Syllable Priming Effect Research Articles

On the role of syllabic neighbourhood density in the syllable structure effect in European Portuguese

Previous lexical decision masked priming studies have shown that the advantage of syllable-congruent primes over syllable-incongruent primes is observed for CV (e.g., JU.ROS [interests]), but not for CVC first-syllable words (e.g., TUR.BO [turbo]), giving rise to the so-called syllable structure effect (e.g., ju.ral-JU.ROS < jur.ga-JU.ROS; tur.ta-TUR.BO = tu.res-TUR.BO). This effect is puzzling since it is not accounted for either by the distributional frequencies of CV and CVC syllables in European Portuguese (EP) or by syllable complexity. Here we examine whether the number of words of the same syllabic length sharing the same (first) syllable in the same (first) position, a measure taken as an index of syllabic neighbourhood density, may account for the syllable structure effect. To that purpose, 36 EP skilled readers performed a lexical decision masked priming task in which 48 CV and 48 CVC words matched in the number of syllabic neighbours, amongst other variables, were preceded by syllable-congruent (e.g., ju.ral-JU.ROS and tur.ta-TURBO), syllable-incongruent (e.g., jur-ga-JU.ROS and tu.res-TUR.BO), and unrelated primes (e.g., pu.cas- JU.ROS and binva-TURBO). Syllable priming effects were still observed only for CV words, even though CVC words with a CV phonological structure (e.g., EN.TE[comb] - /pˈẽtɨ/) tended to behave similarly to CV words, suggesting that EP syllable effects may be driven by phonological factors.

Temporal dynamics of syllable priming effects on visual word recognition: Evidence from different prime durations.

Although the syllable has been shown to play a relevant role at early stages of visual word recognition, several studies using consonant-vowel (CV) and consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) first-syllable words have also shown that reliable effects are observed for CV but not for CVC words. Several proposals have been advanced to account for this syllable structure effect, though studies aiming to directly address this issue are scarce. Here we tested whether syllable complexity might underlie the syllable structure effect observed in several languages, by replicating the masked priming lexical decision study conducted by Campos, Oliveira, and Soares (2018) with Portuguese adult skilled readers using 50-ms pseudoword primes, but using longer (67-ms and 82-ms) prime durations. If the structure syllable effect is driven by syllable complexity, increasing prime durations should make facilitative syllable priming effects to emerge for CVC words. Furthermore, by manipulating prime durations we can also provide new insights into the temporal dynamics of syllable effects at early stages of visual word recognition. Results from linear mixed effects (lme) models analyses showed that even with increased prime durations, reliable syllable effects were still restricted to CV words. Increasing prime durations to 67 ms and 82 ms only strengthened orthographic priming effects for CVC words. Moreover, the magnitude of the priming effects for CV words remained fairly constant across these prime durations, thus suggesting that the CV advantage on visual word recognition is not a short-lived effect. Results are discussed attending to current findings in the literature. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

New phonotactic constraints learned implicitly by producing syllable strings generalize to the production of new syllables.

Novel phonotactic constraints can be acquired by hearing or speaking syllables that follow a novel constraint. When learned from hearing syllables, these newly learned constraints generalize to syllables that were not experienced during training. However, generalization of phonotactic learning to novel syllables has never been persuasively demonstrated in production. The typical production experiment examines phonotactic learning through speech errors. After participants repeat syllable sequences embedded with a novel phonotactic constraint, such as /f/ appearing only in onset position, their speech errors come to adhere to the novel constraint. For example, when participants mistakenly move an /f/ to another syllable, it overwhelmingly moves to an onset rather than a coda position. We assessed whether constraints learned and measured in this manner generalize to unexperienced syllables and, at the same time, whether the slips tend to create previously experienced syllables (a syllable priming effect). We found evidence of generalization but not of syllable priming in participants' speech errors. The effect of phonotactic learning was as powerfully expressed during the production of unexperienced as experienced syllables. A connectionist model simulated the experimental results using a single learning mechanism and successfully reproduced the constraint learning, generalization, and lack of priming.

Syllable priming with pseudowords in the lexical decision task.

This study investigated the processes underlying the effect of masked syllable priming in French with pseudoword primes and word targets. Two lexical-decision task (LDT) experiments examined whether the syllable priming effect depends on syllable frequency and might rely on a general abstract structure. The results of Experiment 1 revealed an inhibitory priming effect, with pseudoword primes and word targets sharing a high-frequency first syllable, which was not due to the abstract syllable structure. In contrast, no inhibition was observed with a low-frequency first syllable in Experiment 2. Syllable frequency appears to be an important factor determining the speed of target processing in masked priming. This is attributed to variations in the respective contributions of sublexical activation and lexical inhibition processes.

