Haskins Publications

Number	1109
Year	1999
Drawer	21
Entry Date	11/22/1999
Authors	Lukatela, G., Lukatela, K., Carello, C. & Turvey, M.T.
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Publication	European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 11, 1-16
url	http://www.haskins.yale.edu/Reprints/HL1109.pdf
Abstract	The Serbo-Croatian word corresponding to the English noun wind is written BETAP in the Cyrillic alphabet and VETAR in the Roman alphabet. Typically, bi-alphabetic readings name BETAP more slowly and with more errors than VETAR. BETAP is phonologically ambiguous because B and P specify the phonemes /b/ and /p/ in Roman and /v/ and /r/ in Cyrillic. We conducted an experiment to determine whether this naming difference between phonologically ambiguous and phonologically unique words depends on word frequency. The naming difference was of the same magnitude for high- and low-frequency words when the stimulus presentation was prolonged; with very brief presentation, the naming difference remained but frequency influenced only the phonologically ambiguous words. The results are discussed with respect to a single-route account of naming in which (a) a lower orthographic-phonological network, shaped by asymptotic learning, generates automatically all phonological patterns specified by a letter string, and (b) a higher phonological-semantic network, shaped by individual word frequencies, enhances phonological pattern selection through adaptive resonance.
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