Infrequent words are longer in duration than frequent words.

Abstract

Studies measuring productions of frequent and infrequent words have shown an increased duration for the infrequent items. However, this increase has previously been attributed to anything but word frequency: differences in the number of phonemes, in the duration of the phonemes themselves, in the number of letters in the spelling, in functional load, and even in the pauses between the items. The present study attempted to avoid those interpretations by using high-frequency/low-frequency homophones that are not also homographs (e.g., ‘‘through’’/‘‘threw’’). In this way, the number and type of phonemes were exactly controlled for. In addition, the items were chosen so that the lower frequency word had the same number of letters or fewer, and did not have an exceptional spelling unless the higher frequency word did as well. These items were then produced in a rehearsed, speeded list, where functional load was negligible. Even so, the infrequent items were longer in duration (by about 3% in preliminary measurements). Since identical phonemes strings were uttered, these results suggest that a link to the lexicon is maintained throughout production. [Work supported by NIH Grant DC-00825.]