Date of Award
2006
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Berent, Iris
Abstract
Linguistic theory predicts that speakers are equipped with universal sonority principles that restrict the structure of the syllable: onset clusters with sonority rises are preferred to onsets with plateaus, which are preferred to onsets with falling sonority (bn > bd > lb). We investigate the source of this preference in English, a language in which these sonority profiles are unattested. We gauged speakers' preferences for unattested onsets by examining their susceptibility to epenthetic repair. If English speakers are sensitive to onset structure, then onsets that are universally dispreferred should be more likely to elicit repair (e.g., lbif→lebif). Results from a syllable judgment task and an identity task support our predictions: onsets of rising sonority are perceived more accurately compared to onsets with sonority plateaus, which, in turn, are perceived more accurately compared to onsets with sonority falls. Our findings suggest that speakers are equipped with phonological preferences for sonority profiles that are unattested in their language.
Extent
54 p.
Recommended Citation
Lennertz, Tracy J., "Now you hear it, now you don't: The effect of markedness on the perception of unattested clusters" (2006). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009. 1121.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_5/1121
Identifier
FADT13392
Comments
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2006.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Charles E. Schmidt College of Science