Examining the morphological decomposition of complex words in native and non-native speakers of English

Abstract

Word knowledge is an essential component of second language acquisition. For many second language learners of English, acquiring new words can be a difficult task. Understanding the structure of words may be a valuable strategy for vocabulary development. This study examines the processing of morphologically complex English words by native and non-native speakers of English in a word typing task. The evaluation of the stimuli through word typing is also explored as a possible measure of functional ability in English in non-native speakers. A total of 270 complex affixed words were used as stimuli with true and pseudo-affixed words making up the real word-stimuli and novel-possible and novel-impossible stimuli. A total of 33 native speakers completed the lexical decision task in Experiment One that provided a validity check on the stimuli. Experiment Two had 52 native and 55 non-native speakers complete a typing task. Results indicated that complex real affixed words were typed more quickly than complex novel affixed words. Of particular interest were changes in typing speed at the morpheme boundary within a word. Native speakers displayed a greater slowing at the morpheme boundary than the non-native speakers, indicating a greater sensitivity to the internal structure of words. With respect to functional ability, the results suggest that typing sensitivity to morpheme boundaries relates to more general functional ability.