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It has been suggested that readers encode letter positions flexibly during word recognition, as evidenced by studies showing that misspelled words can still be read naturally (e.g., transposed letter effects). On the other hand, in some non-Roman alphabetic writing systems, such as Korean Hangul, syllables rather than individual letters within a word might be the main source of confusability, called the transposed syllable (TS) effect. Despite evidence supporting the existence of the TS effect, its specific characteristics remain largely unexplored. Here, we studied variables that may mediate the TS effect in Korean Hangul. In the first two experiments, we used the masked priming lexical decision task and observed that the TS effect (i.e., faster lexical decision when the prime was the internal TS version of the target than when it was the replaced-syllable version) was apparent only for high-frequency Korean Hangul stimuli. We also found that the priming effect on lexical decisions depends on the distance between the transposed syllables. Lastly, in Experiment 3, we demonstrated that the TS effect might also emerge at the pre-lexical perceptual level using the perceptual matching task. Our findings indicate that multiple stages of information processing support the TS effect in Korean Hangul.

Reading is one of the most important milestones a child achieves throughout development. Above the letter level, the syllable has been shown to play a relevant role at early stages of visual word recognition in adult skilled readers. However, studies aiming to examine when, during reading acquisition, the syllable emerges as a functional sublexical unit are scarce, and the studies conducted so far have led to inconsistent results. In this work, beginning and intermediate European-Portuguese (EP) developing readers performed a sandwich masked lexical decision task in which CV (e.g., RU.MOR[rumour]) and CVC (e.g., CIS.NE[swan]) first-syllable EP words were preceded either by syllable congruent (e.g., rum.ba-RU.MOR, cis.ra-CIS.NE), syllable incongruent (e.g., rum.ba-RU.MOR, ci.ser-CIS.NE), unrelated (e.g., va.cra-RU.MOR, zar.vo-CIS.NE) pseudowords primes, or identity (e.g., ru.mour-RU.MOUR, cis.ne-CIS.NE) primes. Results showed reliable syllable effects only for intermediate readers and for CV and CVC words alike. Findings are discussed attending to current models of visual word recognition.

Syllable frequency effects in spoken word production have been interpreted as evidence that speakers store syllable-sized motor programmes for phonetic encoding in alphabetic languages such as English or Dutch. However, the cognitive mechanism underlying the syllable frequency effect in Chinese spoken word production remains unknown. To investigate the locus of the syllable frequency effect in spoken Chinese, this study used a picture–word interference (PWI) task in which participants were asked to name the picture while ignoring the distractor word. The design included two variables: the syllable frequency of the target words (high vs. low) and the phonological relationships between distractor and target words (shared atonic syllable or not; related vs. unrelated). We manipulated mixed token and type syllable frequency in Experiment 1, and token syllable frequency but controlled type syllable frequency in Experiment 2. The results showed a facilitation effect of mixed syllable frequency and a similar facilitation effect of token syllable frequency. Importantly, the syllable frequency effect was found to be independent of the phonological facilitation effect. These results suggest that token syllable frequency played a dominant role in the observed facilitation effect, providing evidence that the syllable frequency effect arises in the phonetic encoding of Chinese spoken word production.

Although the syllable has been shown to play a relevant role at early stages of visual word recognition, several studies using consonant-vowel (CV) and consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) first-syllable words have also shown that reliable effects are observed for CV but not for CVC words. Several proposals have been advanced to account for this syllable structure effect, though studies aiming to directly address this issue are scarce. Here we tested whether syllable complexity might underlie the syllable structure effect observed in several languages, by replicating the masked priming lexical decision study conducted by Campos, Oliveira, and Soares (2018) with Portuguese adult skilled readers using 50-ms pseudoword primes, but using longer (67-ms and 82-ms) prime durations. If the structure syllable effect is driven by syllable complexity, increasing prime durations should make facilitative syllable priming effects to emerge for CVC words. Furthermore, by manipulating prime durations we can also provide new insights into the temporal dynamics of syllable effects at early stages of visual word recognition. Results from linear mixed effects (lme) models analyses showed that even with increased prime durations, reliable syllable effects were still restricted to CV words. Increasing prime durations to 67 ms and 82 ms only strengthened orthographic priming effects for CVC words. Moreover, the magnitude of the priming effects for CV words remained fairly constant across these prime durations, thus suggesting that the CV advantage on visual word recognition is not a short-lived effect. Results are discussed attending to current findings in the literature. Bien qu'il ait été démontré que les syllabes jouent un rôle important aux stades précoces de la reconnaissance visuelle des mots, plusieurs études utilisant des mots dont la première syllabe combine une consonne et une voyelle (CV) ou une consonne, une voyelle et une consonne (CVC) ont aussi démontré que des effets fiables sont observés pour les mots CV, mais pas pour les mots CVC. Plusieurs propositions ont été formulées pour rendre compte de cet effet de la structure des syllabes. Or, les études visant à aborder directement cette question sont peu nombreuses. Dans la présente étude, nous avons examiné si la complexité des syllabes pourrait être à l'origine de l'effet de la structure des syllabes observé dans diverses langues en reproduisant l'étude de décision lexicale par amorçage masqué menée par Campos, Oliveira, et Soares (2018) auprès de lecteurs adultes de langue portugaise utilisant des pseudo-mots amorces de 50 ms mais avec des durées d'amorce plus longues (67 ms et 82 ms). Si l'effet de la structure des syllabes est régi par la complexité des syllabes, l'augmentation de la durée des amorces devrait favoriser l'émergence d'effets facilitateurs de l'amorce syllabique pour les mots CVC. De plus, en manipulant la durée des amorces, nous pouvons aussi jeter un nouvel éclairage sur la dynamique temporelle des effets des syllabes aux stades précoces de la reconnaissance visuelle des mots. Les résultats d'analyses de modèles non linéaires intégrés à effets mixtes ont démontré que, même en accroissant la durée des amorces, les effets fiables des syllabes se limitaient toujours aux mots CV. Le fait d'augmenter la durée de 67 à 82 ms ne faisait que renforcer les effets d'amorçage des mots CVC. De plus, la magnitude des effets d'amorçage pour les mots CV demeurait relativement constante parmi l'ensemble de ces durées d'amorçage, ce qui donne à penser que l'avantage CV sur la reconnaissance visuelle des mots n'est pas un effet éphémère. Ces résultats sont abordés au regard des constatations actuelles formulées dans la documentation. Public Significance Statement Previous studies conducted in different languages have shown that the syllable plays a relevant role at the early stages of visual word recognition for CV, but not for CVC first-syllable words. Here we tested whether syllable complexity can account for this syllable structure by manipulating prime durations using a masked priming lexical task. Linear-mixed models (lme) analyses revealed that reliable syllable effects were still observed for CV words and remain fairly constant, even with longer prime duration. Increasing prime durations only strengthened orthographic effects for CVC words. Syllable complexity is not the driving force of the syllable structure effect observed at the early stages of visual word recognition, at least within the range of the prime durations tested in this article with the masked priming paradigm.

