Lexical stress information modulates the time-course of spoken-word recognition

Abstract

Segmental as well as suprasegmental information is used by Dutch listeners to recognize words. The time-course of the effect of suprasegmental stress information on spoken-word recognition was investigated by tracking Dutch listeners' looks to arrays of four printed words on a computer screen as they listened to spoken sentences. Each target was displayed along with a competitor that did not differ segmentally in its first two syllables but differed in stress placement (e.g., 'CENtimeter' and 'sentiMENT'; capitals marking stressed syllables). The listeners' eye-movements showed that suprasegmental stress information is used to recognize the target before distinct segmental information is available. Furthermore, the presence of initial-syllable stress affected the degree to which words compete for recognition: Targets with non-initial stress ('sentiMENT') suffered from stronger competition than initially stressed targets ('CENtimeter'). Follow-up experiments showed that initial-syllable duration, as a cue to lexical stress, is not interpreted dependent on the speaking rate of the preceding carrier sentence. This still held when other stress cues like pitch and amplitude were removed. Rather, the speaking rate of the preceding carrier affected the speed of word recognition globally, even though the speaking rate of the target itself was not altered.