Phonological Units in Spoken Word Production: Insights from Cantonese

Evidence from previous psycholinguistic research suggests that phonological units such as phonemes have a privileged role during phonological planning in Dutch and English (aka the segment-retrieval hypothesis). However, the syllable-retrieval hypothesis previously proposed for Mandarin assumes that only the entire syllable unit (without the tone) can be prepared in advance in speech planning. Using Cantonese Chinese as a test case, the present study was conducted to investigate whether the syllable-retrieval hypothesis can be applied to other Chinese spoken languages. In four implicit priming (form-preparation) experiments, participants were asked to learn various sets of prompt-response di-syllabic word pairs and to utter the corresponding response word upon seeing each prompt. The response words in a block were either phonologically related (homogeneous) or unrelated (heterogeneous). Participants' naming responses were significantly faster in the homogeneous than in the heterogeneous conditions when the response words shared the same word-initial syllable (without the tone) (Exps.1 and 4) or body (Exps.3 and 4), but not when they shared merely the same word-initial phoneme (Exp.2). Furthermore, the priming effect observed in the syllable-related condition was significantly larger than that in the body-related condition (Exp. 4). Although the observed syllable priming effects and the null effect of word-initial phoneme are consistent with the syllable-retrieval hypothesis, the body-related (sub-syllabic) priming effects obtained in this Cantonese study are not. These results suggest that the syllable-retrieval hypothesis is not generalizable to all Chinese spoken languages and that both syllable and sub-syllabic constituents are legitimate planning units in Cantonese speech production.

Masked Syllable Priming Effects in Word and Picture Naming in Chinese

Four experiments investigated the role of the syllable in Chinese spoken word production. Chen, Chen and Ferrand (2003) reported a syllable priming effect when primes and targets shared the first syllable using a masked priming paradigm in Chinese. Our Experiment 1 was a direct replication of Chen et al.’s (2003) Experiment 3 employing CV (e.g., 拔营,/ba2.ying2/, strike camp) and CVG (e.g., 白首,/bai2.shou3/, white haired) syllable types. Experiment 2 tested the syllable priming effect using different syllable types: e.g., CV (气球,/qi4.qiu2/, balloon) and CVN (蜻蜓,/qing1.ting2/, dragonfly). Experiment 3 investigated this issue further using line drawings of common objects as targets that were preceded either by a CV (e.g., 企,/qi3/, attempt), or a CVN (e.g., 情,/qing2/, affection) prime. Experiment 4 further examined the priming effect by a comparison between CV or CVN priming and an unrelated priming condition using CV-NX (e.g., 迷你,/mi2.ni3/, mini) and CVN-CX (e.g., 民居,/min2.ju1/, dwellings) as target words. These four experiments consistently found that CV targets were named faster when preceded by CV primes than when they were preceded by CVG, CVN or unrelated primes, whereas CVG or CVN targets showed the reverse pattern. These results indicate that the priming effect critically depends on the match between the structure of the prime and that of the first syllable of the target. The effect obtained in this study was consistent across different stimuli and different tasks (word and picture naming), and provides more conclusive and consistent data regarding the role of the syllable in Chinese speech production.

Interaction between phonemic abilities and syllable congruency effect in young readers

This study investigated whether and to what extent phonemic abilities of young readers (Grade 5) influence syllabic effects in reading. More precisely, the syllable congruency effect was tested in the lexical decision task combined with masked priming in eleven-year-old children. Target words were preceded by a pseudo-word prime sharing the first three letters that either corresponded to the syllable (congruent condition) or not (incongruent condition). The data showed that the syllable priming effect interacted with the score of phonemic abilities. In children with good phonemic skills, word recognition was delayed in the congruent condition compared to the incongruent condition, while it was speeded up in children with weaker phonemic skills. These findings are discussed in a lexical access model including syllable units.

Efectos de la estructura silábica en el priming silábico

The syllable can be considered as an access unit in the recognition of visually presented words. Most of the evidence comes from experiments that have manipulated syllable frequency ( Carreiras, Alvarez, & de Vega, 1993) and from syllable priming experiments (i.e., faster identification times for junos-JUNIO than for juntu-JUNIO; Carreiras & Perea, 2002). In the present study we examined whether the magnitude of syllable priming is modulated by the syllabic structure of a word's initial syllable. We conducted three priming experiments, with stimulus-onset asynchronies ranging from 64 to 320 ms, using three lexical decision tasks. The results showed a syllable priming effect for words with a CV syllabic structure in the initial syllable, but not for words with a CVC syllable structure in the initial syllable. This finding has important implications for models of visual word recognition that employ the syllable as a mediating unit between the letter and the word levels.

Syllabic Priming Effects in Picture Naming in French

Ferrand, Segui, and Grainger (1996) found robust syllable priming effects in picture naming latencies: Pictures primed with their initial syllable (e.g., ba for baleine [whale]) were processed faster than pictures primed with a string of letters shorter or longer than their initial syllable (e.g., bal for baleine). However, in several studies, these priming effects have not been replicated in word naming or in picture naming either in Dutch or in English (Schiller, 1998, 1999, 2000). The present study was aimed at replicating syllable priming effects in picture naming in French using a masked priming paradigm. The study employed a larger number of participants and items than were used in the Ferrand et al. (1996) study. The syllable priming effect in picture naming latencies was not replicated. Subsampling procedures were then used to examine the stability of the Ferrand et al. (1996) pattern of results in picture naming in greater detail. The syllabic priming effect in picture naming turned out to be an extremely rare event.

