Authors:

Warren, P. & Marslen-Wilson, W.D.

Reference:

Year of publication:

1987

CBU number:

2154

Abstract:

The cohort model of spoken word recognition postulates a maximally efficient uptake of acoustic-phonetic information during lexical access and selection. To test this, we used the gating paradigm in two experiments to measure the effects of anticipatory vowel coarticulation in word-final vowel-consonant transitions on the recognition of spoken words. In Experiment 1, we tested place contrasts between plosives and manner contrasts among plosives, nasals, and fricatives; we found a continuous effect of coarticulatory changes in vowel spectra on the process of lexical choice. In Experiment 2, we included word frequency as a variable and found that the effects of frequency operate independently of coarticulatory effects. These results are inconsistent with views of spoken word recognition that insist on discrete phoneme- or syllable-sized delays in the projection of acoustic-phonetic information onto form representations in the mental lexicon.