Sublexical representations in auditory word recognition : evidence from lexical learning
The main question this thesis addresses is whether auditory word recognition proceeds directly from the input to the lexicon or whether there is a prelexical level of processing where segmental units are recognised. In the first part, I situate the question in a wider context of representational issues, and show that it is a crucial question because it allows us to distinguish two broad types of word recognition models: what may be called direct- and mediated-access models. A review of the research literature addressing this question shows that existing experimental results are inconclusive. The second, experimental, part of the thesis addresses the research question with a lexical learning paradigm. English-speaking subjects are first trained to recognise novel words that contain a non-native speech sound (a voiceless bilabial fricative); they then perform two tasks designed to determine whether they have acquired prelexical representations for the nonnative segment. The tests used are repetition priming and phonetic categorisation. The results of the repetition priming task are consistent with direct-access models; but for methodological reasons they have to be regarded as inconclusive. The results of the
Wiget, Lukas
Linguistics
Sublexical representations in auditory word recognition : evidence from lexical learning. The main question this thesis addresses is whether auditory word recognition proceeds directly from the input to the lexicon or whether there is a prelexical level of processing where segmental units are recognised. In the first part, I situate the question in a wider context of representational issues, and show that it is a crucial question because it allows us to distinguish two broad types of word recognition models: what may be called direct- and mediated-access models. A review of the research literature addressing this question shows that existing experimental results are inconclusive. The second, experimental, part of the thesis addresses the research question with a lexical learning paradigm. English-speaking subjects are first trained to recognise novel words that contain a non-native speech sound (a voiceless bilabial fricative); they then perform two tasks designed to determine whether they have acquired prelexical representations for the nonnative segment. The tests used are repetition priming and phonetic categorisation. The results of the repetition priming task are consistent with direct-access models; but for methodological reasons they have to be regarded as inconclusive. The results of the
representation auditory word_recognition evidence lexical learning main_question address_whether auditory word_recognition proceeds directly input lexicon whether level processing segmental unit recognise first_part situate question wider_context representational issue show crucial question allow distinguish_two broad type word_recognition model may call direct mediated access model review_literature address_question show exist experimental inconclusive second experimental part address_question lexical learning paradigm english_speaking subject first train recognise novel word_contain non_native speech_sound voiceless fricative perform task_design determine_whether acquire representation segment test use repetition prim phonetic categorisation repetition prim task consistent direct access model methodological reason regard inconclusive