Abstract
This study investigates the storage vs. composition of inflected forms in typically-developing children. Children aged 8–12 were tested on the production of regular and irregular past-tense forms. Storage (vs. composition) was examined by probing for past-tense frequency effects and imageability effects – both of which are diagnostic tests for storage – while controlling for a number of confounding factors. We also examined sex as a factor. Irregular inflected forms, which must depend on stored representations, always showed evidence of storage (frequency and/or imageability effects), not only across all children, but also separately in both sexes. In contrast, for regular forms, which could be either stored or composed, only girls showed evidence of storage. This pattern is similar to that found in previously-acquired adult data from the same task, with the notable exception that development affects which factors influence the storage of regulars in females: imageability plays a larger role in girls, and frequency in women. Overall, the results suggest that irregular inflected forms are always stored (in children and adults, and in both sexes), whereas regulars can be either composed or stored, with their storage a function of various item- and subject-level factors.
Highlights
How is language computed in the mind? we know that language computation requires both storage and composition, it remains unclear which aspects of language are stored and which arecomposed, and under what circumstances
Examination of the effect of frequency on response time revealed a significant negative coefficient for irregular past tense forms, whereas frequency effects were not observed for regular past tense forms; the difference between the coefficients for the two verb types was significant (Figure 1B)
The children’s lack of frequency effects on regulars does not appear to be explained by confounding statistical or experimental factors. It is not explained by ceiling effects on regulars: the Response time (RT) variance did not differ between the verb types (F(28,28) = 1.23, p = .592)
Summary
We know that language computation requires both storage and composition, it remains unclear which aspects of language are stored and which are (de)composed, and under what circumstances This is even less well understood in children than adults. A considerable amount of research has investigated this issue by probing for storage effects in the online computation of existing inflected forms, in particular in the contrast between regular and irregular inflected variants (e.g., walked vs dug), which can be equated for phonological, semantic, and other factors. These can be grouped in two broad classes: single-mechanism models and dual-system models
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
