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Language proficiency and morpho-orthographic segmentation

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Abstract

One key finding in support of the hypothesis that written words are automatically parsed into component morphemes independently of the true morphological structure of the stimuli, so-called morpho-orthographic segmentation, is that suffixed nonword primes facilitate the visual recognition of a stem target (rapidifier-RAPIDE) whereas non-suffixed primes (rapiduit-RAPIDE) do not. However, Morris, Porter, Grainger, and Holcomb (Language & Cognitive Processes, 26(4–6), 558–599, 2011)reported equivalent priming from suffixed and non-suffixed nonword primes, hence questioning the morphological nature of prior findings. Here we provide a further investigation of masked priming with morphologically complex nonword primes with an aim to isolate factors that modulate the size of these priming effects. We conducted a masked primed lexical decision experiment in French, in which the same target (TRISTE) was preceded by a suffixed word (tristesse), a suffixed nonword (tristerie), a non-suffixed nonword (tristald), or an unrelated prime word (direction). Participants were split into two groups, based on their language proficiency. The results show that in the high proficiency group, comparable magnitudes of priming were obtained in all three related prime conditions (including the non-suffixed condition) relative to unrelated primes, whereas in the low proficiency group, priming was significantly reduced in the non-suffixed condition compared to the two suffixed conditions. These findings provide further evidence that individual differences in language proficiency can modulate the impact of morphological factors during reading, and an explanation for the discrepant findings in prior research.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by a postdoctoral grant from the Fyssen Foundation to Elisabeth Beyersmann and a grant from the European Research Council (ERC grant 230313) to Jonathan Grainger. This research was carried out within the Labex BLRI (ANR-11-LABX-0036) and has benefited from support from the French government, managed by the French National Agency for Research (ANR), Investments of the Future A*MIDEX (ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02). We also thank Jean-Baptiste Melmi for help with participant recruitment and testing.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Psychologie Cognitive, Aix-Marseille Université and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Marseille, France

    Elisabeth Beyersmann, Johannes C. Ziegler & Jonathan Grainger

  2. Laboratoire URECA (EA 1059), Université Lille Nord de France, Lille, France

    Séverine Casalis

Authors
  1. Elisabeth Beyersmann
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  2. Séverine Casalis
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  3. Johannes C. Ziegler
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  4. Jonathan Grainger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elisabeth Beyersmann.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Stimuli including high-frequency suffixes:

Suffixed word prime

Suffixed nonword prime

Non-suffixed nonword prime

Unrelated prime

Target

cachette

cacheur

cachenie

perchoir

cacher

fillette

filleur

fillenie

comédien

fille

noisette

noisage

noisenie

adoption

noix

pochette

pocheur

pochenie

traction

poche

buvette

buvion

buvenie

manillon

boire

cerisier

cerisage

cerisire

batteur

cerise

fermier

fermion

fermire

nombreux

ferme

poirier

poirage

poirire

lumineux

poire

pommier

pommeur

pommire

grognon

pomme

saladier

saladion

saladire

utilisable

salade

sauteur

sautette

sautide

liaison

saut

boxeur

boxier

boxide

veston

boxe

chasseur

chassion

chasside

pompier

chasse

largeur

largier

largide

puceron

large

pêcheur

pêchette

pêchide

aileron

pêcher

million

millage

millert

laverie

mille

punition

punitage

punitert

mouchoir

punir

décoration

décoratier

décoratert

préférable

décorer

attention

attentier

attentert

fusillade

attendre

correction

correctette

correctert

plongeon

corriger

couchage

couchier

couchuse

orageux

coucher

grillage

grilleur

grilluse

champion

grille

paysage

paysette

paysuse

sorcier

pays

plumage

plumette

plumuse

sentier

plume

tournage

tournion

tournuse

grattoir

tourner

Stimuli including low-frequency suffixes:

Suffixed word prime

Suffixed nonword prime

Non-suffixed nonword prime

Unrelated prime

Target

séchoir

séchesse

séchuor

émotion

sécher

arrosoir

arrosesse

arrosuor

olympien

arroser

lavoir

lavien

lavuor

pliage

laver

trottoir

trottade

trottuor

infusion

trotter

plongeoir

plongien

plonguor

barricade

plonger

tristesse

tristerie

tristald

direction

triste

jeunesse

jeunerie

jeunald

révision

jeune

sagesse

sagerie

sagald

dormeur

sage

vitesse

viterie

vitald

mangeur

vite

hôtesse

hôtade

hôtald

tension

hôte

baignade

baignien

baignabe

voyageur

baigner

glissade

glissien

glissabe

chanteur

glisser

promenade

promenoir

promenuto

historien

promener

balade

balarie

baluto

plantoir

balader

orangeade

orangeoir

orangeabe

sélection

orange

gardien

gardoir

garduto

finesse

garde

magicien

magicesse

magicuto

pliure

magie

musicien

musicoir

musicabe

sonnette

musique

pharmacien

pharmacade

pharmacabe

tartelette

pharmacie

mécanicien

mécanicesse

mécanicuto

bijouterie

mécanique

sonnerie

sonnade

sonnebli

tricheur

sonner

épicerie

épicesse

épicebli

baladeur

épice

imprimerie

imprimerade

imprimebli

végétarien

imprimer

mairie

mairoir

maibli

joyeux

maire

boulangerie

boulangien

boulangebli

californien

boulangère

Appendix 2

Spelling dictation test

Instructions Target words are read out aloud individually by the experimenter and repeated only once. The participant’s task is to write down the words. All words that can be derived from the spoken word form must be counted as correct responses.

Target words (correct responses in parentheses)

1.

phobique

(phobique, phobiques)

2.

écervelé

(écervelé, écervelée, écervelés, écervelées)

3.

astreint

(astreint, astreints, astreins)

4.

endolori

(endolori, endolorie, endoloris, endolories, endolorit)

5.

invaincu

(invaincu, invaincue, invaincus, invaincues)

6.

carcéral

(carcéral, carcérale, carcérales)

7.

gaillard

(gaillard, gaillards)

8.

éphémère

(éphémère, éphémères)

9.

fougasse

(fougasse, fougasses)

10.

affûtage

(affûtage, affûtages)

11.

tourteau

(tourteau, tourteaux)

12.

cirrhose

(cirrhose, cirrhoses)

13.

saucière

(saucière, saucières)

14.

dépeçage

(dépeçage, dépeçages)

15.

ganglion

(ganglion, ganglions)

16.

abattant

(abattant, abattants)

17.

oisillon

(oisillon, oisillons)

18.

importun

(importun, importuns)

19.

jouissif

(jouissif, jouissifs)

20.

offrande

(offrande, offrandes)

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Beyersmann, E., Casalis, S., Ziegler, J.C. et al. Language proficiency and morpho-orthographic segmentation. Psychon Bull Rev 22, 1054–1061 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0752-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-014-0752-9

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