Dissertation - Michael Becker

(31) Proportions of nouns with voicing alternations in the lexicon vs. the percent ofalternating choices in the experiment, by size and place.85%75%CVCVkCVCVphuman responses65%55%45%35%CVCVt CVpCVCtCVtCVk CVCkCVCVCCVCVCVCp25%0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%lexiconIn stark contrast to the tight correlation between the experimental results and the lexiconfor place and size effects, as seen in (31), there is no pattern when the height or backnesseffects are considered. The chart in (32) shows the results of the height factor. Each pointin this chart shows the difference in rates of alternation between high and non-high vowels,by size and place. Positive values indicate more alternations with [+high] vowels, andnegative values indicate more alternations with [−high] vowels.There is no correlation between the lexicon and speakers’ performance when vowelheight is considered (Spearman’s rank correlation test, S = 196.8, ρ = .312, p > .1). Thechart in (32) shows that speakers’ behavior was essentially random with respect to vowelheight.37