Auditory processing of prefixed English words is both continuous and decompositional

Two experiments compared continuous and discontinuous models of word recognition. Participants heard prefixed words whose full-form and root uniqueness points (UPs) differed, in either a gating or lexical decision paradigm. Identification points and reaction times were analyzed using multiple regression. Full-form UPs predicted performance better than root UPs did. Full-form frequency measures had reliable facilitative relationships with performance while root frequency measures were not consistently significant. Prefix frequency had a reliable, inhibitory effect. Judged prefixedness, semantic transparency, and prefix likelihood were related to performance, alone or in interaction. The results provide evidence for both kinds of word recognition procedures. A model is proposed with two parallel recognition routines: a whole-word routine and a decompositional routine that considers only unbound roots that can combine with the prefix in question. A preliminary rating study provides stimulus values on several dimensions and can be used as a database by other researchers.