Spelling Dutch Doublets: Children's Learning of a Phonological and Morphological Spelling Rule

Abstract

This study addresses the question of why spellings determined by morphology are relatively hard to acquire by presenting a latent class model of children's acquisition of a doublet of consonants in the spelling of Dutch verbs. This spelling pattern can be determined either by a phonological rule (after a short vowel, a doublet is spelled) or a morphological rule (doublets are spelled in past-tense forms). The results show that the youngest group of spellers identified by latent class analysis predominantly used an alphabetic strategy. They did not spell doublets at all. The latent class model further shows that the acquisition of phonologically determined spellings occurred at a lower average age than the acquisition of morphologically determined spellings. The latter led to overgeneralizations, and a U-shaped developmental pattern was found as a consequence of these overgeneralizations. Children over generalized doublets for different reasons. At younger ages, overgeneralizations of doublets occurred because children treated the doublet as a phonological alternative to the singleton, whereas at older ages, overgeneralizations of doublets were confined to homophones, indicating lexical effects.