Number Of Syllables Research Articles

31 Examining the Mechanisms of Verbal Working Memory Capacity Consumption in Monolingual Spanish-Speaking Individuals

Objective:Converging evidence across languages suggests that the word length effect (WLE; rate of number of syllables, phonemes, or pronunciation times per word) significantly contributes to estimates of verbal working memory (WM) capacity limits in the storage phase, but not in the manipulation phase (i.e., word length effect decay), of WM. Direct examination of the WLE on verbal WM performance within monolingual Spanish-speakers has not been reported. We investigated the psychophysical mechanisms of capacity consumption in Spanish-speakers across three syllabic word length rates to clarify the relative contributions of the WLE to storage (digit span forward) versus manipulation (digit span backward) memory phases within one language of monolingual speakers.Participants and Methods:Monolingual Spanish-speaking adults (N = 84) born in Latin American countries and age 18-65 completed testing over Zoom. Inclusion criteria required proficiency in the Spanish-language; exclusion criteria were bilingualism, multilingualism, TONI-4 IQ < 85, or history of head injury/LOC. A within-group design measured the WLE across three cognitive load conditions in the forward and backward directions of the digit span test varying in Spanish syllabic word length: the Mexican WAIS-IV Digit Span Test (“Standard Load”), and two modified measures with either a ∼20% decrease (“Low Load”) or ∼20% increase (“High Load”) in total syllables/digit relative to the Standard Load.Results:A reverse WLE was observed on syllable accuracy percentage task performance (p < 0.01), such that longer word length led to higher capacity limits during storage WM. A WLE, not decay, was found on both raw score (p < .001) and syllable accuracy percentage (p < 0.01) task performances during manipulation WM, where longer word length led to lower capacity limits.Conclusions:The reverse WLE was attributed to higher-order, executive-function cognitive strategies (such as chunking) that superseded negative word length effects. A larger syllabic discrepancy during manipulation WM could have superseded executive-function strategies, rendering a traditional WLE. Our study contributed more precise capacity estimates and clearer understanding of successful WM performance within monolingual, Latin American-born Spanish-speakers, helping to reduce cultural disparities in neurocognitive and neuropsychological research. Future studies may extend these findings to examine how WM capacity resources can be harnessed to improve memory strategies in clinically-applied settings with Spanish-speaking populations.

발화와 문장 분석 기준을 적용한 노년층의 구문산출능력

The important thing to consider when analyzing the performance of syntactic production is to set the basic criteria for analysis. Generally, ‘utterance’ that include incomplete clauses and ‘sentence’ that necessarily include complete clauses can be used as a basic criterion for analysis. Since utterances and sentences have different structural requirements, the results may differ depending on the basic criteria of analysis. The aim of the study is to confirm the differences in various analysis indicators according to the uttrance and sentence analysis criteria. To investigate syntactic characteristics according to age, 54 young people (27.31 ± 4.72), 48 middle-aged people (49.93 ± 5.80), and 40 old people (69.02 ± 5.44) participated. In the utterance analysis criteria, OA had fewer syllables, postpositional particles, endings, and grammatical morphemes than the YA. OA produced fewer mean length of utterance-word and the number of object case markers than the YA and MA. In the sentence analysis criteria, there was no difference in the number of syllables, postpositional particles, endings, and grammatical morphemes among the groups. These results suggest the applicability and basis of the sentence analysis criteria for investigating grammatical knowledge during syntax analysis.

The number of syllables per phrase in Great Tit (Parus major) song decreases in strong anthropogenic noise and at northern latitudes

Cover photo: Great Tit male. Photo: Alf Tore Mjøs. Birds may sing to defend a territory and to attract a mate. However, despite many studies clear conclusions remain on how ecological conditions affect the song, such as physical obstacles that may reduce the sound transmission, and anthropogenic noise that may mask the signal. The social environment of the local populations may also be important, such as breeding density and sex ratio, influencing the number of competing males with which to song match, and the distances to the neighbouring males and to prospecting females. During 2016-19, we counted the number of syllables (notes) per phrase of singing male Great Tits Parus major by visiting seven countries in Europe and one in North Africa. A total of 946 songs were observed by visiting 554 territories. We also recorded study year, anthropogenic noise, calendar date, time of day, type of habitat and vegetation density, latitude, longitude and altitude. The most important explanatory variables were anthropogenic noise and the latitude of the focal site; the number of syllables per phrase decreasing both with increasing anthropogenic noise and with the latitude. The latter result was also supported when analysing sonograms of the species found on the Internet (Xeno-canto), namely fewer syllables per phrase in Norway than in Spain and Portugal. We suggest that repetition of a short phrase is fast interpreted by conspecifics in noisy environments, and that such signals are more readily detected by conspecifics over a wider area where the density of the tits is low.

