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Martin, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of. Oxford .... Tower. I t au-e r (building). Towers. Shower. 'shail-ar (rain). Showers. 'to-a. (hauler).
Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation 1981, Vol. 13 (3), 299·307

METHODS & DESIGNS Heteronyms and polyphones: Categories of words with multiple phonemic representations MARYANNE MARTIN

University ofOxford, OxjordOXI3UD, England GREGORY V. JONES

University ofBristol, BristolBS8 IHH, England

and DOUGLAS L. NELSON and LOUISE NELSON

University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620

Heteronyms are words that have two different possible pronunciations that are associated with two (or more) different meanings. They can be used to investigate psychological mechanisms in reading and other cognitive processes. A corpus of English heteronyms has been collected and is tabulated here. In addition, a corpus of English polyphones is tabulated. These are words with different pronunciations that are not associated with different meanings. In recent years, corpora of a variety of types of word with special properties have been reported, for example, anagrams (Deloche, Debili, & Andreewsky, 1980), homographs (Cramer, 1970; Perfetti, Lindsey, & Garson, Note 1), and palindromes and heteropalindromes (Jones, 1980a, 1980b). The present article reports corpora of two types of word that have more than one phonemic representation (in standard pronunciation). For heteronyms, the different phonemic representations are associated with different meanings; for polyphones, they are associated with the same meaning. HETERONYMS An example of a common heteronym is "row," which, when pronounced /r d o], denotes either a line or the use of an oar, but, when pronounced /rav/, denotes an argument. It is suggested here that two types of heteronyms may usefully be distinguished: "strong" and "weak." Strong heteronyms are words such as "row," whose different phonemic representations are associated with unrelated meanings. Weak heteronyms are words whose different phonemic representations are associated with meanings that, although different, are not unrelated. Rather, the different meanings derive from the same

This work was supported by a grant to M. Martin from the British Medical Research Council and was assisted by Sara Dickson. Requests for reprints should be addressed to Maryanne Martin, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OXl 3UD, England.

Copyright 1981 Psychonomic Society, Inc.

lexical entry (e.g., "read" is pronounced /ri:dl and Ired/ in the present and past tenses, respectively). The present corpus has been compiled in the course of preparation for an experiment investigating the influence of syntactic and semantic context on word recognition (cf. Martin, 1977). The use of heteronyms in a vocal response task allows assessment of the influence of such context. Choice of pronunciation should vary between complete accuracy and a random base level, depending on the extent to which top-down processing is occurring. Similarly, Andreewsky, Kossanyi, and Deloche (1978) investigated reading using French heteronyms such as "fils," which means "son" or "sons" when pronounced /fis/ but "threads" when pronounced / fIl/. Andreewsky, Deloche, and Kossanyi (1980) discuss further the processing of heteronyms, but they give only two English examples, "lead" and "read." Heteronyms have also recently been used by Warren, Warren, Green, and Bresnick (1978) to investigate the dynamics of the encoding process. Tables 1 and 2 show lists of strong and weak heteronyms, respectively. The arrangement is alphabetic within each table. Also shown for each word are its two different pronunciations. For ease of printing, pronunciation is as indicated in Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1979), rather than given in international phonetic symbols. This dictionary was also referred to in deciding eligibility for inclusion, for example, on orthographic questions. Thus, "resume" was included, since the meaning often indicated by resume is also listed without accents, but "pate" was not, since the meaning indicated by pate is not listed without accents. It may be

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MARTIN, JONES, NELSON, AND NELSON

noted also that what may be termed "stress heteronyms" have not been included. These words have different meanings associated with different possible patterns of stress in their pronunciation, but not with differences in phonemic representation. As examples, "august" and "incense" denote a month and perfume, respectively, when stressed on the first syllable but denote dignity and anger, respectively, when stressed on the second syllable. The contents of Tables I and 2 were generated primarily by repeated mental scanning over a lengthy period. It is hoped that the list of strong heteronyms in particular is approximately comprehensive. In all, 54

strong and 62 weak heteronyms (and their derivatives) are listed in the tables.

