ABSTRACT
The sound-form generation of a word in speech production involves the retrieval of segmental and suprasegmental information from the mental lexicon. A translation task experiment showed that the naming latencies of target items can be reduced when prime words are presented that have the same placement of the lexical stress as the target. However, this reduction will only occur when primes and targets have the same word onset. A second experiment showed that primes that have the same number of segments as the targets will cause naming facilitation compared to primes that have different numbers of segments. I have developed a new model of phonological encoding that incorporates ordered selection of the various elements. Lexical stress is chosen first, followed by information about the number of slots, the word onset, the second segment, and the other segments, until all segments have been selected. The model further employs mechanisms that allow for the retrieval of the initial segment to influence the retrieval of lexical stress. Various simulations show that the model can replicate the findings of the two experiments. Other models of phonological encoding largely neglect suprasegmental retrieval and cannot explain these results.
