in order to determine if sonority constraints governed construction of neologisms at the level of core phonology. Results revealed that the demisyllable shapes and intrasyllabic sonority profiles of the subjects' target-related neologisms, abstruse neologisms and English words were similar to those produced by normal English speakers, as described by the theory. Results suggest that (1) sonority may be a well-distributed and 'hard-wired' component of normal phonological processing, (2) sonority analyses may capture the 'hidden' phonological regularity in neologisms, (3) sonority may constrain the operation of mechanisms that create neologisms.