Noun or verb? Adult readers’ sensitivity to spelling cues to grammatical category in word endings

Abstract

The spelling of many disyllabic English word endings holds cues to their grammatical category, beyond obvious inflectional endings such as -ing for verbs. For example, some letter sequences are clearly associated with nouns (e.g., -oon) and others with verbs (e.g., -erge). This study extended recent research by Arciuli and Cupples (2006), and confirmed that skilled adult readers are sensitive to these orthographic cues. It was found that adults were more likely to treat pseudowords as nouns when they had noun-like endings than verb-like or control endings, and more likely to treat pseudowords as verbs when they had verb-like than noun-like endings. This sensitivity held across three tasks (sentence construction, sentence judgement, and pseudoword judgement), which required increasingly explicit awareness of the way that cues could allow grammatical categorisation. In some tasks sensitivity to verb-like endings was related to reading ability, although not to spelling ability or grammatical awareness. Implications for our understanding of language processing are discussed.

Appendix

Pseudoword triplets for noun, verb, and control endings

Cue	Group 1 pseudowords	Group 2 pseudowords	Group 3 pseudowords
Noun endings
-ac	chilac	tresac	gromac
-asm	lurdasm	torlasm	mirtasm
-iff	borniff	darniff	kriliff
-int	sharint	tromint	bretint
-ion	ellion	arnion	estion
-ior	telior	sudior	ganior
-is	welkis	fintis	barmis
-ium	lorium	sedium	lotium
-oon	rintoon	sorpoon	tensoon
-ush	stinush	pretush	sartush
Verb endings
-aim	artaim	erlaim	ursaim
-ede	monede	telede	ramede
-erge	sonerge	roserge	toperge
-erve	asgerve	olverve	inderve
-ieve	lotieve	carieve	senieve
-oice	intoice	arnoice	olnoice
-olve	panolve	warolve	fetolve
-ounce	ilounce	etounce	asounce
-act	tanact	lotact	saract
-end	sanend	futend	torend
Control endings
-ide	tramide	prelide	droside
-eal	sadeal	woreal	tiseal
-old	fanold	perold	tagold
-eat	saneat	tudeat	poleat
-ear	tarnear	gormear	lerdear
-ense	estense	ordense	arlense
-ust	pitust	monust	narust
-ate	pormate	cantate	sordate
-en	praten	spanen	frinen
-ert	promert	trenert	spanert

1. Note: According to both MRC and CELEX databases, all noun endings selected occur in two-syllable nouns 100% of the time (but some unnoted examples seem to exist, e.g., festoon is a verb), and all verb endings selected occur in two-syllable nouns 100% of the time, except for -act (93%) and -end (86%)

Grammatical Awareness Task (answers in bold)

Mean percentage of participants who answered each item correctly shown in parentheses.

Practice items

• a) Did you see her lovely scarf?/Did you see her lovely scarves?

•    Did you see his old boot?/Did you see his old boots?

• b) He chooses his socks carefully./He chose his socks carefully.

•    He goes down the stairs quietly./He went down the stairs quietly

Verb items

• 1. The creatures cling to the rocks./The creatures clung to the rocks.

•    The creatures seek the sunlight./The creatures sought the sunlight. (69)

• 2. Bill has a tantrum every week./Bill has had a tantrum every week.

•    Bill quits his job every week./Bill has quit his job every week. (85)

• 3. Monty wore a woolly jumper./Monty wears a woolly jumper.

•    Monty bred angora rabbits. /Monty breeds angora rabbits. (91)

• 4. I have caught the early train./I catch the early train regularly.

•    I have risen at 6am./I rise at 6am regularly. (85)

• 5. You trod on my doona./You tread on my doona all the time.

•    You lay on my bed. /You lie on my bed all the time. (54)

• 6. Peter has laid the paving stones./Peter lays the paving stones.

•    Peter has striven to make them smooth./Peter strives to make them smooth. (78)

• 7. Joan catches the children peeking. /Joan caught the children peeking.

•    Joan forbids them to peek again./Joan forbade them to peek again. (45)

• 8. The critics see three films./The critics have seen three films.

•    The critics broadcast their reviews. /The critics have broadcast their reviews. (64)

Noun items

• 1. I saw the farmer’s sheaf of wheat./I saw the farmer’s sheaves of wheat.

•    I saw the cow’s latest offspring./I saw the cow’s latest offspring. (73)

• 2. Look at that wild deer./Look at those wild deer.

•    And look at that wild ox!/And look at those wild oxen! (39)

• 3. I was sure I could taste the spices./I was sure I could taste the spice.

•    I was sure I could see the lice./I was sure I could see the louse. (16)

• 4. Have you heard of this species?/Have you heard of those species?

•    Did you know about this crisis?/Did you know about these crises? (15)

• 5. I’m sure that was an owl over there./I’m sure that was an owlet over there.

