Two sentences differing only in stress placement were constructed for each of 36 target words (half open- & half closed-class). In one sentence, main stress was on the target word, in the other on a ...nearby word. Right-handed Broca's aphasics & right-handed nonaphasic controls (N = 8 each) listened to tapes of the sentences with instructions to understand them & to push a button when (if) they heard a given target word. Reaction time data were also collected. Broca's aphasics showed different processing patterns for open & closed materials under different stress, than did controls. Normal Ss showed a stress effect but no overall effect of word class independent of stress. Aphasics showed a significant effect for word class. Reaction times to open-class words were consistently faster than those for closed-class words. Aphasics also showed an overall stress effect, like normals, but differed in that the aphasics' stress effect was equally strong for both word classes. Results indicate that the agrammatism exhibited by Broca's aphasics results from loss of the ability to distinguish between open- & closed-class words. 1 Table, Appendix. B. Annesser
The order of some conjoined words is rigidly fixed (e.g. dribs and drabs/*drabs and dribs). Both phonetic and semantic factors can play a role in determining the fixed order. An experiment was ...conducted to test whether listeners’ reaction times for monitoring a predetermined phoneme are influenced by phonetic constraints on ordering. Two such constraints were investigated : monosyllable-bisyllable and high-low vowel sequences. In English, conjoined words occur in such sequences with much greater frequency than their converses, other factors being equal. Reaction times were significantly shorter for phoneme monitoring in monosyllable-bisyllable sequences than in bisyllable-monosyllable sequences. However, reaction times were not significantly different for high-low vs. low-high vowel sequences.
Tested whether listeners' reaction times for monitoring a predetermined phoneme are influenced by phonetic constraints on ordering. Reaction times were significantly shorter for phoneme monitoring in ...monosyllable-bisyllable sequences than in bisyllable-monosyllable sequences; however, reaction times were not significantly different for high-low vs low-high vowel sequences. (EJS)
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