Exploring the derivative suffix frequency effect in Spanish speaking children

This study was designed to examine the developmental course of the suffix frequency effect and its role in the development of automatic morpho-lexical access. In Spanish, a highly transparent language from an orthographic point of view, this effect has been shown to be facilitative in adults, but th...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Lázaro López-Villaseñor, Miguel, Acha, Joana, de la Rosa, Saray, García, Seila, Sainz Sánchez, Francisco Javier
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/120444
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/120444
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Morpho-lexical access
Suffix frequency
Reading development
Transparent orthography
Logopedia
Psicolingüística
6104.01 Procesos Cognitivos
6104.04 Psicolingüística
Descripción
Sumario:This study was designed to examine the developmental course of the suffix frequency effect and its role in the development of automatic morpho-lexical access. In Spanish, a highly transparent language from an orthographic point of view, this effect has been shown to be facilitative in adults, but the evidence with children is still inconclusive. A total of 90 2nd, 4th and 6th grade children performed a go/no go lexical decision task, with words containing either high or low frequency suffixes. Results showed significant main effects for grade and for derivative suffix frequency, with no interaction between both. This finding suggests that the suffix frequency effect emerges very early in reading development and that its role is well established from the beginning of reading experience, suggesting that sensitivity to suffix frequency can be a good predictor of a child’s ability to internalize orthographic regularities at an early stage. These findings are interpreted in the light of previous evidence paying special attention to orthographic transparency and morpheme regularity in Spanish language.