ABSTRACT
In any sampling of the speech signal, hearers utilize decoding concepts to construct a full analysis from a partially heard signal. This chapter focuses on the ways in which the listener decodes utterances. The processes of lexical recognition and syntactic parsing are discussed and it is shown how cognitive effects can influence this recognition process. The notion of speed often enters discussions of listening ability, as when second-language learners feel discouraged that they cannot keep up with the language when it is spoken at its normal speed. Listeners who anticipate hearing ideal pronunciations of words will have considerable difficulty decoding connected speech since all phonemes change their perceptual features in different phonetic environments. Stress can be considered from an articulatory perspective and from an auditory perspective.
