In this study, we investigated the perception of lexical tones in three different varieties of Gangwon, namely, Gangneong, Pyeongchang and Hoengseong·Wonju. Using cross-modal priming with a lexical decision, we investigated if the native speakers of the dialects compensate for the lexical tone patterns. The participants were presented with auditory stimuli in a sentential context and asked to evaluate the lexicality of target words on the screen. We examined the results for the effects of phonological modification on the lexical access. The results suggest that, first, in terms of accuracy, the three varieties have different lexical tone patterns and the difference is statistically significant. The results also suggest that both the accuracy and the response time is compensated. Second, the accuracy and reaction time of each tone patterns suggests that the three varieties have distinct characteristics in terms of prosody. Gangneung dialect has lexical tones, while Hoengseong·Wonju has vowel length contrast. Pyeongchang displays the characteristics of both the dialects with slightly stronger traits of Gangneung.