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Abstract:
We investigated how spoken words are recognized when they have been altered by phonological
assimilation. Previous research has shown that there is a process of perceptual compensation for
phonological assimilations. Three recently formulated proposals regarding the mechanisms for compensation
for assimilation make different predictions with regard to the level at which compensation is
supposed to occur as well as regarding the role of specific language experience. In the present study,
Hungarian words and nonwords, in which a viable and an unviable liquid assimilation was applied,
were presented to Hungarian and Dutch listeners in an identification task and a discrimination
task. Results indicate that viably changed forms are difficult to distinguish from canonical forms independent
of experience with the assimilation rule applied in the utterances. This reveals that auditory
processing contributes to perceptual compensation for assimilation, while language experience has
only a minor role to play when identification is required.
