Frequency of use and sonority sequencing in first- and second-language consonant cluster perception: facilitation is language-specific.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Expectations derived from knowledge about the likelihood of different phoneme sequences are an effective cognitive mechanism to make the listening process more efficient. In addition to language-specific distributions, universal principles of well-formedness may play a role, especially in second language listening, where the listeners are less familiar with the target language. In our study, we compared two listener groups to investigate the relative influences of consonant cluster frequency and consonant sequencing in accordance with the Sonority Sequencing Principle on the perception of initial consonant clusters in German.

Methods

In Experiment 1, first-language (L1) German listeners identified noise-embedded nonce words with initial consonant clusters. In Ex

SUBMITTER: Wulfert S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12399542 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature