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This study employed eye-tracking in the visual world paradigm to investigate how native Australian English (AusE) listeners and Chinese L2 English learners process accent variation during spoken word recognition, examining the interaction between abstract phonological representations and episodic memory traces. Four experiments systematically compared recognition of words spoken in a familiar accent (AusE) versus two unfamiliar accents: Cockney English (CknE) and Jamaican Mesolect English (JaME). While AusE-CknE differences primarily involved consonantal features, AusE-JaME differences predominantly concerned vowel variations. These phonetic deviations were classified as either gradient (Category Goodness, CG) representing within-category variation, or categorical (Category Shifting, CS) involving cross-category changes. To expand vocabulary scope beyond depictable items, printed words replaced traditional picture stimuli, with participants viewing four words while hearing target pronunciations. Results revealed three key findings: (1) Both native and non-native listeners exhibited increased fixations to onset competitors when processing unfamiliar accents, indicating heightened lexical competition; (2) CS words attracted significantly more fixations than CG words, particularly in unfamiliar accent conditions, suggesting greater processing difficulty for category-shifting variations; (3) Critically, vowel differences disrupted word recognition more severely for native listeners, whereas consonantal variations posed greater challenges for L2 listeners—a reversal reflecting L1 phonological influences. These patterns demonstrate a robust familiar-accent advantage in spoken word recognition while revealing differential contributions of segmental features across listener populations. The findings provide empirical support for hybrid models of spoken word recognition that integrate abstract phonological representations with detailed episodic traces, highlighting how linguistic experience shapes adaptation to accent variability.

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Accent Familiarity and Phonological Weighting in Spoken-Word Recognition

  • 会议论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Jia Ying

摘要

This study employed eye-tracking in the visual world paradigm to investigate how native Australian English (AusE) listeners and Chinese L2 English learners process accent variation during spoken word recognition, examining the interaction between abstract phonological representations and episodic memory traces. Four experiments systematically compared recognition of words spoken in a familiar accent (AusE) versus two unfamiliar accents: Cockney English (CknE) and Jamaican Mesolect English (JaME). While AusE-CknE differences primarily involved consonantal features, AusE-JaME differences predominantly concerned vowel variations. These phonetic deviations were classified as either gradient (Category Goodness, CG) representing within-category variation, or categorical (Category Shifting, CS) involving cross-category changes. To expand vocabulary scope beyond depictable items, printed words replaced traditional picture stimuli, with participants viewing four words while hearing target pronunciations. Results revealed three key findings: (1) Both native and non-native listeners exhibited increased fixations to onset competitors when processing unfamiliar accents, indicating heightened lexical competition; (2) CS words attracted significantly more fixations than CG words, particularly in unfamiliar accent conditions, suggesting greater processing difficulty for category-shifting variations; (3) Critically, vowel differences disrupted word recognition more severely for native listeners, whereas consonantal variations posed greater challenges for L2 listeners—a reversal reflecting L1 phonological influences. These patterns demonstrate a robust familiar-accent advantage in spoken word recognition while revealing differential contributions of segmental features across listener populations. The findings provide empirical support for hybrid models of spoken word recognition that integrate abstract phonological representations with detailed episodic traces, highlighting how linguistic experience shapes adaptation to accent variability.