•    I’m sure that was a goose over there./I’m sure that was a gosling over there. (40)

• 6. Mr Bentley sat in the kitchen./Mr Bentley sat in the kitchenette.

•    Mr Bentley pointed to the pig./Mr Bentley pointed to the piglet. (55)

• 7. The one in charge was the priest./The one in charge was the priestess.

•    The one who came was a widower./The one who came was a widow. (39)

• 8. It would take a heroine to save the day./It would take a hero to save the day.

•    It would take a sorceress to break the spell./It would take a sorcerer… (63)

Mean percentage of Noun/Verb attribution given by participants to each pseudoword, in each task type. N = 25 for each pseudoword, or N = 17 for values given in italics.

		Task type
		Sentence construction		Sentence judgement		Pseudoword judgement
		Noun	Verb	Noun	Verb	Noun	Verb
Noun-like triplets
-ac	chilac	64	24	92	8	77	23
	tresac	84	16	65	35	88	12
	gromac	65	24	40	60	76	24
-asm	lurdasm	80	20	64	59	71	29
	torlasm	76	6	41	24	68	32
	mirtasm	88	4	76	36	68	32
-iff	borniff	52	32	64	36	59	41
	darniff	40	36	65	35	64	36
	kriliff	77	24	52	48	76	24
-int	sharint	60	32	64	36	65	35
	tromint	44	48	65	35	76	24
	bretint	30	35	56	44	72	28
-ion	ellion	92	4	80	20	82	18
	arnion	64	24	71	29	68	32
	estion	94	6	68	32	80	20
-ior	telior	64	24	72	28	76	24
	sudior	64	24	35	65	72	28
	ganior	82	12	52	48	64	36
-is	welkis	76	16	76	24	71	29
	fintis	72	12	71	29	60	40
	barmis	60	18	64	36	76	24
-ium	lorium	88	4	68	32	77	23
	sedium	84	12	71	29	80	20
	lotium	94	6	64	36	76	24
-oon	rintoon	68	28	64	36	77	23
	sorpoon	68	24	65	35	72	28
	tensoon	77	12	44	56	76	24
-ush	stinush	60	24	60	40	41	59
	pretush	56	36	71	29	40	60
	sartush	65	24	40	60	64	36
Verb-like triplets
-aim	artaim	48	28	40	60	77	23
	erlaim	60	32	77	23	52	48
	ursaim	77	23	68	32	44	56
-ede	monede	84	12	48	52	24	76
	telede	48	40	47	53	48	52
	ramede	59	29	68	32	48	52
-erge	sonerge	48	40	52	48	53	47
	roserge	80	16	76	24	36	64
	toperge	82	18	36	64	20	80
-erve	asgerve	36	40	44	56	18	82
	olverve	36	52	53	47	24	76
	inderve	29	65	64	36	16	84
-ieve	lotieve	56	40	52	48	24	76
	carieve	48	44	35	65	52	48
	senieve	29	41	44	56	20	80
-oice	intoice	44	48	60	40	35	65
	arnoice	68	12	53	47	56	44
	olnoice	53	18	52	48	28	72
-olve	panolve	48	48	52	48	29	71
	warolve	60	32	65	35	32	68
	fetolve	47	35	52	48	20	80
-ounce	ilounce	16	80	40	60	12	88
	etounce	32	60	59	41	0	100
	asounce	29	65	36	64	8	92
-act	tanact	52	32	68	32	59	41
	lotact	64	32	47	53	48	52
	saract	58	24	52	48	64	36
-end	sanend	60	32	52	48	41	59
	futend	52	40	53	47	44	56
	torend	35	53	44	56	40	60
Control triplets
-ide	tramide	56	20	52	48	35	65
	prelide	36	56	82	18	60	40
	droside	41	29	24	76	40	60
-eal	sadeal	60	20	64	36	53	47
	woreal	52	32	53	47	48	52
	tiseal	47	35	56	44	72	28
-old	fanold	44	44	72	28	65	35
	perold	60	24	59	41	92	8
	tagold	65	24	48	52	72	28
-eat	saneat	60	24	68	32	53	47
	tudeat	64	24	59	41	64	36
	poleat	60	24	80	20	56	44
-ear	tarnear	68	20	60	40	82	18
	gormear	48	32	47	53	48	52
	lerdear	60	29	40	60	56	44
-ense	estense	40	24	80	20	24	76
	ordense	36	16	59	41	40	60
	arlense	65	24	52	48	36	64
-ust	pitust	48	36	72	28	53	47
	monust	56	28	59	41	60	40
	narust	65	18	68	32	76	24
-ate	pormate	40	44	36	64	23	77
	cantate	48	48	53	47	20	80
	sordate	41	53	32	68	28	72
-en	praten	52	32	52	48	71	29
	spanen	76	20	65	35	60	40
	frinen	47	29	76	24	72	28
-ert	promert	32	40	60	40	47	53
	trenert	60	20	47	53	72	28
	spanert	65	30	80	20	32	68