1 research outputs found
Priming stress patterns in word recognition
This study addresses the lexical representation of stress in a series of five intra-modal
and cross-modal priming experiments in the Greek language using lexical decision tasks
with auditory and visual targets. Three-syllable primes and targets were matched in
first syllable segments, length, and other variables, and differed segmentally in the
second and third syllable. Primes matched or mismatched targets in stress, which was
placed on the penultimate or antepenultimate syllable. There was no evidence for stress
priming in either accuracy or latency of responses to either words or pseudowords in
any of these experiments, either intra-modally or cross-modally. In contrast, a control
fragment priming experiment using only the first two syllables of the primes produced a
significant effect of stress congruence for words but not for pseudowords. The results
are interpreted in the context of previous findings in the literature as arising from
lexical activation rather than from matching stress patterns. Overall, findings are
consistent with lexical representations including stress information that is inseparable
from segmental specification, rather than with abstract representations of metrical
templates