Priming stress patterns in word recognition

This study addresses the lexical representation of stress in a series of five intra-modal

and cross-modal priming experiments in the Greek language using lexical decision tasks

with auditory and visual targets. Three-syllable primes and targets were matched in

first syllable segments, length, and other variables, and differed segmentally in the

second and third syllable. Primes matched or mismatched targets in stress, which was

placed on the penultimate or antepenultimate syllable. There was no evidence for stress

priming in either accuracy or latency of responses to either words or pseudowords in

any of these experiments, either intra-modally or cross-modally. In contrast, a control

fragment priming experiment using only the first two syllables of the primes produced a

significant effect of stress congruence for words but not for pseudowords. The results

are interpreted in the context of previous findings in the literature as arising from

lexical activation rather than from matching stress patterns. Overall, findings are

consistent with lexical representations including stress information that is inseparable

from segmental specification, rather than with abstract representations of metrical

templates.