Abstract
Converging, albeit inconsistent, empirical evidence
suggests that the morphological structure of a word
influences its pronunciation. We investigated this
issue using Ultrasound Tongue Imaging in the
context of an experimental cognitive psychology
paradigm. Scottish speakers were trained on
apparently homophonous monomorphemic and
bimorphemic novel words (e.g. zord, zorred), and
tested on speech production tasks. Monomorphemic
items were realised acoustically with shorter
durations than bimorphemic items; however, this
difference was not statistically significant.
Progressive coarticulatory effects were also
observed in the monomorphemic condition for some
speakers. A dynamic analysis of the articulatory data
revealed that the observed differences in the
pronunciations of the two types of items could be
due to factors other than morphological structure.
Our results, albeit inconclusive, make a significant
contribution to the literature in this research domain
insofar as the presence or absence of morphological
effects on pronunciation has important implications
for extant theories of speech production.
suggests that the morphological structure of a word
influences its pronunciation. We investigated this
issue using Ultrasound Tongue Imaging in the
context of an experimental cognitive psychology
paradigm. Scottish speakers were trained on
apparently homophonous monomorphemic and
bimorphemic novel words (e.g. zord, zorred), and
tested on speech production tasks. Monomorphemic
items were realised acoustically with shorter
durations than bimorphemic items; however, this
difference was not statistically significant.
Progressive coarticulatory effects were also
observed in the monomorphemic condition for some
speakers. A dynamic analysis of the articulatory data
revealed that the observed differences in the
pronunciations of the two types of items could be
due to factors other than morphological structure.
Our results, albeit inconclusive, make a significant
contribution to the literature in this research domain
insofar as the presence or absence of morphological
effects on pronunciation has important implications
for extant theories of speech production.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - Aug 2015 |
| Event | 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) - SECC, Glasgow, United Kingdom Duration: 10 Aug 2015 → 14 Aug 2015 |
Conference
| Conference | 18th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS) |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Glasgow |
| Period | 10/08/15 → 14/08/15 |