Backing vacillating stems: Hungarian vowel harmony in fast speech

Abstract

Vacillating stems in Hungarian allow both back and front allomorphs of the suffixes that are otherwise subject to vowel harmony. In a novel experiment we tested if the probability of producing the back allomorph is modulated by factors such as speech rate, time pressure and cognitive load. Subjects had to solve a multiple-answer quiz, first under time pressure and in the oral modality, and subsequently in a more relaxed condition, in the written modality. Back allomorphs were more numerous in the first condition than in the second one. Our repeated measure design provided a first evidence for the claim that typical Hungarian vacillating stems primarily select the front suffix, while additional factors, such as time pressure, slightly promotes the back allomorph.