Phonological constraints in speech segmentation processes: investigating levels of implementation

Recent data have been considered as evidence for a role of phonological constraints in speech segmentation processes. A distributional analysis of consonant sequences in the French lexicon shows that these results may be accounted for by lexical competition or by transitional probability models in which no claim is made about the usefulness of phonology in speech perception. Two word-spotting experiments were devised in order to investigate this issue. In the first experiment, only half of the participants showed the previous effect. In a modified replication of this study, the expected effect emerged clearly with the same target stimuli. While the role of phonotactics in speech segmentation seems to be independent from lexical competition and transitional probabilities, the likely role of strategical effects is discussed.