Testing the protracted lexical restructuring hypothesis: the effects of position and acoustic-phonetic clarity on sensitivity to mispronunciations in children and adults.
Although developmental increases in the size of the position effect within a mispronunciation detection task have been interpreted as consistent with a view of the lexical restructuring process as protracted, the position effect itself might not be reliable. The current research examined the effects of position and clarity of acoustic-phonetic information on sensitivity to mispronounced onsets in 5- and 6-year-olds and adults. Both children and adults showed a position effect only when mispronunciations also differed in the amount of relevant acoustic-phonetic information. Adults' sensitivity to mispronounced second-syllable onsets also reflected the availability of acoustic-phonetic information. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the lexical restructuring hypothesis.
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia. j.bowey@psy.uq.edu.au
Judith A
JA
Bowey
Eliana
E
Hirakis
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology