Abstract
Phonological consistency describes to what extent a letter string in one word is pronounced equally in other words. Phonological reliability describes to what extent a sublexical unit is usually consistent throughout one language. The relationship between the two concepts was investigated by comparing 5 sublexical units (onset-consonants, vowel, end-consonants, and the concatenation of the vowel with begin- or end-consonants) in Dutch and English with respect to their reliability and the effect their consistency had on naming errors and latencies. In a regression analysis, naming latencies and errors on genuine Dutch words (consistent) and imported words (inconsistent) were predicted by phonological consistency of the 5 units. The same was done for two sets of English naming data. Consistency had a much stronger effect in Dutch than in English naming studies when considering all 5 units. The special role of the vowel plus end-consonants, which has been found in English naming data, could not be demonstrated in Dutch. In both languages, the size of consistency-effects mirrors the reliability of the 5 units.