Are syllables phonological units in visual word recognition?

A number of studies have shown that syllables play an important role in visual word recognition in Spanish. We report three lexical decision experiments with a masked priming technique that examined whether syllabic effects are phonological or orthographic in nature. In all cases, primes were nonwords. In Experiment 1, latencies to CV words were faster when primes and targets shared the first syllable (ju.nas-JU.NIO) than when they shared the initial letters but not the first syllable (jun.tu-JU.NIO). In Experiment 2, this syllabic overlap could be phonological+orthographical (vi.rel-VI.RUS) or just phonological (bi.rel-VI.RUS). A syllable priming effect was found for CV words in both the phonological+orthographical and the phonological condition. In Experiment 3 we compared a “phonological-syllable” condition (bi.rel-VI.RUS) with two control conditions (fi.rel-VI.RUS and vir.ga-VI.RUS). We found faster latencies for the phonological-syllabic condition than for the control conditions. These results suggest that syllabic effects are phonological in nature.

Where is the syllable priming effect in visual word recognition?

Recent studies using the masked priming paradigm have reported facilitating effects of syllable primes in French and English word naming ( Ferrand, Segui, & Grainger, 1996; Ferrand, Segui, & Humphreys, 1997). However, other studies have not been able to replicate these effects in Dutch and English ( Schiller, 1998, 1999, 2000). In Experiment 1, using the same stimuli and procedure as Ferrand et al. (1996), we did not replicate the syllable priming effect in French. In Experiments 2a and 2b, when prime duration was increased (from 30 to 45 and 60 ms), we did not obtain a syllable priming effect. In Experiment 3, with 60 participants and exactly the same procedure as Ferrand et al. (1996), we again failed to replicate the syllable priming effect. We conclude that the syllable priming effect is not a reliable effect and should be considered cautiously in the elaboration of models of word reading.

The Effect of Visually Masked Syllable Primes on the Naming Latencies of Words and Pictures

To investigate the role of the syllable in Dutch speech production, five experiments were carried out to examine the effect of visually masked syllable primes on the naming latencies for written words and pictures. Targets had clear syllable boundaries and began with a CV syllable (e.g.,ka.no) or a CVC syllable (e.g.,kak.tus), or had ambiguous syllable boundaries and began with a CV[C] syllable (e.g.,ka[pp]er). In the syllable match condition, bisyllabic Dutch nouns or verbs were preceded by primes that were identical to the target's first syllable. In the syllable mismatch condition, the prime was either shorter or longer than the target's first syllable. A neutral condition was also included. None of the experiments showed a syllable priming effect. Instead, all related primes facilitated the naming of the targets. It is concluded that the syllable does not play a role in the process of phonological encoding in Dutch. Because the amount of facilitation increased with increasing overlap between prime and target, the priming effect is accounted for by a segmental overlap hypothesis.

The syllable's role in word naming.

In a series of experiments, the masked priming paradigm with very brief prime exposures was used to investigate the role of the syllable in the production of English. Experiment 1 (word naming task) showed a syllable priming effect for English words with clear initial syllable boundaries (such as BALCONY), but no effect with ambisyllabic words targets (such as BALANCE, where the /l/belongs to both the first and the second syllables). Experiment 2 failed to show such syllable priming effects in the lexical decision task. Experiment 3 demonstrated that for words with clear initial syllable boundaries, naming latencies were faster only when primes formed the first syllable of the target, in comparison with a neutral condition. Experiment 4 showed that the two possible initial syllables of ambisyllabic words facilitated word naming to the same extent, in comparison with the neutral condition. Finally, Experiment 5 demonstrated that the syllable priming effect obtained for CV words with clear initial syllable boundaries (such as DIVORCE) was not due to increased phonological and/or orthographic overlap. These results, showing that the syllable constitutes a unit of speech production in English, are discussed in relation to the model of phonological and phonetic encoding proposed by Levelt and Wheeldon (1994).

Masked Priming of Word and Picture Naming: The Role of Syllabic Units

A series of word, nonword, and picture naming experiments is reported using the masked priming paradigm with very brief prime exposures. In Experiment 1 naming latencies for both bi- and trisyllabic words were faster when preceded by primes that corresponded to the first syllable than when preceded by primes that contained one letter more or less than the first syllable. Experiment 2 showed syllable priming effects with bisyllabic nonword targets in the naming task. Experiment 3 failed to observe such syllable priming effects with word and nonword targets in the lexical decision task. Finally, Experiment 4 replicated the syllabic priming effects using pictures as targets. These results suggest that the syllable represents a functional unit of output phonology in French.