POLYPHONES An example of a polyphone, a word with two or more standard pronunciations that map onto the same meaning, is "either," which may be pronounced either j'aia 3 / or j'i:a 3 / . Table 3 shows a corpus of such words, obtained by examination of the entries in the Random House Dictionary of the English Language (1970), together with their listed pronunciations.

Table 1 Strong Heteronyms Pronunciations and Meanings

Word

Ate

Derivatives

at (food)

c:rave

'ac-e (folly) Bass

Pronunciations and Meanings

Word

gray (tomb)

Buffet

bas (fish)

'hin-dar (impede)

Hinder

'hin-dar (behind)

bau (gesture)

Bowed, Bowing,

bO (weapon)

Bows

I baf-ar (strike)

Buffets

Inter

ka-'lekt (gather)

Invalid

'in-va-Iad (patient) in-'val-ad (erroneous)

Collects

Job

jab (work)

Ikan-jar {mag i c )

Conjured, Conjures,

Lead

led (advance)

kan-' jliac (entreat)

Conjuring

I kal-ikt (prayer) Conjure

I int-a (among) in-Itar (bury)

bi>-Ifa (meal) Collect

job (Bible)

Denier

Leadin~,

Deniers

"l o-e r (beneath)

Lowered, Lowering,

'lau-ar (frown)

Lowers

dan-'ya (measure)

Desert

Idez-art (place)

Deserts

I

Mow

ma

mi-' nyiit (small )

dii (act) do (music)

Does

daz (acts)

Natal

dav (p i aeon )

I

en-trans (door)

Nice

jil (measure)

gil (fish)

'nat-al (birth)

nis (pleasant) nes (France)

Entrances

Pasty

io-' trans (delight) Gill

Mows

n a- I tOal (Africa)

dov (plunged)

Entrance

(cut)

mail (stack)

doz (animals) Dove

min-at (time

Minute

di- 'zar t (reward) Do

'pas-te (pie) 'pa-ste (pale)

Gills

Leads

led (metal)

Lower di-'ni-ar (opponent)

Graves

gray (accent)

bas (music) Bow

Derivatives

Pension

\ pen-chan (payment)

'p'a"

s-yof'l (hotel)

Pensions

HETERONYMS AND POLYPHONES

301

Table 1 Continued Pronunciations and Meanings

Word Placer

' pta-sar (arran~er) , plas-ar

Polish

Derivatives

Slou~h

(minin~)

Sow

I pal-ish (smooth)

Iprez-ant (~ift)

'pat-arc (golf)

Swinger

Presents

Ira-van ( bird)

Supply

Putters

Tang

Ravens

ri-1zum (return)

Row

Tarry

!{esumes

r au (quarrel)

Hawed, Rower,

ro (boat)

Rowers, Rowing,

su- ar

I so-ar

Shower

(drain)

Ton

I

si~

-ar (songster)

t i ar (drop)

tiar (layer)

Tears

Tiers

(fastener)

tan (weight)

t au-e r

Vice

VlS

Tons

(building)

Towers

(corruption)

lvi-se (succeeding) Wind

sked (traveled)

'sla-var (person)

(sticky)

I

Singers

skid (threw)

Slaver

ltar-e

'to-a. (hauler)

'sin- jar (burner) Skied

(delay)

Tower

Showers

'sho-ar (exhibitor)

Singer

'tar-e

to n (fashion)

Sewers

(stitcher)

'shail-ar (rain)

Ita~--e-ar (tastier)

tar (rip)

sa-Ilam-ez (sausa~es)

I

ta3 (taste)

ItT-ar

sal-a-mas (Greece)

Sewer

Tear

Tier

Rows Salamis

p-l'e (fluently)

tan- 1 j i r (Morocco)

rez-a -rna (summary)

I

sa-'pli (provide)

rekt', t-e

dres, ri dres'

