The Dynamics of Spoken Word Recognition in Second Language Listeners Reveal Native-Like Lexical Processing

Models of spoken word recognition in monolingual, native listeners account for the dynamics of lexical activation of intended words and their phonologically similar “competitors,” in terms of continuous, cascaded processing dynamics. Here we explore how the dynamics of spoken word recognition differ for second language listeners. Groups of native Korean speakers (KL1) and native English speakers (EL1) listened to recordings of words in three conditions: phonological overlap at the beginnings of the words (cohort), at the ends of the words (rhyme), or without phonological overlap (unrelated), and used a computer mouse to select the matching stimulus from an array of two pictures. There are many reasons to predict that KL1 participants would differ from EL1 participants; for example, participants with nonnative speech sound perception might strategically reduce the contribution of anticipatory processes to avoid committing to an incorrect response and thus demonstrate smaller effects of anticipatory competition (cohort effect). Instead, the results did not reveal any interactions between language background and performance across the cohort, rhyme and unrelated conditions. Nor were effects of similarity related to overall performance on independent tests of speech sound categorization or vocabulary. The results suggest that the cohort and rhyme effects are robust features of proficient second language spoken word recognition, despite demonstrable differences in speech sound recognition.