scholarly journals The role of segmental and durational cues in the processing of reduced words

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco van de Ven ◽  
Mirjam Ernestus
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Word Comprehension ◽  
Degree Of Reduction ◽  
Initial Syllable ◽  
Word Duration ◽  
Gating Paradigm ◽  
Target Words

In natural conversations, words are generally shorter and they often lack segments. It is unclear to what extent such durational and segmental reductions affect word recognition. The present study investigates to what extent reduction in the initial syllable hinders word comprehension, which types of segments listeners mostly rely on, and whether listeners use word duration as a cue in word recognition. We conducted three experiments in Dutch, in which we adapted the gating paradigm to study the comprehension of spontaneously uttered conversational speech by aligning the gates with the edges of consonant clusters or vowels. Participants heard the context and some segmental and/or durational information from reduced target words with unstressed initial syllables. The initial syllable varied in its degree of reduction, and in half of the stimuli the vowel was not clearly present. Participants gave too short answers if they were only provided with durational information from the target words, which shows that listeners are unaware of the reductions that can occur in spontaneous speech. More importantly, listeners required fewer segments to recognize target words if the vowel in the initial syllable was absent. This result strongly suggests that this vowel hardly plays a role in word comprehension, and that its presence may even delay this process. More important are the consonants and the stressed vowel.

The contribution of prosody to spoken word recognition

1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
KIMBERLY C. LINDFIELD ◽  
ARTHUR WINGFIELD ◽  
HAROLD GOODGLASS
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Spoken Word Recognition ◽  
Spoken Word ◽  
Word Duration ◽  
Word Onset ◽  
Word Prosody

The experiment reported here employed a word-onset gating technique to investigate the role of prosody in word recognition. Subjects were asked to identify words based on word onsets alone, word onsets followed by information about the word duration, or word onsets followed by information about full word prosody (i.e., both duration and stress). Results showed that words were correctly recognized with significantly less segmental onset information when word prosody was available to the subjects. Consistent with this finding, prerecognition error responses reflected correct length and prosody with less onset phonology when prosody information was provided in the stimulus than when only length information was provided. The findings of this experiment confirm the importance of word prosody for spoken word recognition.

scholarly journals How robust are exemplar effects in word comprehension?

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Hanique ◽  
Ellen Aalders ◽  
Mirjam Ernestus
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Word Type ◽  
Speech Comprehension ◽  
Reduction Degree ◽  
Word Comprehension ◽  
Variation Reduction ◽  
Degree Of Reduction ◽  
Repeated Words

This paper studies the robustness of exemplar effects in word comprehension by means of four long-term priming experiments with lexical decision tasks in Dutch. A prime and target represented the same word type and were presented with the same or different degree of reduction. In Experiment 1, participants heard only a small number of trials, a large proportion of repeated words, and stimuli produced by only one speaker. They recognized targets more quickly if these represented the same degree of reduction as their primes, which forms additional evidence for the exemplar effects reported in the literature. Similar effects were found for two speakers who differ in their pronunciations. In Experiment 2, with a smaller proportion of repeated words and more trials between prime and target, participants recognized targets preceded by primes with the same or a different degree of reduction equally quickly. Also, in Experiments 3 and 4, in which listeners were not exposed to one but two types of pronunciation variation (reduction degree and speaker voice), no exemplar effects arose. We conclude that the role of exemplars in speech comprehension during natural conversations, which typically involve several speakers and few repeated content words, may be smaller than previously assumed.

The Sound of Enemies and Friends in the Neighborhood

2011 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 454-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Pecher ◽  
Inge Boot ◽  
Saskia van Dantzig ◽  
Carol J. Madden ◽  
David E. Huber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Visual Word Recognition ◽  
Neighborhood Effects ◽  
Classification Performance ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Orthographic Neighborhood ◽  
Semantic Classification ◽  
Semantic Class ◽  
Orthographic Neighbors ◽  
Target Words

Previous studies (e.g., Pecher, Zeelenberg, & Wagenmakers, 2005) found that semantic classification performance is better for target words with orthographic neighbors that are mostly from the same semantic class (e.g., living) compared to target words with orthographic neighbors that are mostly from the opposite semantic class (e.g., nonliving). In the present study we investigated the contribution of phonology to orthographic neighborhood effects by comparing effects of phonologically congruent orthographic neighbors (book-hook) to phonologically incongruent orthographic neighbors (sand-wand). The prior presentation of a semantically congruent word produced larger effects on subsequent animacy decisions when the previously presented word was a phonologically congruent neighbor than when it was a phonologically incongruent neighbor. In a second experiment, performance differences between target words with versus without semantically congruent orthographic neighbors were larger if the orthographic neighbors were also phonologically congruent. These results support models of visual word recognition that assume an important role for phonology in cascaded access to meaning.

An investigation of the role of grapheme units in word recognition

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. J. Lupker ◽  
J. Acha ◽  
C. J. Davis ◽  
M. Perea
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition

scholarly journals Word comprehension in temporal cortex and Wernicke area

Neurology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. e224-e233 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.-Marsel Mesulam ◽  
Benjamin M. Rader ◽  
Jaiashre Sridhar ◽  
Matthew J. Nelson ◽  
Jungmoon Hyun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Primary Progressive Aphasia ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Word Comprehension ◽  
Cerebrovascular Lesions ◽  
Core Components

ObjectiveTo explore atrophy–deficit correlations of word comprehension and repetition in temporoparietal cortices encompassing the Wernicke area, based on patients with primary progressive aphasia (PPA).MethodsCortical thickness in regions within and outside the classical Wernicke area, measured by FreeSurfer, was correlated with repetition and single word comprehension scores in 73 right-handed patients at mild to moderate stages of PPA.ResultsAtrophy in the Wernicke area was correlated with repetition (r = 0.42, p = 0.001) but not single word comprehension (r = −0.072, p = 0.553). Correlations with word comprehension were confined to more anterior parts of the temporal lobe, especially its anterior third (r = 0.60, p < 0.001). A single case with postmortem autopsy illustrated preservation of word comprehension but not repetition 6 months prior to death despite nearly 50% loss of cortical volume and severe neurofibrillary degeneration in core components of the Wernicke area.ConclusionsTemporoparietal cortices containing the Wernicke area are critical for language repetition. Contrary to the formulations of classic aphasiology, their role in word and sentence comprehension is ancillary rather than critical. Thus, the Wernicke area is not sufficient to sustain word comprehension if the anterior temporal lobe is damaged. Traditional models of the role of the Wernicke area in comprehension are based almost entirely on patients with cerebrovascular lesions. Such lesions also cause deep white matter destruction and acute network diaschisis, whereas progressive neurodegenerative diseases associated with PPA do not. Conceptualizations of the Wernicke area that appear to conflict, therefore, can be reconciled by considering the hodologic and physiologic differences of the underlying lesions.

World Englishes, Pragmatics, and Discourse

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yamuna Kachru
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
World Englishes ◽  
Cultural Communication ◽  
Conversational Speech ◽  
Cross Cultural Communication ◽  
Unique Site ◽  
Selection Of

The central role of English in cross-cultural communication worldwide has made it a unique site for understanding diversity in systems of discourse pragmatics. In contact situations, these differences can help to refine theoretical models, such as the question of how universal speech acts or properties of facework and politeness are. They can also have significant real-world implications in the form of cross-cultural (mis-) communication in globalized contexts. This chapter reviews a selection of examples of speech acts and politeness in World Englishes contexts that use theoretical models to account for variation, but in some instances also challenge elements of such models. The discussion also includes a consideration of variation in surface form as well as variation in discourse other than conversational speech, such as written genres.

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