Segment duration as a cue to word boundaries in spoken-word recognition. Shatzman, K. B & McQueen, J. M Percept Psychophys, 68(1):1-16, 2006.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
In two eye-tracking experiments, we examined the degree to which listeners use acoustic cues to word boundaries. Dutch participants listened to ambiguous sentences in which stop-initial words (e.g., pot, jar) were preceded by eens (once); the sentences could thus also refer to cluster-initial words (e.g., een spot, a spotlight). The participants made fewer fixations to target pictures (e.g., ajar) when the target and the preceding [s] were replaced by a recording of the cluster-initial word than when they were spliced from another token of the target-bearing sentence (Experiment 1). Although acoustic analyses revealed several differences between the two recordings, only [s] duration correlated with the participants' fixations (more target fixations for shorter [s]s). Thus, we found that listeners apparently do not use all available acoustic differences equally. In Experiment 2, the participants made more fixations to target pictures when the [s] was shortened than when it was lengthened. Utterance interpretation can therefore be influenced by individual segment duration alone.
@Article{Shatzman2006b,
  author   = {Keren B Shatzman and James M McQueen},
  journal  = {Percept Psychophys},
  title    = {Segment duration as a cue to word boundaries in spoken-word recognition.},
  year     = {2006},
  number   = {1},
  pages    = {1-16},
  volume   = {68},
  abstract = {In two eye-tracking experiments, we examined the degree to which listeners
	use acoustic cues to word boundaries. Dutch participants listened
	to ambiguous sentences in which stop-initial words (e.g., pot, jar)
	were preceded by eens (once); the sentences could thus also refer
	to cluster-initial words (e.g., een spot, a spotlight). The participants
	made fewer fixations to target pictures (e.g., ajar) when the target
	and the preceding [s] were replaced by a recording of the cluster-initial
	word than when they were spliced from another token of the target-bearing
	sentence (Experiment 1). Although acoustic analyses revealed several
	differences between the two recordings, only [s] duration correlated
	with the participants' fixations (more target fixations for shorter
	[s]s). Thus, we found that listeners apparently do not use all available
	acoustic differences equally. In Experiment 2, the participants made
	more fixations to target pictures when the [s] was shortened than
	when it was lengthened. Utterance interpretation can therefore be
	influenced by individual segment duration alone.},
  doi      = {10.3758/bf03193651},
  keywords = {Cues, Humans, Recognition (Psychology), Speech Perception, Time Factors, Vocabulary, 16617825},
}

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