Units in reading and spelling

Abstract

Recently, it has been suggested that readers and spellers use units larger than single graphemes and single phonemes in computing the relationships between print and speech. To study the nature of these larger units, Experiment 1 asked subjects to pronounce nonwords like frieth, chiend, and chieth. We asked how often subjects read ie as /ε/, as in friend. Such responses were more frequent for nonwords like chiend than for nonwords like frieth or chieth. This result suggests that vowel plus final consonant units are used in a greater degree than initial consonant-vowel units or vowels alone. Similarly, /ε/ was more likely to be speeled as ie when it occurred in /čεnd/ than when it occurred in /frεθ/ or /čεθ/. Converging evidence was obtained in Experiment 2. Here, subjects rated pairs like chiend-/čεnd/ as more plausible than pairs like frieth-/frεθ/ and chieth-/čεθ/. Implications for models of word pronunciation and spelling are discussed.