Children’s Reading of Sublexical Units in Years Three to Five: A Combined Analysis of Eye-Movements and Voice Recording

ABSTRACT Purpose Children progress from making grapheme–phoneme connections to making grapho-syllabic connections before whole-word connections during reading development (Ehri, 2005a). More is known about the development of grapheme–phoneme connections than is known about grapho-syllabic connections. Therefore, we explored the trajectory of syllable use in English developing readers during oral reading. Method Fifty-one English-speaking children (mean age: 8.9 years, 55% females, 88% monolinguals) in year groups three, four, and five read aloud sentences with an embedded target word, while their eye movements and voices were recorded. The targets contained six letters and were either one or two syllables. Result Children in grade five had shorter gaze duration, shorter articulation duration, and larger spatial eye-voice span (EVS) than children in grade four. Children in grades three and four did not significantly differ on these measures. A syllable number effect was found for gaze duration but not for articulation duration and spatial EVS. Interestingly, one-syllable words took longer to process compared to two-syllable words, suggesting that more syllables may not always signify greater processing difficulty. Conclusion Overall, children are sensitive to sublexical reading units; however, due to sample and stimuli limitations, these findings should be interpreted with caution and further research conducted.

Locus of nonword repetition impairments in Mandarin-speaking children with developmental language disorder

Current theories of nonword repetition (NWR) impairments for children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are developed predominantly using data from Indo-European languages. Seldom have relevant theories been attested to the morph-syllabic language Mandarin Chinese. The present research aimed to explore the locus of NWR impairments for Mandarin children with DLD. 80 Mandarin-speaking children with typical development (TD) and 80 children with DLD were compared on nonword repetition accuracy and error types. It was a three-factor design with language groups (children with DLD vs. TD children) as the between-subjects factor, and components (onset, rhyme, and tone) and syllable numbers (one to four syllables) as the within-subjects factors. The analysis showed that both groups had less accuracy on the two phonological segments (onset and rhyme) relative to tone and showed more errors in multi-syllable nonwords. Children with DLD exhibited more noticeable errors in onsets and rhymes, although they did not display similar issues with tones compared to TD children. Repeated measures ANOVAs showed that children with DLD had pronounced errors in onsets, especially in repeating multi-syllable nonwords. Error type analysis revealed that children with DLD displayed more multiple than single errors in nonword repetition. The results support the “segment-to-frame association” theory, suggesting that Mandarin children with DLD are constrained in the concurrent mapping process between onsets, rhymes, and tones.

THU252 Can An AI Chatbot, ChatGPT, Help Our Patients with Diabetes And Weight Loss?

Abstract Disclosure: E. Cheng: None. G. Wu: None. W. Zhao: None. A. Wong: None. J. Lee: None. K. Tien: None. Background: ChatGPT, launched 11/30/22, has the newest Artificial Intelligence (AI) software for natural language algorithms to answer questions. It does not use the internet and is current to 2021 level of knowledge. According to the CDC, 37.3M Americans have diabetes, and approximately 70M Americans are overweight or obese (1/3 of all adults). 54% of U.S. adults have a literacy level below 6th grade. Many overweight people are at risk for diabetes. Purpose: To evaluate the newest AI chatbot, ChatGPT, for its answers to questions about diabetes and weight loss. Methods: Questions about diabetes and weight loss were created and typed into ChatGPT and similarly texted to an older AI software-mediated chatbot, Google Assistant. Questions: 1. How can I treat my diabetes and weight problem at the same time? 2. What medications can I use for weight loss? 3. What herbal medicines can I use for weight loss? 4. If I have hypertension and I want to lose weight, what should I do? 5. Where can I obtain reliable information about weight loss? The word count and Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level were the metrics used to assess ChatGPT and Google Assistant responses. The Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level is a mathematical formula used by the U.S. Department of Education that determines a passage’s grade level by the length of a sentence and the number of syllables in the words. Results: Word count: CHAT:Q1=189; Q2=199; Q3=217; Q4=230; Q5=210 vs GOOGLE: Q1=65, Q2=46, Q3=56; Q4=58; Q5=45. CHAT Word Count Avg=209, SD=15.86; GOOGLE Word Count Avg=54, SD=8.46; P-value=0.0000246. Flesch-Kincaid: CHAT: Q1=13.1; Q2=11; Q3=11, Q4=11.7, Q5=15.5 vs. GOOGLE: Q1=5.6, Q2=10.9, Q3=10.2, Q4=12, Q5=1.6. CHAT Flesch-Kincaid Avg=12.46, SD=8.06; GOOGLE Flesh-Kincaid Avg=8.6, SD=4.36; P-value=0.09366. Google Assistant has a lower average grade level of comprehension than ChatGPT. For Q1, ChatGPT is at a 13.1 grade level vs GOOGLE at a 5.6 grade level. This is due to Google Assistant’s use of websites as an answer, whereas ChatGPT is trained using information prior to 2021. Conclusion: ChatGPT uses artificial intelligence to create a natural language and it provides answers which are coherent and understandable for those with a high school education. In the future, as more users use ChatGPT, its internal software for reinforcement will produce responses more geared to the reading level of the lay public. Presentation: Thursday, June 15, 2023

