Time and again

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inbal Arnon ◽  
Uriel Cohen Priva
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Word Duration ◽  
Word Predictability ◽  
Phonetic Duration

There is growing evidence that multiword information affects processing. In this paper, we look at the effect of word and multiword frequency on the phonetic duration of words in spontaneous speech to (a) extend previous findings and (b) ask whether the relation between word and multiword information changes across the frequency continuum. If highly frequent sequences are stored holistically, then the effect of word frequency should disappear. If alternatively, increased sequence usage causes a change in the prominence of word and multiword information, we should see reduced effects of word frequency, and increased effects of sequence frequency for high frequency sequences. We first extend previous findings by showing that trigram frequency affects single word duration, even when controlling for word predictability. We then show that the effect of trigram frequency increases while the effect of word frequency decreases — but does not disappear — for highly frequent sequences. The findings provide further support for the effect of multiword information on processing and document the growing prominence of multiword information with repeated usage.

Experience Matters

2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (4) ◽  
pp. 254-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro S. Mendes ◽  
Karlos Luna ◽  
Pedro B. Albuquerque
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
Judgments Of Learning ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Actual Frequency ◽  
Actual Word ◽  
High Frequency Words

Abstract. The present study tested if word frequency effects on judgments of learning (JOLs) are exclusively due to beliefs or if the direct experience with the items also plays a role. Across four experiments, participants read prompts about the frequency of the words (high/low), which could be congruent/incongruent with the words’ actual frequency. They made pre-study JOLs (except Experiment 1b), immediate JOLs, and completed a recall test. If experience drives the effect, JOLs should be based on actual word frequency rather than the prompts. Results showed higher pre-study JOLs for prompts of high frequency, but higher immediate JOLs for high-frequency words regardless of the prompt, suggesting an effect of direct experience with the words. In Experiments 2 and 3, we manipulated participants’ beliefs, finding a small effect of beliefs on JOLs. We conclude that, regarding word frequency, direct experience with the items seems more relevant than beliefs when making immediate JOLs.

A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Word Frequency and Rime-Neighborhood Size on Beginning Readers' Rime Reading Accuracy in Words and Nonwords

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Anne Calhoon ◽  
Lauren Leslie
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Beginning Readers ◽  
Developmental Model ◽  
Neighborhood Size ◽  
Reading Accuracy ◽  
High Frequency Words

Beginning readers' rime reading accuracy was assessed over three years to examine the influence of word frequency and rime-neighborhood size (the number of single syllable words with the same rime) on words presented in lists and stories. Twenty-seven 1st- and 2nd- grade students read 54 words and 27 nonwords containing rimes from different size neighborhoods. In Year 1, children showed effects of neighborhood size in high frequency words read in stories and in low frequency words read in lists and stories. In Year 2, rimes from large neighborhoods were read more accurately than rimes from medium and small neighborhoods in high- and low-frequency words. In Year 3, no effects of rime-neighborhood size were found for high-frequency words, but effects on low-frequency words continued. These results support Leslie and Calhoon's (1995) developmental model of the effects of rime-neighborhood size and word frequency as a function of higher levels of word learning.

scholarly journals Testing claims of a usage-based phonology with Liverpool English t-to-r

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 523-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
LYNN CLARK ◽  
KEVIN WATSON
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
British English ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Motivating Factor ◽  
Oral History Interviews

The variable phenomenon in which /t/ can be realized as a tap or rhotic approximant in varieties of Northern British English (commonly referred to as t-to-r, Wells 1982: 370) has received some attention in English linguistics as debates have appeared over how best to model its phonology (e.g. Carr 1991; Docherty et al. 1997; Broadbent 2008). The occurrence of t-to-r seems to be constrained by the preceding and following phonological environment in a largely systematic way and so it is often accounted for within a rule-based model of grammar. Problematically, however, the rule does not apply blindly across the board to all words which fit the specified phonological pattern. Instead, t-to-r shows evidence of being lexically restricted, and this fact has recently encouraged a usage-based interpretation. Until now, there has been relatively little attempt to test the usage-based thesis directly with fully quantified data gleaned from naturally occurring conversation. This article investigates the extent to which certain usage-based predictions can account for variation attested in t-to-r in Liverpool English. Using oral history interviews with Liverpool English speakers born in the early 1900s, we examine the usage-based predictions first proposed by Broadbent (2008) that t-to-r is more likely in (a) high-frequency words and (b) high-frequency phrases. There is some support for the importance of lexical frequency as a motivating factor in the use of t-to-r, but our data do not fully support either of these claims wholesale. We suggest that t-to-r is not constrained simply by word frequency or phrase frequency alone, but by a combination of both. Finally, we explore the possibility of employing notions from Cognitive Grammar such as schema strength (e.g. Taylor 2002; Bybee 1995: 430) in our interpretation of these data.

EFL Learners’ Knowledge of High-frequency Words in the Comprehension of Idioms: A Boost or a Burden?

