Morphological decomposition and semantic integration in word processing

In the present study, we looked at cross-modal priming effects produced by auditory presentation of morphologically complex pseudowords in order to investigate semantic integration during the processing of French morphologically complex items. In Experiment 1, we used as primes pseudowords consisting of a non-interpretable combination of roots and suffixes, such as °sportation, formed by the noun sport “sport” and the suffix -ation. In Experiment 2, primes were semantically interpretable pseudowords made of the combination of a root and a suffix, such as °rapidifier “to quickify”. In Experiment 3, we used as primes semantically interpretable pseudowords that were designed to be synonymous with existing derived words, for example °cuisineur, which, if it existed, would mean the same as cuisinier “a cook”. Finally, in Experiment 4, we used as primes non-morphological pseudowords like °rapiduit, -uit being an existing ending of French but not a suffix. The results of the four experiments show that priming only occurs with those morphologically complex pseudowords which are interpretable (including those which are synonymous with a pre-existing derived form), providing evidence that semantic factors are taken into account when the prime is overtly presented. Our results further support the view that morphological effects come into play at at least two processing stages, a morphological decomposition based on formal properties and a semantic integration based on semantic compatibility between morphemes.