A deep learning-based telemonitoring application to automatically assess oral diadochokinesis in patients with bulbar amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Background and objectivesTimely identification of dysarthria progression in patients with bulbar-onset amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is relevant to have a comprehensive assessment of the disease evolution. To this goal literature recognized the utmost importance of the assessment of the number of syllables uttered by a subject during the oral diadochokinesis (DDK) test. MethodsTo support clinicians, this work proposes a remote deep learning-based system, which consists (i) of a web application to acquire audio tracks of bulbar-onset ALS patients and healthy control subjects while performing the oral DDK test (i.e., repeating the /pa/, /pa-ta-ka/ and /oo-ee/ syllables) and (ii) a DDK-AID network designed to process the acquired audio signals which have different duration and to output the number of per-task syllables repeated by the subject. ResultsThe DDK-AID network overcomes the comparative method achieving a mean Accuracy of 90.23 in counting syllables repeated by the eleven bulbar-onset ALS-patients while performing the oral DDK test. ConclusionsThe proposed remote monitoring system, in the light of the achieved performance, represents an important step towards the implementation of self-service telemedicine systems which may ensure customised care plans.

Correlates of word likeness in the perception of pseudowords

New words are often introduced into languages from borrowings or neologisms. Pseudowords (possible words of a language that have not yet been assigned meaning) are used in many experiments to test aspects of speech perception. However, what we know about the perception of pseudowords is relatively limited. In this study, we investigate word likeness ratings of pseudowords on a 1–7 scale. A total of 659 listeners responded to sets of 200 pseudowords from an item list of 9599 English-sounding pseudowords varying in number of syllables and morphological complexity. We analyze the listeners' responses with the following predictors: phonotactic predictability, duration, phonological neighborhood density, phonological uniqueness point, pseudo morphological complexity, and acoustic distinctiveness. We analyze the ordinal data to identify how these predictors influence listeners’ ratings. We also take average word likeness ratings of the pseudowords and use them to predict a different set of listeners’ reaction times in a lexical decision task. In this presentation, we discuss what properties of the pseudowords influence what makes them seem more word-like or not and how word-likeness affects auditory word recognition.

The Use of Large Language Models to Generate Education Materials about Uveitis

To assess large language models in generating readable uveitis information and in improving the readability of online health information. Evaluation of technology. Not applicable. ChatGPT and Bard were asked the following prompts: (prompt A) "considering that the average American reads at a 6th grade level, using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) formula, can you write patient-targeted health information on uveitis of around 6th grade level?" and (prompt B) "can you write patient-targeted health information on uveitis that is easy to understand by an average American?" Additionally, ChatGPT and Bard were asked the following prompt from the first-page results of Google when the term "uveitis" was searched: "Considering that the average American reads at a 6th grade level, using the FKGL formula, can you rewrite the following text to 6th grade level: [insert text]." The readability of each response was analyzed and compared using several metrics described below. The FKGL is a highly validated readability assessment tool that assigns a grade level to a given text, the total number of words, sentences, syllables, and complex words. Complex words were defined as those with > 2 syllables. ChatGPT and Bard generated responses with lower FKGL scores (i.e., easier to understand) in response to prompt A compared with prompt B. This was only significant for ChatGPT (P < 0.0001). The mean FKGL of responses to ChatGPT (6.3 ± 1.2) was significantly lower (P < 0.0001) than Bard 10.5 ± 0.8. ChatGPT responses also contained less complex words than Bard (P < 0.0001). Online health information on uveitis had a mean grade level of 11.0 ± 1.4. ChatGPT lowered the FKGL to 8.0 ± 1.0 (P < 0.0001) when asked to rewrite the content. Bard was not able to do so (mean FKGL of 11.1 ± 1.6). ChatGPT can aid clinicians in producing easier-to-understand health information on uveitis for patients compared with already-existing content. It can also help with reducing the difficulty of the language used for uveitis health information targeted for patients. Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.

