Perception of repeated /l/ and /n/: Implications for understanding dissimilation

Authors

  • Nancy Hall California State University Long Beach http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6386-1375
  • Bianca Godinez California State University Long Beach
  • Megan Walsh California State University Long Beach
  • Sarah Garcia California State University Long Beach
  • Araceli Carmona California State University Long Beach

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v5i1.4737

Keywords:

dissimilation, hypercorrection, speech perception, nasals, laterals

Abstract

We test Ohala’s (1993) hypothesis that phonological dissimilation can result from perceptual errors. Using a task in which American English speakers hear and orthographically transcribe nonce words, we test whether they are more likely to omit an acoustically present /l/ or /n/ when heard in a word where another token of the same sound is present. We find that this is the case for /l/ but not for /n/. These results mirror the actual prevalence of dissimilation in American English, where /l/-dissimilation occurs occasionally, but /n/-dissimilation rarely or never.

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Published

2020-03-23

How to Cite

Hall, Nancy, Bianca Godinez, Megan Walsh, Sarah Garcia, and Araceli Carmona. 2020. “Perception of Repeated L and N : Implications for Understanding Dissimilation”. Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 5 (1): 446–459. https://doi.org/10.3765/plsa.v5i1.4737.