Release

tiv, op'

ar a tiv

pe at

re'

laps',

laps

re res,

res'

ri

Repress

re

Research

ri s~rch1.

pres'. ri pres'

re I

snrch

0'

Opposite

op' a zit, op' a sit

Retail

re

Oran,;€

~rl i n j , or' inj

Retina

ret' a na, ret' na

Outlet

out'

let,

0'

ri

Opiate

pe it,

our' u

Reverend

t-ev' ar and, rev' rand

Ia I

Robust

ro bust 1, rot

Rodeo

Parlay

p~rl

Parol

pc rol. par'

ol

Participle

par' ti sip'

;)1, par

Paste 1

pa stell , pas'

Pecan

pi k~n , pe

par

sa pal

ti

tel

k an

I

tal, r e tal'

l

Revenue

t

Padre

Ie,

f

Relay

i v, ok' Cav

l

Redress

ret rei

Relapse

l.a a i t

obi

Octave

t

l

Hep.,ime

Iiae ,

Obi la

fat'

ya

ne' eat

Negate

Obligate

mod'

bust

Romance

ro mans', ro' mans

Roof

roof. roof

Root

Penalize

Rotate til. par sen' til

Pet-cent i, le

pdr sed

Pervert

pur v~rt'. p~r' va r t

Phonetics

fa net'

i k s , fo net'

i ks

Pianist

sta~'

ea

-I

stal

Route

root, rout

Rubble

rub

Schedule

skej'

1

-

oi , roo

001,

f

b el.

skej100 131

Scrouge

skt-ou j , skroo j

Segregate

seg' ra gat , seg ta g i t

Servile

s~r' vi l , s~rl viI

Several

sev ' sr

Pistachio

pi

Placate

pIa' kat, pl ak ' at

I'os t u l a t e

pas

Precedence

pr as'

Prelude

pre I load, pra' lood

Slippery

slip' a r e , slip'

Pretense

pr i tens'. pre tens

Snook

snook, sno~k

I'r iroar y

prT' mer e, prT

Sophisticate

sa fis

• pi

, po s

I

~a l

i da1s, pri sed

I

at

dnS

rna re l

1, sev l ral

Slavery

l

t a kit,

,

re

sa fis l

Profane

pro fan', pro fan

Protest

pro' test, pra test'

Sovereign

sov ' r i n , sov' ar in

Protocol

pro 1 ta k~l. pro' to kal

Species

spe

Ouadt-upl e t

kwo drup'

Sporadic

spa r ad'

lit, kvo drool plit

Sour

sour, sou

l

~ez.

ta kat

ar

spe

l

sez

ik, spa rad'

ik

305

306

MARTIN, JONES, NELSON, AND NELSON Table 3 Continued Pronunciations

Word Status

sia'

Stereo

ster'

t

as ,

stat

eo ,

o

Word Tryst

s

eo

ster'

Stirrup

stCr' op, sti.r' e p

Stupid

stool pi.d , styool

Suffice

sa fis', So fiz'

pid

Pronunciations trist, trist

Tube

toob, tyOOb

Tulip

Too'

lip, tyoo' lip

Tunic

too'

l nik, Cyoc nik

Turbine

t~r' bin, t~rl bin

So~ jest', sa jest l

Turquoise

t~rl koi z ,

Suite

swet, soot

Tutor

too

Sunday

sun'

Ugh

oo~. u~, O'o~

Unison

yoo' ni san, YOO' ni zan

Unnatural

un na®'

Update

up dat', up'

Upland

up'

Uplift

up lift' , up'

Upright

up: rit

de, sun' di'

Superb Superior

Surplus Surrogate

sGr l plus, stir pl as A

s~r' a

,

gat , sur a git

Survey Suspect

Syndrome Syringe

sa spekt.' , sus' pekt sin l dram, sin

Uproot

dra m

53 rinj', sir' inj

Syrup

sir' ap, s~rl ap

Taboo

ta boo', ta bOO'

Tabulate

tab'

