Decomposition in Arabic spoken word recognition

Abstract

Previous research has shown that when a wordlikeness task is used, native Arabic speakers rate spoken nonwords with real roots more Arabic like than nonwords with pseudo roots. That is, they showed an ability to decompose the nonword and identify the embedded root. However, since the wordlikeness task is offline affording subjects unlimited processing time, and other studies used some online tasks that might be confounded, the question remains whether this is the result of a mere conscious process or a part of automatic natural spoken language processing. We investigate this question by comparing the processing time and accuracy rates between nonwords with real roots and nonwords with pseudo roots in an auditory lexical decision task. Native Arabic speakers were slower and less accurate in rejecting nonword with real roots. These findings suggest that automatic morphological decomposition in Arabic spoken word recognition precedes full lexical identification. 

Keywords: Morphological processing; auditory lexical decision