THE STATUS OF THE SYLLABLE IN THE PERCEPTION OF SPANISH AND ENGLISH

A series of monitoring studies is reported, in replication of the cross-language research of Cutler, Mehler, Norris and Segui (1983; 1986), which found evidence of language-specific perceptual routines. Monolingual speakers of Spanish and English detected CV and CVC target sequences in native and non-native materials. The replication succeeded only in the case of Spanish speakers and Spanish materials, where a cross-over interaction of target (CV vs CVC sequences) and carrier types (CV- vs CVC-syllabified words) gave evidence of a sensitivity to the input's syllabification; no such pattern emerged for Spanish speakers and English materials, nor for English speakers and materials in either language. For English speakers, the consistent finding was for faster performance with CVC targets, regardless of the structure of the carrier word. Whether or not this is to be interpreted as evidence of syllabified input representations is not clear. Analyses of English syllabification that are alternatives to that adopted by Cutler et al. exist, to weaken the original contrast drawn between syllable-favouring and syllable-disfavouring languages. A final experiment examines monitoring performance in Spanish speakers who have become bilingual as a consequence of emigration to an English-speaking country; these subjects showed no syllable sensitivity for Spanish language materials. We speculate that factors outside the perceptual system may determine the basis on which responses are made in the monitoring task, and therefore conclude that the case for language specificity in perceptual routines has yet to be made.