Abstract
Lexical phonological contrasts are generally binary and abound in asymmetries. For example, vowels can contrast in nasality (oral vs. nasal), but the presence of contrastive nasal vowels implies the presence of oral vowels, and not vice versa. The occurrence of geminates in a language implies the presence of single consonants and therefore, a contrast in consonantal length. Here we address the question of how these asymmetries constrain phonological representations of WORDS in the mental lexicon, and how these constraints affect language processing and change. Various phonological contrasts will be discussed including features, length, and tone, claiming that representations are discrete and asymmetric which in turn lead to asymmetry in processing. Experimental evidence will be presented from behavioural as well as brain imaging studies in Bengali, English, and German.
Published Version
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