Are Goats 'Chèvres,' 'Chévres,' 'Chevres,' and 'Chevres'? Unveiling the Orthographic Code of Diacritical Vowels
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| Title: | Are Goats 'Chèvres,' 'Chévres,' 'Chevres,' and 'Chevres'? Unveiling the Orthographic Code of Diacritical Vowels |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Labusch, Melanie, Massol, Stéphanie, Marcet, Ana, Perea, Manuel (ORCID |
| Source: | Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. Feb 2023 49(2):301-319. |
| Availability: | American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 19 |
| Publication Date: | 2023 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Research |
| Descriptors: | Vowels, Distinctive Features (Language), French, Pronunciation, Word Recognition, Reading Processes, Alphabets, Suprasegmentals, Phonology, Phonemes, Comparative Analysis, Semantics, Classification, Task Analysis, Contrastive Linguistics, Reaction Time, Accuracy |
| DOI: | 10.1037/xlm0001212 |
| ISSN: | 0278-7393 1939-1285 |
| Abstract: | An often overlooked but fundamental issue for any comprehensive model of visual-word recognition is the representation of diacritical vowels: Do diacritical and nondiacritical vowels share their abstract letter representations? Recent research suggests that the answer is "yes" in languages where diacritics indicate suprasegmental information (e.g., lexical stress, as in cámara ['ka.ma.[voiced alveolar tap or flap]a] camera; Spanish), but "no" in languages where diacritics indicate segmental information such as a different phoneme (e.g., the German vowels ä /[open-mid front unrounded vowel]/ and a /a/). Here we examined this issue in French, a language that contains a complex set of diacritical vowels (e.g., for the letter e: é, è, ê, and ë). In Experiment 1, using a semantic categorization task, we compared the word identification times to intact diacritical words (e.g., chèvre, goat in English) with a condition with omitted diacritics (chevre). Results showed that the two conditions behaved similarly. In Experiments 2-4, we compared the intact diacritical words with a condition containing a mismatching diacritic, either existing in French (e.g., chévre, chevre) or not (the macron sign, as in chevre). We only found a reading cost when replacing the diacritic with an existing one. In Experiments 5-6, we compared the semantic categorization times to intact nondiacritical words (e.g., cheval, horse in English) versus a condition with an added diacritic, either existing (chèval) or not (cheval). We found a reading cost for the words with the added diacritical mark in both cases. We discuss how models of visual-word recognition can be modified to represent diacritical vowels. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2023 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1377760 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | An often overlooked but fundamental issue for any comprehensive model of visual-word recognition is the representation of diacritical vowels: Do diacritical and nondiacritical vowels share their abstract letter representations? Recent research suggests that the answer is "yes" in languages where diacritics indicate suprasegmental information (e.g., lexical stress, as in cámara ['ka.ma.[voiced alveolar tap or flap]a] camera; Spanish), but "no" in languages where diacritics indicate segmental information such as a different phoneme (e.g., the German vowels ä /[open-mid front unrounded vowel]/ and a /a/). Here we examined this issue in French, a language that contains a complex set of diacritical vowels (e.g., for the letter e: é, è, ê, and ë). In Experiment 1, using a semantic categorization task, we compared the word identification times to intact diacritical words (e.g., chèvre, goat in English) with a condition with omitted diacritics (chevre). Results showed that the two conditions behaved similarly. In Experiments 2-4, we compared the intact diacritical words with a condition containing a mismatching diacritic, either existing in French (e.g., chévre, chevre) or not (the macron sign, as in chevre). We only found a reading cost when replacing the diacritic with an existing one. In Experiments 5-6, we compared the semantic categorization times to intact nondiacritical words (e.g., cheval, horse in English) versus a condition with an added diacritic, either existing (chèval) or not (cheval). We found a reading cost for the words with the added diacritical mark in both cases. We discuss how models of visual-word recognition can be modified to represent diacritical vowels. |
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| ISSN: | 0278-7393 1939-1285 |
| DOI: | 10.1037/xlm0001212 |
