28.602, Diss: Connected Speech Processes and Lexical Access in Real-Time Comprehension

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LINGUIST List: Vol-28-602. Wed Feb 01 2017. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 28.602, Diss: Connected Speech Processes and Lexical Access in Real-Time Comprehension

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Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2017 10:07:51
From: Mercedeh Mohaghegh [mercedeh.mohaghegh at mail.utoronto.ca]
Subject: Connected Speech Processes and Lexical Access in Real-Time Comprehension

 
Institution: University of Toronto 
Program: Department of Linguistics 
Dissertation Status: Completed 
Degree Date: 2016 

Author: Mercedeh Mohaghegh

Dissertation Title: Connected Speech Processes and Lexical Access in Real-Time
Comprehension 

Dissertation URL:  http://media.wix.com/ugd/4dc26d_2369d060addd4dd3aebc768ec7610e8d.pdf

Linguistic Field(s): Phonetics
                     Phonology
                     Psycholinguistics


Dissertation Director(s):
Craig Chambers
Yoonjung Kang
Philip J Monahan
Elizabeth Johnson
Benjamin V Tucker

Dissertation Abstract:

Connected speech can entail variability in the production of speech sounds.
This can in turn create ambiguity at the lexical level. For example, the word
bean in ‘bean box’ can sound like beam due to the phonological process of
coronal-to-labial place assimilation. Previous studies have shown that
listeners can perceptually compensate for place assimilation, but the extent
of compensation, as well as the factors that guide this process, are a topic
of ongoing debate.

This thesis explores listeners’ compensation for place assimilation from
several novel perspectives. One specific concern involves potential
differences across the sound classes affected by place assimilation (nasal
versus oral stops), and whether these sound classes show similar patterns of
compensation when the triggering phonological context (i.e., a word-initial
labial consonant following the assimilated sound) is or is not present. A
second issue is the extent to which effects of compensation are observed for
these sound classes in the early moments of word recognition, and a third
consideration is whether the English lexicon is structured in a way that
minimizes confusion. An acoustic analysis, two word identification
experiments, and two experiments using an eye tracking methodology combined
with a priming paradigm are used to examine the production and perceptual
processing of unassimilated and assimilated word-final nasal and oral stops. A
corpus analysis is also conducted to explore the structure of the lexicon with
respect to the cases where place assimilation might result in lexical
ambiguity.

I demonstrate that complete compensation for assimilation may be less likely
to occur than previously assumed. However, the phonological context
information clearly plays a role in compensation for assimilation even when
the degree of assimilation is very strong. Further, the results of priming
manipulations suggest that the precise nature of compensation may vary across
sound classes. Finally, the structure of the lexicon seems to reflect the
potential for confusion that results from coronal-to-labial assimilation in
nasal and oral stops. Together, the findings suggest that, in addition to
general auditory processing, inferential mechanisms and the statistical
patterning of sounds within the lexicon play important roles in facilitating
the recognition of assimilated words.




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