| Number | 290 |
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| Year | 1980 |
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| Drawer | 5 |
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| Entry Date | 06/03/1999 |
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| Authors | Healy, A. F., & Levitt, A. G. |
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| Contact | |
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| Publication | Memory & Cognition, 8, 107-114. |
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| Abstract | In 3 experiments with 140 undergraduates and 40 young adults, a series of nonsense syllables ending in consonants was presented, and subjects had to discover or learn a rule classifying the syllables into 2 groups. The rule was based either on the voicing of the final consonants or on an arbitrary division of them. Subjects performed better with the voicing than with the arbitrary rule only when there was a straightforward relationship between the voicing rule and the plural formation rule in English or, more generally, when voicing assimilation with an added consonant was involved and attention was focused on the sound and articulation of the syllables.
It is concluded that the voicing distinction is not ordinarily accessible and that individuals easily learn and use phonological rules involving voicing assimilation because of articulatory constraints on the production of consonant clusters. |
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