Segal, Osnat, Keren-Portnoy, Tamar orcid.org/0000-0002-7258-2404 and Vihman, Marilyn orcid.org/0000-0001-8912-4840 (2020) Robust effects of stress on early lexical representation. Infancy. pp. 500-521. ISSN 1532-7078
Abstract
This study aims to elucidate the factors that affect the robustness of word-form representations by exploring the relative influence of lexical stress and segmental identity (consonant versus vowel) on infant word recognition. Our main question was which changes to the words may go unnoticed and which may lead the words to be unrecognizable. One-hundred 11-month-old Hebrew-learning infants were tested in two experiments using the Central Fixation Procedure. In Experiment 1, 20 infants were presented with iambic Familiar and Unfamiliar words. The infants listened longer to Familiar than to Unfamiliar words, indicating their recognition of frequently heard word forms. In Experiment 2 four groups of 20 infants each were tested in each of four conditions involving altered iambic Familiar words contrasted with iambic Unfamiliar nonwords. In each condition one segment in the Familiar word was changed – either a consonant or a vowel, in either the first (unstressed) or the second (stressed) syllable. In each condition recognition of the Familiar words despite the change indicates a less accurate or less well-specified representation. Infants recognized Familiar words despite changes to the weak (first) syllable, regardless of whether the change involved a consonant or a vowel (conditions 2a, 2c). However, a change of either consonant or vowel in the stressed (second) syllable blocked word recognition (conditions 2b, 2d). These findings support the proposal that stress pattern plays a key role in early word representation, regardless of segmental identity.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020, International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS). This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (York) > Language and Linguistic Science (York) |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 15 Apr 2020 08:40 |
Last Modified: | 03 Apr 2025 23:11 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12340 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/infa.12340 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:159485 |
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Filename: Accepted_preprint_Segal_Keren_Portnoy_Vihman_Infancy_2020.docx
Description: Accepted preprint Segal Keren-Portnoy & Vihman Infancy 2020