Strophes in Peshitta Psalms? A Study of Selected Examples

As the Peshitta plays an essential role in literary and textual criticism, the literary features of the Peshitta must be examined not only from the perspective of translation technique but also from the perspective of other factors, such as poetical devices and form. Little attention has been paid to the translation technique in the Peshitta Psalms despite the substantial research conducted on the Peshitta. Most studies have focused on the relationship between the Peshitta Psalms, the Hebrew Masoretic text, and other ancient versions. Therefore, the Peshitta Psalms have yet to be examined from the perspective of classical Syriac poetry. This study investigates how well the Syriac translator employed poetical devices to produce strophic structures and poetic style in the psalms, with particular attention to potential approaches to strophic structure that have not previously been explored. The paper addresses the question of whether the Peshitta Psalms are strophic. The study indicates that Peshitta Psalms 29, 96, 136, and 148 use strophic markers such as word repetition, alliteration, repetition of syntactical structures, parallelism and a balanced number of syllables and words.

The long-crowing chickens in Indonesia: A review

Abstract All birds produce vocalizations as a form of tcommunication with other individuals. Different from songbirds, crowing is a singing vocalization produced by chickens that cannot be learned through imitation. Some genes are assumed to be responsible for this activity. The long-crowing chickens have a melodious and long sound, so they are categorized as singing chickens. They are part of the biodiversity in Indonesia, which has high economic and socio-cultural value. Reviews about long-crowing chickens, especially in Indonesia, are still very rare. This article aims to identify the uniqueness and the existence of long-crowing chickens, together with the conservation efforts needed to manage them. Information was collected from journal articles and other relevant documents. There are four local chickens in Indonesia classified as long-crowing chickens. They are developed in different areas of the community with different socio-cultural characteristics. The fundamental differences among the breeds that can be quantified are in crowing duration and the number of syllables. The government has acknowledged that long-crowing chickens are important genetic resources; however, the association and individual keepers or enthusiasts are vital actors in conservation efforts. The information about long-crowing chickens in Indonesia is incomplete. The research activities that need to be conducted include exploring the population number and distribution, as well as documentation of the local knowledge of chicken breeders and enthusiasts.

Context Matters: Understanding the Effect of Usage Contexts on Users’ Modality Selection in Multimodal Systems

Users often select different modalities in multimodal systems based on context and function. This study aimed to investigate the impact of context on users’ modality selection in a multimodal system. A modality selection task was presented through the developed multimodal system, where the task’s difficulty was controlled based on the number of syllables and touches. The experiments were examined in four usage contexts (baseline, watching, reading, and driving), and the selected modality, physical and mental effort, and satisfaction were measured. A regression model for predicting modality selection was established using binomial logistic regression. The results showed that voice usage increased in the order of baseline, watching, reading, and driving contexts. It was revealed that these changes were attributable to differences in physical and mental interaction efforts of modalities according to contexts. Our finding provides valuable insights into users’ modality selection in different contexts, which could inform the design of more efficient multimodal systems.

Normative Values for Word Syllable Duration With Interpretation in a Large Sample of Stroke Survivors With Aphasia.

