The lexical statistics of competitor activation in spoken-word recognition

Anne Cutler, James M. McQueen, Maarten Jansonius, Saskia Bayerl

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperConference Paper

    Abstract

    The Possible Word Constraint is a proposed mechanism whereby listeners avoid recognising words spuriously embedded in other words. It applies to words leaving a vowelless residue between their edge and the nearest known word or syllable boundary. The present study tests the usefulness of this constraint via lexical statistics of both English and Dutch. The analyses demonstrate that the constraint removes a clear majority of embedded words in speech, and thus can contribute significantly to the efficiency of human speech recognition.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationProceedings of the 9th Australian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology, held in Melbourne, Victoria, 3-5 December, 2002
    PublisherAustralian Speech Science and Technology Association
    Number of pages6
    Publication statusPublished - 2002
    EventAustralian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology -
    Duration: 1 Jan 2004 → …

    Conference

    ConferenceAustralian International Conference on Speech Science and Technology
    Period1/01/04 → …

    Keywords

    • speech perception
    • Dutch language
    • English language
    • vowels
    • lexical phonology

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