RELC Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinkyoung Park ◽  
Yuah V. Chon
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Comprehension Strategies ◽  
Effective Strategy ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
Unit Of Analysis ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Multiword Expressions

Single word items have usually been the unit of analysis for measuring L2 learners’ vocabulary size, for designing word lists and for estimating word coverage of reading texts. However, what is lost in these estimates is the consideration of multiword expressions, such as idioms. To empirically test the assertion that the knowledge of single word items will not lead to automatic comprehension of multiword items, a two-part test was conducted on 124 Korean middle school learners of English: One was a test on idioms composed of the top 1,000 words in English; the second tested single word items of the exact same words in the idiom test. Results indicated that the learners’ knowledge of idioms was lagging behind that of single word items even when the learners knew most of the words that constituted the idioms. Differences between the learners’ actual comprehension and reported comprehension level also indicated that the learners were overestimating their comprehension of the items. The comprehension strategies used to decode the meaning of idioms also indicated that guessing from context was the most effective strategy. Implications are discussed in the light of learning the idioms.

Word frequency does not moderate the degree to which people can selectively attend to parts of visually presented words

2020 ◽  
pp. 174702182096906
Author(s):  
Todd A Kahan ◽  
Louisa M Slowiaczek ◽  
Ned Scott ◽  
Brian T Pfohl
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Congruency Effect ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Test Word ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Bigram Frequency ◽  
Capacity Model ◽  
Entire Word ◽  
High Frequency Words

Whether attention is allocated to an entire word or can be confined to part of a word was examined in an experiment using a visual composite task. Participants saw a study word, a cue to attend to either the right or left half, and a test word, and indicated if the cued half of the words (e.g., left) was the same (e.g., TOLD-TONE) or different (e.g., TOLD-WINE). Prior research using this task reports a larger congruency effect for low-frequency words relative to high-frequency words but extraneous variables were not equated. In this study ( N = 33), lexical (orthographic neighbourhood density) and sublexical (bigram frequency) variables were controlled, and word frequency was manipulated. Results indicate that word frequency does not moderate the degree to which parts of a word can be selectively attended/ignored. Response times to high-frequency words were faster than response times to low-frequency words but the congruency effect was equivalent. The data support a capacity model where attention is equally distributed across low-frequency and high-frequency words but low-frequency words require additional processing resources.

A Preliminary Investigation of Reduplication in Children with Specific Language Impairment

1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret Lahey ◽  
Judy Flax ◽  
Gloria Schlisselberg
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Whole Word

The frequency of reduplication was examined in relation to syllable maintenance, final consonant production, and whole word repetitions in two preschool children with specific language impairment—one who reduplicated frequently and one who did so infrequently. Spontaneous speech was sampled for a period of 18 months. During the single-word utterance period, reduplication was associated with infrequent production of final consonants but frequent maintenance of multisyllabic structure. After the single-word utterance period the child who had frequently reduplicated during this period ceased reduplication but frequently produced whole word repetitions. Infrequent production of final consonants continued, but syllable maintenance decreased. The data are discussed in relation to hypotheses about the function of reduplication and the function of whole word repetitions in language development.

Deaccenting in Spontaneous Speech in Barcelona Spanish

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajiv Rao
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Lexical Item ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Gaps ◽  
Stressed Syllable ◽  
Speech Data ◽  
Phonological Phrase ◽  
Pitch Movement

AbstractRecent literature on Spanish intonation assumes that deaccenting occurs when a lexical item fails to cue stress via an F0 rise or some other pitch movement through its stressed syllable. Inspired by the findings and suggestions for future research by Face (2003), the present study fills in research gaps by examining seven potential influences on deaccenting, working with spontaneous speech, and addressing the understudied Barcelona dialect of Spanish. The analysis of 160-170 minutes of spontaneous speech data collected at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona reveals that the odds of deaccenting increase in words that are high frequency in Spanish, have fewer syllables, are verbs or adverbs, are uttered multiple times within a recent timeframe, or are in initial or medial positions of the phonological phrase. Finally, high frequency verbs and adverbs, as well as adverbs, nouns, and verbs with fewer syllables are all especially prone to deaccenting.

scholarly journals Vowel duration and the voicing effect across English dialects

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Tanner ◽  
Morgan Sonderegger ◽  
Jane Stuart-Smith ◽  
SPADE Data Consortium
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Vowel Duration ◽  
Connected Speech ◽  
Expected Effect ◽  
Voicing Contrast ◽  
Wide Range

The ‘voicing effect’ – the durational difference in vowels preceding voiced and voiceless consonants – is a well-documented phenomenon in English, where it plays a key role in the production and perception of the English final voicing contrast. Despite this supposed importance, little is known as to how robust this effect is in spontaneous connected speech, which is itself subject to a range of linguistic factors. Similarly, little attention has focused on variability in the voicing effect across dialects of English, bar analysis of specific varieties. Our findings show that the voicing of the following consonant exhibits a weaker-than-expected effect in spontaneous speech, interacting with manner, vowel height, speech rate, and word frequency. English dialects appear to demonstrate a continuum of potential voicing effect sizes, where varieties with dialect-specific phonological rules exhibit the most extreme values. The results suggest that the voicing effect in English is both substantially weaker than previously assumed in spontaneous connected speech, and subject to a wide range of dialectal variability.

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