Abstract
We examine the mechanisms that support interaction between lexical, phonological and phonetic processes during language production. Studies of the phonetics of speech errors have provided evidence that partially activated lexical and phonological representations influence phonetic processing. We examine how these interactive effects are modulated by lexical frequency. Previous research has demonstrated that during lexical access, the processing of high frequency words is facilitated; in contrast, during phonetic encoding, the properties of low frequency words are enhanced. These contrasting effects provide the opportunity to distinguish two theoretical perspectives on how interaction between processing levels can be increased. A theory in which cascading activation is used to increase interaction predicts that the facilitation of high frequency words will enhance their influence on the phonetic properties of speech errors. Alternatively, if interaction is increased by integrating levels of representation, the phonetics of speech errors will reflect the retrieval of enhanced phonetic properties for low frequency words. Utilizing a novel statistical analysis method, we show that in experimentally induced speech errors low lexical frequency targets and outcomes exhibit enhanced phonetic processing. We sketch an interactive model of lexical, phonological and phonetic processing that accounts for the conflicting effects of lexical frequency on lexical access and phonetic processing.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 58-72 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Cognition |
| Volume | 121 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2011 |
Funding
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health NIDCD Grant DC007977 and National Science Foundation Grant BCS0846147 to MG. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NIH or NSF. AM’s work on this project was supported by a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the Northwestern University Cognitive Science Program. We thank the members of the Northwestern University SoundLab and Phonatics discussion group for helpful comments on this research, Ann Bradlow and Colin Wilson for helpful discussions and Christopher Ahern for his assistance in running the experiment.
Keywords
- Interactivity
- Lexical frequency
- Mixture models
- Phonetics
- Speech errors
- Speech production
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Language and Linguistics
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Linguistics and Language
- Cognitive Neuroscience