SYLLABICATION STRATEGIES IN SPOKEN WORD-PROCESSING - EVIDENCE FROM PHONOLOGICAL PRIMING

Two experiments were conducted to examine which of two linguistic syll abification strategies, the maximal onset principle and the stress pri nciple, is operative in auditory word recognition. Test stimuli consis ted of bisyllabic words and nonwords containing two medial consonants, the second of which had a potential attachment to either the coda of the first syllable or the onset of the second syllable (e.g., MARKET). A phonological priming paradigm was used in which prime stimuli were artificially syllabified by inserting silence. In the critical conditi ons, the prime was consistent with the maximal onset principle (e.g., MAR-KET) or with the stress principle (e.g., MARK-ET). The results sug gested that listeners prefer to attach a medial consonant to the onset of a syllable in a way that is characterized by the maximal onset pri nciple. The results also indicate some use of the stress principle.