Type
Text
Type
Dissertation
Advisor
Brennan, Susan | Samuel, Arthur G | Freitas, Antonio | Huffman, Marie.
Date
2014-12-01
Keywords
clustering coefficient, cohort neighbors, phonological neighborhood density, rhyme neighbors, speech production, spoken word recognition | Cognitive psychology
Department
Department of Experimental Psychology.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77601
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
If speech perception and production share lexical representations, then properties of these representations should have similar effects in both modalities. Likewise, if the system supporting lexical processing is fundamentally the same regardless of the language implemented, then a given property should produce the same effect across all languages. However, previous research suggests cross-modal and cross-linguistic differences for one property: phonological neighborhood density, a measure of the number of similar-sounding words in a language. These studies have relied on existing words, affording little control over the numerous, and possibly confounding, properties associated with each word. To avoid these potential pitfalls, I created 48 Spanglish nonwords that could be plausible words in both English and Spanish. Critically, nonwords were designed to systematically vary in the way they connect with existing words in each language, i.e. | their new neighbors. The phonological neighborhoods these nonwords joined differed not only in overall density but also in the proportion of neighbors that are also neighbors of one another (i.e. | the clustering coefficient), and the number of neighbors that share the same onset or offset phoneme. In this way, the present research was designed to assess the role of clustering and position-specific neighbors in driving the phonological neighborhood density effects observed in English and Spanish. Results suggest that, while clustering and overall neighborhood density slows speech processing, offset neighbors facilitate perception and onset neighbors facilitate production. This, coupled with the fact that English neighbors tend to share onsets while Spanish neighbors tend to share offsets, can explain the previously observed cross-modal and cross-linguistic differences. | 125 pages
Recommended Citation
Pufahl, April, "" Bienvenido al vecindario" : Inserting Spanglish nonwords into English versus Spanish phonological neighborhoods." (2014). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 3400.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/3400