Slow speech rate and abnormal temporal prosody are primary diagnostic criteria for differentiating between people with aphasia who do and do not have apraxia of speech. We sought to identify appropriate cutoff values for abnormal word syllable duration (WSD) in a word repetition task, interpret them relative to a data set of people with chronic aphasia, and evaluate the extent to which manually derived measures could be approximated through an automated process that relied on commercial speech recognition technology. Fifty neurotypical participants produced 49 multisyllabic words during a repetition task. Audio recordings were submitted to an automated speech recognition (ASR) service (IBM Watson) to measure word duration and generate an orthographic transcription. The transcribed words were compared to a lexical database, and the number of syllables was identified. Automatic and manual measures were compared for 50% of the sample. Results were interpreted relative to WSD scores from an existing data set of 195 people with mostly chronic aphasia. ASR correctly identified 83% of target words and 98% of target syllable counts. Automated word duration calculations were longer than manual measures due to imprecise cursor placement. Upon applying regression coefficients to the automated measures and examining the frequency distributions for both manual and estimated measures, a WSD of 303-316 ms was found to indicate longer-than-normal performance (corresponding to the 95th percentile). With this cutoff, 40%-45% of participants with aphasia in our comparison sample had an abnormally long WSD. We recommend using a rounded WSD cutoff score between 303 and 316 ms for manual measures. Future research will focus on customizing automated WSD methods to speech samples from people with aphasia, identifying target words that maximize production and measurement reliability, and developing WSD standard scores based on a large participant sample with and without aphasia.

Psychometric features of Acoustic Voice Quality Index, version 03.01, in Persian language

ABSTRACT The goal of this study was to investigate the psychometric features of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index, in Persian, as an objective and multi-parameter tool for evaluating the overall voice quality. Three hundred and ten Persian-speaking individuals, 155 with various types and severity of dysphonia, and 155 healthy individuals, performed two tasks: reading a phonetically balanced text and a sustained vowel /a/. Voice recordings were made. Perceptual evaluation with the G score of the GRBAS scale was completed by five raters, and intra-rater reliability and inter-rater reliability were calculated. The Acoustic Voice Quality Index was calculated with standard syllables corresponding to 3 s of voiced speech and 3 s of vowels. Concurrent validity, construct validity, test–retest reliability, and diagnostic accuracy of the AVQI were analyzed. The results suggest that the number of syllables corresponding to 3 s of voiced speech was 23. Perceptual evaluation demonstrated excellent intra-rater and inter-rater reliability. The AVQI demonstrated a strong correlation with perceptual evaluation (rs = 0.877, P < 0.001), as well as high construct validity. In addition, the index had very good test–retest reliability (icc = 0.992). The cut-off point of the index was 3.62 in Persian. The area under the ROC curve was 0.815, indicating that the index had the ability to differentiate between dysphonic and non-dysphonic voices. And it can be stated that the AVQI 03.01 is a reliable objective tool for distinguishing dysphonic from non-dysphonic voice in Persian that can be utilized in clinical and research settings.

Validation of the Acoustic Voice Quality Index and the Acoustic Breathiness Index in the Persian Language

This study aimed to validate the acoustic voice quality index version 03.01 (AVQIv3) and the acoustic breathiness index (ABI) in the Persian language. Six judges assessed the severity degree of the abnormal overall voice quality (hoarseness) and breathiness from continuous speech (cs) and sustained vowel (sv) in 136 voices samples of dysphonic and 45 vocally healthy participants. Firstly, the time length of cs and sv was balanced out for a higher level of ecological validity. Secondly, the concurrent validity and diagnostic accuracy were statistically analyzed with the Spearman rank-order correlation, and the receiver operating characteristics, likelihood ratio, and Youden index. There was substantial inter-rater reliability between judges regarding hoarseness and breathiness. Twenty syllables were identified as the standardized number of syllables for the cs part. Sufficient correlations were found between AVQI and hoarseness (rs =0.74), and between ABI and breathiness (rs =0.74), respectively. The thresholds of 1.63 (sensitivity of 73.2% and specificity of 91%) and 2.97 (sensitivity of 70% and specificity of 87%) yielded the highest level of diagnostic findings for AVQI and ABI, respectively. The AVQIv3 and ABI are reliable indices to quantify the abnormal overall voice quality and breathiness in the Persian language.

