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Acoustic Evidence for Phonologically Mismatched Speech Errors

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Abstract

Speech errors are generally said to accommodate to their new phonological context. This accommodation has been validated by several transcription studies. The transcription methodology is not the best choice for detecting errors at this level, however, as this type of error can be difficult to perceive. This paper presents an acoustic analysis of speech errors that uncovers non-accommodated or mismatch errors. A mismatch error is a sub-phonemic error that results in an incorrect surface phonology. This type of error could arise during the processing of phonological rules or they could be made at the motor level of implementation. The results of this work have important implications for both experimental and theoretical research. For experimentalists, it validates the tools used for error induction and the acoustic determination of errors free of the perceptual bias. For theorists, this methodology can be used to test the nature of the processes proposed in language production.

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Notes

  1. This rule could also be formulated as vowel shortening before a voiceless coda.

  2. This procedure was adapted from Goldrick and Blumstein (2006).

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Correspondence to Andrea Gormley.

Appendix

Appendix

Stimuli used for tongue twisters

a. Control condition (non-alternating, AAAA)

tiff tiff tiff tiff

teff teff teff teff

taff taff taff taff

tuff tuff tuff tuff

tiss tiss tiss tiss

tess tess tess tess

tass tass tass tass

tuss tuss tuss tuss

tivv tivv tivv tivv

tevv tevv tevv tevv

tavv tavv tavv tavv

tuvv tuvv tuvv tuvv

tizz tizz tizz tizz

tezz tezz tezz tezz

tazz tazz tazz tazz

tuzz tuzz tuzz tuzz

kiff kiff kiff kiff

keff keff keff keff

kaff kaff kaff kaff

kuff kuff kuff kuff

kiss kiss kiss kiss

kess kess kess kess

kass kass kass kass

kuss kuss kuss kuss

kivv kivv kivv kivv

kevv kevv kevv kevv

kavv kavv kavv kavv

kuvv kuvv kuvv kuvv

kizz kizz kizz kizz

kezz kezz kezz kezz

kazz kazz kazz kazz

kuzz kuzz kuzz kuzz

b. Experimental condition (alternating, ABBA)

tiff tivv tivv tiff

teff tevv tevv teff

taff tavv tavv taff

tuff tuvv tuvv tuff

tiss tizz tizz tiss

tess tezz tezz tess

tass tazz tazz tass

tuss tuzz tuzz tuss

kiff kivv kivv kiff

keff kevv kevv keff

kaff kavv kavv kaff

kuff kuvv kuvv kuff

kiss kizz kizz kiss

kess kezz kezz kess

kass kazz kazz kass

kuss kuzz kuzz kuss

tivv tiff tiff tivv

tevv teff teff tevv

tavv taff taff tavv

tuvv tuff tuff tuvv

tizz tiss tiss tizz

tezz tess tess tezz

tazz tass tass tazz

tuzz tuss tuss tuzz

kivv kiff kiff kivv

kevv keff keff kevv

kavv kaff kaff kavv

kuvv kuff kuff kuvv

kizz kiss kiss kizz

kezz kess kess kezz

kazz kass kass kazz

kuzz kuss kuss kuzz

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Gormley, A. Acoustic Evidence for Phonologically Mismatched Speech Errors. J Psycholinguist Res 44, 105–117 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-013-9282-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-013-9282-2

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