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Published on: July 13, 2019
Syllabification strategies in spoken word processing: evidence from phonological priming
1Volen National Center for Complex Systems & Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02254-9110, USA. titone@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Psychological Research
|January 1, 1997
Summary
Listeners primarily use the maximal onset principle for syllabification in auditory word recognition, attaching consonants to syllable onsets. The stress principle also plays a minor role.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Phonology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Auditory word recognition involves segmenting spoken words into syllables.
- Two proposed syllabification strategies are the maximal onset principle and the stress principle.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine which syllabification strategy, maximal onset or stress principle, is dominant in auditory word recognition.
- To investigate the role of phonological priming in understanding syllabification preferences.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments utilized bisyllabic words and nonwords with medial consonants.
- A phonological priming paradigm with artificially syllabified stimuli (using silence) was employed.
- Stimuli were manipulated to align with either the maximal onset principle (e.g., MAR-KET) or the stress principle (e.g., MARK-ET).
Main Results:
- Listeners demonstrated a preference for the maximal onset principle, attaching medial consonants to syllable onsets.
- Evidence suggests that the stress principle is also utilized, though to a lesser extent.
Conclusions:
- The maximal onset principle is the preferred strategy for syllabification during auditory word recognition.
- The stress principle contributes to syllabification, indicating a more complex processing mechanism than previously assumed.
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