The effect of orthography on the recognition of pronunciation variants
Ikusi/ Ireki
Data
2020Egilea
Charoy, Jeanne
Samuel, Arthur G.
Charoy J, Samuel AG. The effect of orthography on the recognition of pronunciation variants. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2020;46(6):1121-1145. doi:10.1037/xlm0000781
Laburpena
In conversational speech, it is very common for words’ segments to be reduced or deleted. However,
previous research has consistently shown that during spoken word recognition, listeners prefer words’
canonical pronunciation over their reduced pronunciations (e.g., pretty pronounced [priti] vs. [priɾi]),
even when the latter are far more frequent. This surprising effect violates most current accounts of spoken
word recognition. The current study tests the possibility that words’ orthography may be 1 factor driving
the advantage for canonical pronunciations during spoken word recognition. Participants learned new
words presented in their reduced pronunciation (e.g., [trɒti]), paired with 1 of 3 spelling possibilities: (a)
no accompanying spelling, (b) a spelling consistent with the reduced pronunciation (a reduced spelling,
e.g., “troddy”), or (c) a spelling consistent with the canonical pronunciation (a canonical spelling, e.g.,
“trotty”). When listeners were presented with the new words’ canonical forms for the first time, they
erroneously accepted them at a higher rate if the words had been learned with a canonical spelling. These
results remained robust after a delay period of 48 hr, and after additional learning trials. Our findings
suggest that orthography plays an important role in the recognition of spoken words and that it is a
significant factor driving the canonical pronunciation advantage observed previously.