Converging evidence on the nature of the segmental representation underlying spoken word recognition

Abstract

Previous work has shown that the segmental representation used in recognizing spoken words does not correspond to the traditional abstract phoneme [Gagnon and Sawusch (1989)]. However, the evidence did not unequivocally distinguish between two alternative proposals—allophones and position‐specific phonemes. In the previous study, subjects heard natural CVC prime‐target pairs in various degrees of phonetic overlap and named the second item (the target) as quickly as possible. The present study adopted the same approach but utilized a phoneme monitoring task in which subjects responded whenever the target began with a designated phoneme. The pattern of RT results, while different from that obtained in the naming task, again supported a rejection of the phoneme and shed further light on the nature of the representation. Similar patterns across word and nonword blocks and across trials in which voice was the same versus different within a prime‐target pair were found with both tasks. A comparison will be made of the two task types in terms of the results generated and the implications for their use in studying on‐line spoken word recognition. [Work supported by NINCDS.]