Abstract
Homophone usage was compared between speaking and writing across two sets of experiments. In the first set of studies 101 introductory students talked into a video camera about an emotional attitudinal issue – once in a way that supported their view and another time that was opposite to their view. In a different session, 44 different students performed the same task but wrote their views on paper. In the second set of studies, individuals interacted with a person whom they had never met either orally in person (N=62) or on a computer chat system where they typed to one another (N=124). Similar amounts of homophones were used across the two verbal processes, although more high frequency homophones were used in speaking than in writing. These results suggest that phonological processing do play a major role in writing.
