Lunghezza e morfologia della parola: come interagiscono nella lettura dei bambini?

The interaction among length effects and morphological effects in reading aloud low frequency words was investigated in second, third and fifth graders. The results showed that derived words were read faster than simple words, only when they are long. No differences were detected in the use of morphological analysis in relation to children’s grade. The results confirm the early structuring in morphemes of the mental lexicon and the importance of morphological analysis in facilitating reading processes, when lexical access to the word’s whole form is hardly available.