  Previous work has demonstrated that words are hyperarticulated on dimensions
of speech that differentiate them from a minimal pair competitor. This
phenomenon has been termed contrastive hyperarticulation (CH). We present a
dynamic neural field (DNF) model of voice onset time (VOT) planning that
derives CH from an inhibitory influence of the minimal pair competitor during
planning. We test some predictions of the model with a novel experiment
investigating CH of voiceless stop consonant VOT in pseudowords. The results
demonstrate a CH effect in pseudowords, consistent with a basis for the effect
in the real-time planning and production of speech. The scope and magnitude of
CH in pseudowords was reduced compared to CH in real words, consistent with a
role for interactive activation between lexical and phonological levels of
planning. We discuss the potential of our model to unify an apparently
disparate set of phenomena, from CH to phonological neighborhood effects to
phonetic trace effects in speech errors.
