Stress in silent reading: Effects of concurrent articulation on the detection of syllabic stress patterns in written words in english speakers

Abstract

Concurrent articulation was found to impair native English subjects' ability to compare the internal stress pattern of written words. In one task, the subjects judged the stress-similarity of pairs of written words. Concurrent articulation impaired performance more than concurrent hearing. In a second study, the subjects marked written sentences for lexical and syllabic stress; concurrent articulation and chewing both caused performance to become less accurate than when it was performed silently, but the effects were somewhat more marked for concurrent articulation.

Because movement of the articulators has such a specific effect on the analysis of stress within written words, we propose that the representations established by “inner speech” are sensitive to the internal stress structure of the word. Nothing in these results supports the possibility (Black & Byng, 1986) that a pre-lexical source is indicated for these effects. They are probably post-lexical and reflect off-line processing.