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Free keywords:
pronunciation variation, speech comprehension,
lexical storage, phonological reconstruction, speech reduction,
word learning
Abstract:
This paper investigates how listeners process regular
pronunciation variants, resulting from simple general reduction
processes. Study 1 shows that when listeners are presented with
new words, they store the pronunciation variants presented to
them, whether these are unreduced or reduced. Listeners thus
store information on word-specific pronunciation variation.
Study 2 suggests that if participants are presented with
regularly reduced pronunciations, they also reconstruct and
store the corresponding unreduced pronunciations. These
unreduced pronunciations apparently have special status.
Together the results support hybrid models of speech
processing, assuming roles for both exemplars and abstract
representations.
