Sequential activation processes in producing words and syllables: Evidence from picture naming

Abstract This study examines picture naming latencies for predicted effects of two word retrieval factors: onset complexity and number of syllables. In Experiment 1, naming latency was longer for depicted words with two syllables e.g., demon, than one syllable, e.g., duck, and longer for words beginning with consonant clusters, e.g., drill, than single consonants, e.g., duck. Experiment 2 replicated these results and showed that vowel nucleus and coda complexity did not interact with onset complexity, and did not affect naming latency. Moreover, effects of onset complexity and number of syllables were additive, and unrelated to word frequency, articulatory factors, or picture complexity. These results comport with evidence from speech errors and metalinguistic tasks and with predictions of the Node Structure theory of language production, but do not support production theories that do not predict special processing difficulty for words with complex onsets and multiple syllables.