The Processing of Morphologically Complex Words by Developing Readers of Turkish: A Masked Priming Study

Y

28

Morphology (Languages); Language Processing; Turkish; Children; Reading Skills; Individual Differences; Priming; Reaction Time; Elementary School Students

10.1007/s11145-022-10377-0

0922-4777
1573-0905

The processing of morphologically complex words has been studied in many languages, leading to a variety of theoretical accounts. Prime type, individual differences, and cross-linguistic effects have emerged as potential factors in morphological processing, but the findings so far have been inconclusive, especially for young children. This study investigated the early stages of morphological processing in Turkish-speaking children using the visual masked priming paradigm. We used different prime conditions (truly suffixed, pseudo-suffixed, non-suffixed, and semantic) and measured reading proficiency skills (vocabulary, spelling, reading speed, and comprehension) to investigate whether prime types or individual differences modulate early word processing. Our sample of children showed priming effects for truly suffixed words, without sound differences between derived and inflected primes in their reaction times. The reaction times of the participants decreased with increasing reading proficiency in the experimental conditions. The results suggest a sensitivity for suffixes in the early word processing of Turkish primary school children rather than sensitivities for pseudo-suffixes, orthographic overlap, or semantic similarity.

As Provided

2023

EJ1390502