It is well known that numerous aspects of sentential context can influence the manner in which a word within the sentence is identified. We investigated two such contextual effects, that of the speaking rate of the sentence in which the target word occurs and that of the semantic congruence between the sentence and the target word. We observed that although the two effects are similar on the surface, in that each is realized as a change in the identification of acoustically ambiguous (but not unambiguous) items along a speech series, they are strikingly different in their susceptibility to changes in task demands. Specifically, changes in the task that readily eliminate the semantic congruity effect do not serve to eliminate the rate effect, suggesting that the two effects arise at different stages of analysis. The implications of this finding for models of speech processing are discussed.It has been known for a long time that the identification of a given word in a sentence is not based solely on its own acoustic and linguistic properties, but depends as well on the acoustic and linguistic properties of the sentence in which it occurs (e.g., G. A. Miller, Heise, & Lichten, 1951;G. A. Miller & Isard, 1963; and see Bagley, 1900-1901, discussed in Cole & Rudnicky, 1983. But although there is a consensus on the existence of such context effects; and continued investigation into the nature of such effects (see, e.g., Forster, 1976;Grosjean, 1980;Marslen-Wilson & Tyler, 1980; Swinney, 1981), the manner in which sentential properties enter into the word recognition process is not yet understood.In the course of investigations of contextual effects in speech perception, we have made an observation concerning the manner in which two different properties of a sentence influence the identification of a word within that sentence. One property is speaking rate, which is defined in terms of physical properties of the speech signal. The other is the semantic congruence between the sentence and the to-be-identified word, which is based on a linguistic, specifically semantic, analysis of the utterance. We have observed that although the two properties have superfi- dally similar effects on the identification of a word, they actually operate quite differently. The existence of the semantic effect is highly dependent on the characteristics of the task demands, whereas this appears not to be true of the rate effect. In particular, changes in the experimental task that readily eliminate the semantic effect do not serve to eliminate the rate effect. The differential sensitivity of the two effects to the experimental task suggests that the effects, although similar on the surface, arise at different stages of analysis. The purpose of the present paper is to report our observation and to discuss its implications for models of speech processing.Our observation is based on two parallel series of studies, one of which focused on speaking rate and the other on semantic congruity. Our methodology in these studies is one that has been used...

We used a selective adaptation procedure to investigate the possibility that differences in the degree to which stimuli within a phonetic category are considered to be good exemplars of the category--that is, differences in perceived category goodness--have a basis at a prephonetic, auditory level of processing. For three different phonetic contrasts (/b-p/, /d-g/, /b-w/), we assessed the relative magnitude of adaptation along a stimulus continuum produced by a variety of stimuli from the continuum belonging to a given phonetic category. For all three phonetic contrasts, nonmonotonic adaptation functions were obtained: As the adaptor moved away from the category boundary, there was an initial increase in adaptation, followed by a subsequent decrease. On the assumption that selective adaptation taps a prephonetic, auditory level of processing, these findings permit the following conclusions. First, at an auditory level there is a limit on the range of stimuli along a continuum that is treated as relevant to a given contrast; that is, the stimuli along a continuum are effectively grouped into auditory categories. Second, stimuli within an auditory category vary in their effectiveness as category members, providing an internal structure to the categories. Finally, this internal category structure at the auditory level, revealed by the adaptation procedure, may provide a basis for differences in perceived category goodness at the phonetic level.

In this article several aspects of language planning with respect to the Sign Language of the Netherlands (NGT) are discussed. For nearly thirty years now we have been working with several organizations and members of the Deaf community to improve the position of Deaf people, change the status of their language, and implement a sign language policy that has had implications in several areas. First, a brief background of the situation in the Netherlands with respect to deaf education and the status of NGT is given. Then four main periods are briefly discussed: the oral period (1915–1980) the Total Communication period (1980–1995) the bilingual period (1995–2004) the monolingual/bimodal period (2004–present) Subsequently, the role of sign language research is described. Bernard Tervoort's (1953) research had a major influence on the Deaf community and inspired the first linguistic research on NGT. Three major projects have influenced the linguistic status of NGT and the emancipation of the Deaf community in the past years: the KOMVA project (1982–1990), the STABOL project (Standardization of Basic and Educational Lexicon project, 1999–2002), and the NGT corpus project (2008). The KOMVA project yielded information about regional lexical differences and indicated that no grammatical differences existed in the five regions studied. Between 1982 and 1999 the language policy led to the production of dictionaries and educational materials such as sign language courses that reflected regional variation. In 1999 the language policy changed: Hearing parents and teachers of deaf children exerted strong pressure to standardize part of the NGT lexicon. In addition, the Dutch government mandated the standardization of NGT as a prerequisite for its legal recognition: Thus, the STABOL project was born. The NGT corpus (2008) project provides researchers and teachers with valuable data (mostly annotated) on spontaneous language from signers in different regions of the Netherlands. A major impetus in the changes with respect to the attitude toward signing comes from work done by the Dutch Foundation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Child (NSDSK) between 1979 and 1999. Hearing parents of deaf children forced changes in early deaf education, and they are again playing a role in current changes in deaf education. Organizations such as de FODOK and Dovenschap act as advocates of the parents of young deaf children and the Deaf community and have played crucial roles with regard to the situation of deaf people and their language in the Netherlands. The milestones in sign language planning and the pursuit of official recognition of NGT are briefly described, as is the role of NGT in relation to deaf education and the influence of CI on the Deaf community.

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