Sequential activation processes in producing words and syllables: Evidencefrom picture naming

This study examines picture naming latencies for predicted effects of two w ord retrieval factors: onset complexity and number of syllables. In Experim ent 1, naming latency was longer for depicted words with two syllables e.g. . demon, than one syllable, e.g., duck, and longer for words beginning with consonant clusters, e.g., drill, than single consonants, e.g., duck. Exper iment 2 replicated these results and showed that vowel nucleus and coda com plexity did not interact with onset complexity, and did not affect naming l atency. Moreover, effects of onset complexity and number of syllables were additive, and unrelated to word frequency, articulatory factors, or picture complexity. These results comport with evidence from speech errors and met alinguistic tasks and with predictions of the Node Structure theory of lang uage production, but do not support production theories that do not predict special processing difficulty for words with complex onsets and multiple s yllables.