TY - JOUR
T1 - Familiarity and pronounceability of nouns and names
AU - Surprenant, Aimée M.
AU - Hura, Susan L.
AU - Harper, Mary P.
AU - Jamieson, Leah H.
AU - Long, Glenis
AU - Thede, Scott M.
AU - Rout, Ayasakanta
AU - Hsueh, Tsung Hsiang
AU - Hockema, Stephen A.
AU - Johnson, Michael T.
AU - Srinivasan, Pramila N.
AU - White, Christopher M.
AU - Laflen, J. Brandon
PY - 1999/11
Y1 - 1999/11
N2 - Ratings of familiarity and pronounceability were obtained from a random sample of 199 surnames (selected from over 80,000 entries in the Purdue University phone book) and 199 nouns (from the Kučera-Francis, 1967, word database). The distributions of ratings for nouns versus names are substantially different: Nouns were rated as more familiar and easier to pronounce than surnames. Frequency and familiarity were more closely related in the proper name pool than the word pool, although both correlations were modest. Ratings of familiarity and pronounceability were highly related for both groups. A production experiment showed that rated pronounceability was highly related to the time taken to produce a name. These data confirm the common belief that there are differences in the statistical and distributional properties of words as compared to proper names. The value of using frequency and the ratings of familiarity and pronounceability for predicting variations in actual pronunciations of words and names are discussed.
AB - Ratings of familiarity and pronounceability were obtained from a random sample of 199 surnames (selected from over 80,000 entries in the Purdue University phone book) and 199 nouns (from the Kučera-Francis, 1967, word database). The distributions of ratings for nouns versus names are substantially different: Nouns were rated as more familiar and easier to pronounce than surnames. Frequency and familiarity were more closely related in the proper name pool than the word pool, although both correlations were modest. Ratings of familiarity and pronounceability were highly related for both groups. A production experiment showed that rated pronounceability was highly related to the time taken to produce a name. These data confirm the common belief that there are differences in the statistical and distributional properties of words as compared to proper names. The value of using frequency and the ratings of familiarity and pronounceability for predicting variations in actual pronunciations of words and names are discussed.
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U2 - 10.3758/BF03200740
DO - 10.3758/BF03200740
M3 - Article
C2 - 10633979
AN - SCOPUS:0033218885
SN - 0743-3808
VL - 31
SP - 638
EP - 649
JO - Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers
JF - Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers
IS - 4
ER -