The present study provides a formal account for three types of experimental findings recurrently reported in the literature, yet not integrated into current L2 speech theories, namely individual variability, syllable-position effects and orthographic influences. By analysing examples from L2 acquisition of Portuguese, we show that all these L2 speech patterns can be formalised within a single generative linguistic model, the Harmonic-Grammar version of Bidirectional Phonology and Phonetics Model, which was originally proposed for native speech perception and production. Without resorting to any mechanism specific to L2 acquisition, our formal modelling suggests that L2 speech data can be addressed in a broader context, benefiting from well-developed formal phonological theories.

The present study addressed the issue of syllable activation during visual recognition of French words. In addition, it was investigated whether word orthographic information underlies syllable effects. To do so, words were selected according to the frequency of their first syllable (high versus low) and the frequency of the orthographic correspondence of this syllable (high versus low). For example, the high-frequency syllable /ã/ is frequently transcribed by the orthographic cluster an , but infrequently transcribed by han in French. A lexical decision task was performed by skilled readers (Experiment 1) and beginning readers in Grade 5 (Experiment 2). Results yielded an inhibitory effect of syllable frequency in both experiments. Moreover, the reliable interaction between syllable frequency and orthographic correspondence frequency indicated that the syllable frequency effect was influenced by orthographic characteristics of syllables. Finally, data showed that the interaction between phonological and orthographic variables was modified with reading experience. The results are discussed in current models of visual word recognition.

This chapter shows that although the name socio‐phonetics might imply that the focus of the discipline is on sociolinguistics and phonetics, it also needs to understand how variation can be constrained by language‐internal phonological concerns. It elaborates on the distinction between phonological and social factors in sociophonetics. Labov's study demonstrates the combined importance of both external and internal factors in language variation and change. The chapter presents a number of studies that illustrate different aspects of the effect of phonology on language variation, while also providing examples of how to set up a project. The presentation is divided into segmental environment effects, syllable structure effects, and phonological restructuring effects, with the caveat that this division should not imply that these categories are always entirely separable. It is well known that vowels are affected by neighboring consonants, due to general coarticulatory processes.

Understanding how genes, drugs and neural circuits influence behavior requires the ability to effectively organize information about similarities and differences within complex behavioral datasets. Motion Sequencing (MoSeq) is an ethologically inspired behavioral analysis method that identifies modular components of three-dimensional mouse body language called ‘syllables’. Here, we show that MoSeq effectively parses behavioral differences and captures similarities elicited by a panel of neuroactive and psychoactive drugs administered to a cohort of nearly 700 mice. MoSeq identifies syllables that are characteristic of individual drugs, a finding we leverage to reveal specific on- and off-target effects of both established and candidate therapeutics in a mouse model of autism spectrum disorder. These results demonstrate that MoSeq can meaningfully organize large-scale behavioral data, illustrate the power of a fundamentally modular description of behavior and suggest that behavioral syllables represent a new class of druggable target.By analyzing hundreds of mice treated with a library of neuro- and psychoactive drugs, Wiltschko et al. show that Motion Sequencing can effectively discriminate and categorize drug effects and link molecular targets to behavioral syllables.

This paper analyzes the process of resyllabification in historical Czech. We argue that the diachronic shift from non-syllabic liquids to syllabic consonants reflects a broader cross-linguistic pattern of phonological change, characterized by a move away from marked structures. Resyllabification is examined in verse texts from the 14th to the 16th centuries that adhere to a regular octosyllabic rhythm. Our corpus-based research reveals that this process is influenced by morphological structure, with word-medial liquids becoming syllabic before those in word-final and morpheme-final positions. We explain this two-step change as a shift along the licensing hierarchy, from more marked to less marked licensors.