This study introduces a statistical model formalizing the relationship between lexical selection response times (RT) and phonemic structure. Word reconstruction task research has explored potentially universal lexical access processes, where listeners convert nonwords into real words by altering a single phoneme (vowel, consonant, or tone). Previous studies focus on univariate analyses of behavior, such as effects of functional load, phoneme inventory size, or phonemic frequency, presenting hypotheses that do not jointly predict empirical data (i.e., response times) across languages. The present model describes a probabilistic linear search of a language's phonemic inventory, where segment selection is guided by estimated phoneme frequencies (formalized with Plackett–Luce weights). Applying the model to Mandarin, English, and other languages shows that differences in RT between categories may be best explained primarily by contrasts in inventory size. This model is also able to predict lower RT in the free-choice condition as a consequence of higher neighborhood density compared to conditions demanding changes to tones, consonants, or vowels alone. Our results suggest that processing asymmetries (i.e., vowel mutability) are not intrinsic to phonemic structure but emerge from stimulus design. The generalizability of this model surpasses many popular theories and enhances our understanding of lexical selection.
Bennie et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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