Testing the protracted lexical restructuring hypothesis: The effects of position and acoustic–phonetic clarity on sensitivity to mispronunciations in children and adults

Although developmental increases in the size of the position effect within a mispronunciation detection task have been interpreted as consistent with a view of the lexical restructuring process as protracted, the position effect itself might not be reliable. The current research examined the effects of position and clarity of acoustic–phonetic information on sensitivity to mispronounced onsets in 5- and 6-year-olds and adults. Both children and adults showed a position effect only when mispronunciations also differed in the amount of relevant acoustic–phonetic information. Adults’ sensitivity to mispronounced second-syllable onsets also reflected the availability of acoustic–phonetic information. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the lexical restructuring hypothesis.