How to Perform English Word Stress on English Pronunciation

Word stress is a suprasegmental feature in English pronunciation. The word stress supports the correct articulation of English pronunciation. This qualitative research revealed the position of stress in English words. This research captured the pattern of English word stress. There are several phonologists discussing the word stress such as Chomsky, Hale, and Giegerich. The data taken was from the Oxford English Dictionary and from the English native spoken by observing, reading, listening, and noting. The way to analyze the data applied the textual analysis. The result of this research is the pattern of the English word stress articulation. From this research, it is known that the number of syllables determines the position of the stress. The ultimate stress occurs in two-syllable words. The penultimate and antepenultimate syllables occur in the words which have more than two syllables. The stress in the first syllable occurs in one-syllable, two-syllable, three-syllable, and four-syllable words. Stress does not fall on the affixes. However, the stress falls on the preposition for phrasal verbs. There is variation of stress position on the compound nouns and noun phrases due to their formation. Knowing stress’ position while pronouncing English helps distinguish the meaning literally.

The development of EFL students’ speech fluency

Abstract This study investigated phase transitions in EFL students’ speech fluency development using a complex dynamic systems perspective. Two students with different proficiency levels were selected from an intact speaking class. These students learned and practiced specific strategies to improve their speech fluency. Phase transitions were analyzed based on three criteria: sudden jumps, anomalous variance, and qualitative change in the attractor. Number of syllables was used as the speech fluency measure. The results suggest that only the higher-proficiency student underwent one phase transition. These findings imply that a short explicit fluency strategy training intervention could improve the speech fluency development of high-proficiency students in EFL classrooms. The results have implications for theory and pedagogical practice relating to EFL students’ speech fluency development.

Notch1 is involved in cell proliferation and neuronal differentiation in the HVC of zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

Significant sex differences are found in songbirds’ song control nuclei and their controlled song behaviors. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, we explored the role of Notch1 during the development of the high vocal centre (HVC) and song learning in zebra finch. Our study first found that Notch1 positive cells were distributed in HVC with female-biased densities at posthatching day (PHD) 15, but male-biased at PHD 45 and adult. There were about 60 putative oestrogen-responsive elements within 2.5 kb upstream of Notch1, and Notch1 mRNA in the explants that contained the developing male HVC was significantly increased after estrogen addition into the cultured medium for 48 h. After injecting Notch1-interfering lentivirus into the male or female HVC at PHD 15, cell proliferation was significantly promoted in the ventricle zone overlying the HVC at PHD 23. In addition, neuronal differentiation towards Hu+ /BrdU+ at PHD 31, mature neurons (NeuN+/BrdU+) including those projecting to RA in HVC and the sizes of HVC and RA at adult increased significantly after Notch1-interfering lentiviruses were injected into the male HVC at PHD 15. However, the above measurements decreased, following the injection of the lentiviruses expressing Notch intracellular domain (NICD). Finally, the repeat numbers of syllables ‘b′ or ‘c′ of learned songs changed after the injection of Notch1-interfering or NICD-expressing lentiviruses into the HVC at PHD15. Our study suggests that Notch1 is related to the development of HVC and song learning in the zebra finch.

Þistil, mistil, kistil: Plants of Death, Rebirth, and Magic in Medieval Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions

<i>Þistil, mistil, kistil</i>: Plants of Death, Rebirth, and Magic in Medieval Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions

Supremacy of suprasegmentals in Arabic phonology: Evidence from malapropisms

Speech errors are an important source of information to understand language processing and production. Earlier research focused on different types of errors including semantic and phonological errors while malapropisms, which refer to slips of the tongue involving whole word substitutions that share phonological similarities but are not related semantically, have not received adequate attention in the Arabic language. Drawing on malapropisms in Jordanian Arabic, we bring evidence on the supremacy of suprasegmental phonological aspects in Arabic phonology. This is unexpected as stress in Arabic is non-phonemic and fully predictable, besides Arabic rhythm is much less stress-timed than that of Germanic languages. Data was collected from spontaneous speech over a period of three years. Results showed that malapropisms share the primary stress position, the number of syllables and the word rhythmic pattern with the target words. To a lesser degree, the target and the error share the same rime and initial segments. Findings suggest that suprasegmental features are very crucial in Arabic phonology, like in Indo-European languages. Evidence suggests that formal similarity that is based on the syllabic and metrical structure of words plays a significant role in language processing and the organization of the mental lexicon in Arabic, which suggests that this is a language universal. Furthermore, our findings do not agree with earlier claims that Arabic has a flat syllabic structure. Rather, evidence suggests that Arabic, like English, has a hierarchical syllable structure, which seems to represent another language universal. More research on other Arabic dialects is recommended to corroborate these findings. Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. * Corresponding author: Mohammed Nour Abu Guba, 0000-0002-5007-6439 mabu-gub@sharjah.ac.ae