Tactile

tak' til, tak'

lat', tab'

)a

lit

)a

til

Tattoo

ta tool, ta too'

Taunt

tont, tant "

Tedious

tel

"

de

as, tel jas

Temperament

tern'

POT

Temperate

tern'

par it, tern' prit

Temperature

tern'

par a char, tern'

amant, tern' pra ment

The Together

to't, geth'

Tomato

ta

mal

pro char

,

ar, ta geth

to, ta

mal

to

dat

_

J

up rit' V

,

I

up set , up

Usual

yoo' ~oo ci , yoo' zfrce'l,

Usurp

A I , yoo - " zurp " yoo surp

Vacation

va k"ii' ®an, Va ka' ®an

Vaccine

yak sen

Vacuum

yak' yoo am, yak'

Valet

val' it, val'

Vanilla

va nil'

l J

set

yak sm'

a i3

Vegetable

ve j ' ta bal, ve j' i ta 001

Versatile

v{;r l sa til, vtir l sa tIl

Version vet' a'r an, vel

Virile Volume

tran

aI, vir' 11 vol'

"I

yoom, vol' yam

,. ,

Transfer

Water

wa'tar,wot'

Translate

trans la~

, tranz' lat

Whale

Traveler

Trav' alar, t rav ' Lar

Wheat

nut. wol

nat

a-

While

hwil, wil

cres' pas. tres I pas

White

hwit, wIt

Trial

tri' al, tril

Woozy

WOOl

ze,

Tribunal

tri byood aI, tri byoori a1

Yesterday

yert

tat: de, yes'

Trough

t rof , trot!)

Yolk

yak, yolk

Trousseau

troa l so, troo

Yourself

yo~r self' ,

SOl

yoom

a, ve nell

trans fGr l, trans' far

Trespass

I

up root , up root

wol

ar , tre I mar

lift

I

Walnut

trern

r al

land, up' land

tran sakr , tran zak~

Tremor

tar

ar al , un na@1

Transact

l

kwoiz

tar, tyOD

Upset

Veteran or

tGr' _I

_t

w~ozl

yOI'

e tar d"ii'

self I

HETERONYMS AND POLYPHONES REFERENCE NOTE 1. Perfetti, G. A., Lindsey, R., & Garson, B. Association and uncertainty: Norms ofassociation to ambiguous words. Pittsburgh, Penn: University of Pittsburgh, Learning Research and Development Center, 1971. REFERENCES ANDREEWSKY, E., DELOCHE, G., & KOSSANYI, P. Analogies between speed-reading and deep dyslexia: Towards a procedural understanding of reading. In M. Coltheart, K. Patterson, & J. C. Marshall (Eds.), Deep dyslexia. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980. ANDREEWSKY, E., KOSSANYI, P., & DELOCHE, G. Traitment cognitif des traits semantiques dans des conditions limites de lecture. In Psychologie & education. Toulouse: Universite du Mirail, 1978. CRAMER, P. A study of homographs. In L. Postman & G. Keppel (Eds.), Norms of word association. New York: Academic Press, 1970. OELOCHE, G., DEBILI, F., & ANDREEWSKY, E. Order information

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redundancy of verbal codes in French and English: Neurolinguistic implications. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1980,19, S2S-S30. JONES, G. V. English palindromes: A distributional model. Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation, 1980, 11, 489-491. (a) JONES, G. V. Heteropalindromes. Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation, 1980, 11,393-394. (b) MARTIN, M. Reading while listening: A linear model of selective attention. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1977, 16, 4S3-463. Random House Dictionary of the Eng/ish Language. New York: Random House, 1970. WARREN, R. E .. WARREN. N. T.. GREEN. J. P.. & BRESNICK, J. H. Multiple semantic encoding of homophones and homographs in contexts biasing dominant or subordinate meanings. Memory & Cognition, 1978, 6, 364-371. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary. Springfield, Mass: Merriam, 1979.

(Accepted for publication June 12, 1981.)