Tested progressive assimilation violation in non-novel sequences using the palatal fricative [c]. Stimuli either violated fricative assimilation or did not. Violation also did not significantly inhibit spoken language processing. Results confirm that facilitation depends on the combination of progressive assimilation with novelty of the sequence.…

Explored the processing of ambiguous sentences that may be assigned a gapping or nongapping structure. Focuses on what factors affect the ultimate interpretive preferences for these sentences. In a questionnaire, sentences with greater parallelism between arguments received more gapping responses, though an overall bias toward the nongapping…

Four phoneme-detection studies with native speakers of Dutch and German tested the conclusion from recent research that spoken language processing is inhibited by violation of obligatory assimilation processes in the listeners' native language. (Author/VWL)

In two eye-tracking experiments the role of contrastive pitch accents during the on-line determination of referents was examined. In both experiments, German listeners looked earlier at the picture of a referent belonging to a contrast pair ("red scissors," given "purple scissors") when instructions to click on it carried a…

Discusses children's comprehension of complex sentences as measured by a picture selection test. Concludes that the interplay of both syntactic factors, such as active vs. passive, and nonsyntactic factors, such as expectation, must be considered in any characterization of children's sentence comprehension ability. (EKN)

Two experiments showed that functional completeness--the explicit propositional surface realization of deep-structure clause relations--isolated effective and integral comprehension units, which definitions of comprehension units couched in levels of syntactic structure failed to do. (Author/RL)

Two experiments offer clear support for an interactive view of sentence comprehension; semantic factors do interact with syntactic factors. (RL)

In a series of experiments using monosyllabic words produced by a native and nonnative speaker of English, native English speakers monitored the word-initial consonants of the words to decide which of two consonants was present on each trial. Contrasting results for native and nonnative speech are discussed in terms of models of phoneme…

We present the results from an experiment that tests the perception of English consonantal sequences by Korean speakers and we confirm that perceptual epenthesis in a second language (L2) arises from syllable structure restrictions of the first language (L1), rather than linear co-occurrence restrictions. Our study replicates and extends Dupoux,…

Reports the results of three experiments investigating comprehension and memory for slang metaphors. The experiments examine the thesis that the special pragmatic properties of slang should make these metaphorical expressions easy to understand and remember, especially since speakers frequently share information about the conventional meaning of…

Outlines an approach for studying auditory levels in speech perception, focusing on the artificial speech understanding system that is most compatible with the experimental data obtained in speech perception research. (RL)

Establishes a significant correlation between the extent of Creole language interference and performance on a British reading comprehension test. Suggests that Creole affects the efficiency of understanding British English. (Author/RL)

Examines how one interprets and reacts to dirty-word descriptors. Subjects judged how much they would like a fictitious person described with dirty and non-dirty adjective pairs. Liking was influenced by: (1) semantic interpretation, (2) intrinsicalness of the adjective for the person described, and (3) contextual relations between speaker and…

Augments Michael Studdert-Kennedy's state-of-the-art report on speech perception research (EJ 227 656) with comments on categorical perception of speech and nonspeech stimuli, speech perception in context, the role of prosody, and development/impairments of speech perception. Includes a summary of a discussion on speech perception research. (RL)

Interprets high response consistency in imitation and semantic/syntactic substitutions as evidence of internalized control of grammar in severely retarded adolescents. Discusses teaching implications in terms of speaker ability to process basic semantic relationships. (Author/RL)