Abstract
In English, lexical decision times are longer to homophones than they are to nonhomophones (homophone effects) when they have more frequent mates. However, the findings for Japanese homophones with multiple mates have been inconsistent. It is possible that the variance in phonological familiarity of Japanese homophones with many mates is large, which may then influence their lexical decision times. An experiment was conducted to measure lexical decision times to Japanese homophones with multiple mates, with high and low phonological familiarity conditions as well as nonhomophones for comparison. The results showed that the mean lexical decision time to homophones in the low-familiarity condition was longer than it was to nonhomophones, and that in the high-familiarity condition did not differ as compared to nonhomophones. These findings indicate that multiple mates of Japanese homophones substantially increase the variance of their phonological familiarities, which in turn influences their lexical decision times.
